What happened to Nigerian names? - Nigerian Movies & Nollywood on Naijarules.com

Sola · #1 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 09:37 AM

Have you noticed na so so English name in movies these days? RMD is Damian in Romantic Attraction. Who names a child Damian in Nigeria? Most of them do this now. What happened to Onyedikachukwu, Musibau and Danladi? Which Oyinbo name can be sweeter than Onyinye, Tarere, Mukhtar? God dey o. There's something

here I say!

bigmomma · #2 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 09:42 AM

First of all let me LMAO this is so hilarious but true. chei the one that got to me lately sef was PASCALINE from Pretty woman. i almost fell of ma chair i was like whaaa?

i liked agbonmma from i belong that one na classic

vince · #3 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 09:44 AM

I thought i was the only one who notices this phenomenon.
I'll have to say that the yoruba movies suffer far less of this "sickness" than all these english movies.
Which kain english names man never hia!

vince · #4 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigmomma
First of all let me LMAO this is so hilarious but true. chei the one that got to me lately sef was PASCALINE from Pretty woman. i almost fell of ma chair i was like whaaa?

i liked agbonmma from i belong that one na classic

What about the name IMPERIAL from the same movie?I never see oyinbo couple wey go name dia pickin dat kain name!Na waya!

Sola · #5 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 09:46 AM

I don't blame some people who insist we are being culturally killed by our own movie industry. Our names should follow us wherever we go. If we discard anything, it must never be our names. Na ya ID be dat.

vince · #6 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 10:00 AM

They probably think that if they westernize the names of the characters in their movies,they will sell more videos in the diaspora!
You know how these marketers think!I have sworn never to use an english name for any of the characters in my script,and i'm keeping to it!

bigmomma · #7 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 10:06 AM

vince u no lie o. men some of the names are downright crazy.

eg shey in love after love rita dominics character say na dziree be her name. i was like dangggg

but on the real tho. what happened to Nkechi, Bisi and Rolake

vince · #8 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 10:23 AM

I just finished watching one Tchidi Chikere movie(Under Fire) and the names on display here are;Fortune(Aliesigwe) and Precious(Omotola),i mean,what the f.....!Are they suffering from complexes or what?

cassandra · #9 (**permalink**) 01-14-2004, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vince
I just finished watching one Tchidi Chikere movie(Under Fire) and the names on display here are;Fortune(Aliesigwe) and Precious(Omotola),i mean,what the f.....!Are they suffering from complexes or what?

vince · #10 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 09:58 AM

But why is it so easy and common to give yoruba characters in movies yoruba names,and ibo characters only get wierd anglophone names,eh?
To find a movie where ibo characters are named with ibo names is like looking for a needle in a haystack!
The funniest thing about this,is that even if it was an ibo man who wrote the story,he will still give a yoruba character in his script,a yoruba name,but he will not do the same for an ibo character.Ex.Genevieve's character in "Formidable Force" who is a yoruba girl was called ADENIKE.Were she supposed to be an ibo character,she would have been called some wild english name.Hmmm,i wonder!

Videoscope · #11 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 10:40 AM

I watched Butterfly recently and there was a Chelsea, Joan, Raymond, Felix...as though NIgerian names have gone out of fashion. I think it's getting crazier as they now go fishing for the oddest English names possible e.g Pascaline and Dzerii or whatever. Whatever happened to teh good old Nkechis, Ngozis, Owuntanwas and co?
You know how our people think... the more foreign the better.

Lafem · #12 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Videoscope
You know how our people think... the more foreign the better.

You are so right! I mean.. it's not like their foreign audience don't know they're Nigerians/Afrikans, so who's fooling who? Reminds me of some africans in america trying too hard to speak 'fone' at the expense of sounding genuine and comprehensible. But no matter how hard they try, the oyinbo man will still know they're foreigners, so why all the gra-gra?

vince · #13 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Videoscope
I watched Butterfly recently and there was a Chelsea, Joan, Raymond, Felix...as though NIgerian names have gone out of fashion. I think it's getting crazier as they now go fishing for the oddest English names possible e.g Pascaline and Dzerii or whatever. Whatever happened to teh good old Nkechis, Ngozis, Owuntanwas and co?
You know how our people think... the more foreign the better.

Dem go call somebody "CLANDESTINE" one of these days!

spinnelli · #14 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 12:38 PM

I think the speaking fone part is just that. An attempt to sound comprehensible. If you can't beat them, shebi you go join them shey?. The whole time you are trying to talk, they are staring at you like a deer caught in headlights. As if you're speaking Russian or something. Some of them keep saying "what?, excuse me? pardon"? All of that make person tire so you just try to speak like them so at least they can understand you. They are the majority here and you are in their country, you gotta learn to adapt somehow. If you are in Nigeria and some oyinbo person come, they have to try and adapt to your language too.

Believe it or not, I have also heard of cases where people were turned down for jobs because they were not "fluent" enough. It's just like speaking ebonics. This oyinbo people self.

In addition, if you've lived abroad for a few years, you can't help but pick up on the accent. When everyone around you speak in a certain way, you will most likely pick up on it, consciously or subconsciously. If you are Ibo but you grew up in Kano, you will eventually find yourself speaking hausa.

Lafem · #15 (**permalink**) 01-15-2004, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by spinnelli
I think the speaking fone part is just that. An attempt to sound comprehensible. If you can't beat them, shebi you go join them shey?. The whole time you are trying to talk, they are staring at you like a deer caught in headlights. As if you're speaking Russian or something. Some of them keep saying "what?, excuse me? pardon"? All of that make person tire so you just try to speak like them so at least they can understand you. They are the majority here and you are in their country, you gotta learn to adapt somehow. If you are in Nigeria and some oyinbo person come, they have to try and adapt to your language too.

Believe it or not, I have also heard of cases where people were turned down for jobs because they were not "fluent" enough. It's just like speaking ebonics. This oyinbo people self.

In addition, if you've lived abroad for a few years, you can't help but pick up on the accent. When everyone around you speak in a certain way, you will most likely pick up on it, consciously or subconsciously. If you are Ibo but you grew up in Kano, you will eventually find yourself speaking hausa.

I get where you're coming from when you say that some people try to speak 'fone' in order to try to sound more comprehensible, however I still maintain that it's not necessary to do so, especially in the context of the english language -- which is a language reputably flexible and robust enough to be expressed in different forms. Speaking from personal experience, I believe an average literate nigerian or ghanaian speaks english CLEARLY enough, even without having to fake an american accent, to an american, than he will trying to fake an american. Infact, in my experience, in a lot of cases americans themselves appreciate and point out the clarity of such a person's manner of speech, their obvious accent notwithstanding. It's not like they won't descern your accent anyhow. The important thing is to try and sound comprehensible enough to be understood, accent or no accent.