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Sifelani Tsiko
Lifestyle Correspondent
A couple from Nyabvute farm in the Siyalima Ward 1 of Guruve has used the same first four letters to create all of their four kids’ names.
Munyaradzi Dewere (39) and wife, Epiphania Chikwati (37), the couple’s preferred term of endearment starts with a B.
For them, there’s something about that bbbb sound that’s just really easy, pleasant and fun to say.
They have only used B, E, N and E when choosing what to call their brood of three boys and one girl.
Their eldest child is Benevolence (14) followed by Benediction (10), Benedict (6) and two-year-old Benedictime.
“This is what their father liked,” says Epiphania. “So I just accepted the name.”
When asked how she differentiates the names, she says: “We call our first born Ben, our second Diction, our third Benedict or Toto his nickname and our last born we call her using her second name Ropafadzo just to distinguish them.”
For many it’s quite started puzzling but the Deweres just love the names.
Says Epiphania: “Right from the start my husband set the bar for the names. He loves the ‘Bene’ part of the names and we have stuck to this. He knew they were the same letters and so we decided to continue like this.”
The couples’ children have second names. “Our eldest son’s second name is Abraham given by his grandfather, our second Beloved — I gave him this name, our third’s second name is Tapiwanashe given by his grandfather and our last born’s second is Ropafadzo and he was given this name by our prophetess of the Habakkuk Apostolic Faith Mission church,” says Epiphania.
“For Ropafadzo there is a story behind her name. On August 24 in 2018 and prophetess called me and asked me whether I and my husband wanted a girl child. I said ‘ýes’ and the prophetess said: “You are going to be blessed with a girl child and her name will be Ropafadzo.
“I had three boys and I wanted a girl. I was so excited about the prophess when we eventually got a baby girl.”
The mother of the ‘Bs’ kids says people in their community have no problem calling the names.
“People have no problem calling my kids by their names,” she says. “I’m so happy and thrilled about the names of my children.”
When it comes to naming traditions, Zimbabweans are inspired by a whole lot of issues — tradition, superstition, religion, dreams, family feuds, competition, music, film actors, football stars and numerous other things.
It is common to hear of a family that have names such as ‘Progress, Progressive, Progressiveness,’ something that adds a unique touch to a naming tradition in Zimbabwe.
Football lovers often name their children after soccer icons such as Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Theiry and others in the English and European leagues.
Some like Godknows, Givemore, Getmore, Addmore, Kissmore, Nomore, Norest and so on, all bring some fascinating bits to naming here in Zimbabwe.
The other common one is Blessing and Blessmore while other couples have taken on local names — Tapiwa, Tapiwanashe — Tadiwa, Tadiwanashe — Kupa, Kupakwashe — Kuziwa, Kuziwakwashe adding the ‘she’ (God) at the end.
“My first name is Givemore (give+more). It is the name I was given at birth. I had never taken serious interest to know the connotation of the name, neither did I ever think of asking my parents why they gave me that name,” wrote Givemore Shonhayi, in his final Masters of Arts in Linguistics thesis in 2019.
“It is common that everytime I provide my name Givemore, people laugh or question if that is my real name. To a non-Zimbabwean, common names like Lovemore, Witness, Trymore, Godknows are not only fun, but they are ‘bizarre, unique and weird.’
There are no easy answers to the many factors that motivate and influence the parents or community to give these names.
Experts in onomastics, also known as the study of naming, have for years tried to investigate the factors but with no straight forward answers.
They suggest that couples fall into a naming pattern by chance and remain stuck to it for various reasons.
“For some it’s a deliberate act – choosing names for their babies that start with the same letter, like the Duggar family who have 19 children all with names starting with the letter J,” wrote Suzi Catchpole in a 2019 online report titled: “What people really think about sibling names that start with the same letter.”
“The Kardashians —Jenners have also banked successfully on their kids’ alliterative names to deliver an air of glamour to their family business, with the five sisters all bearing K names.
“For others, it’s simply a coincidence that a prospective name for a new baby happens to begin with the same letter as an older sibling or two.”
Playing the baby name game is not easy but some Zimbabwean have played it well, developing that style in a consistent way.
Trends in naming have evolved in Zimbabwe over the past 100 years with people naming their children depending on the changing social, economic and political environment.
Online Reporter