Nigerian award-winning writer, Chimamanda Adichie has shared an insight into her childhood memories and what shaped her into the woman she has become.
In an interview with media personality, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Chimamanda spoke about growing up in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka campus, her recreational interests, her favourite Nigerian artistes and her thoughts on the creative scene in Nigeria
Interestingly, the mother of one revealed that she was not named ‘Chimamanda’ at birth by her parents but invented it to suit her.
She said,
“It happened shortly before my first novel was published. I was born Ngozi Grace.
Growing up, I always felt I wasn’t a Grace – Grace was my mother’s name – and Ngozi felt to me common.
Being catholic, one of the joys of Catholicism is that you get to choose a name when you are confirmed. So I thought, what name will I choose? The priest said it has to be a saint. People were choosing ridiculous names like Bernadette. I was like, no. I had read a novel and there was a character called Amanda. So I thought, my name is Amanda.
I was Amanda from secondary school till the first year of university where I was studying medicine. Then I went to the US. It was about a month into my time there; I was an undergraduate and there were about five people in class with the name Amanda. It wasn’t that it wasn’t so unique anymore, it was the way they pronounced it. And I thought, this is so not me. I started thinking of how to change it. For a while, I would merge both [names], I would call myself Amanda Ngozi. It was a learning experience for me. I thought, this is nonsense; wanting an English name.
Just before my novel was published, I remember thinking, and I remember exactly where I was when it came to me. I am not a person who is given to this kind of Pentecostal talk, but it felt like a revelation. I was in my brother’s house in England, in the tiny guest room, lying on the narrow bed. My novel was going to be published and I did not want to be introduced to the world as Amanda. I wanted an Igbo name but I didn’t want Ngozi. I didn’t feel like Ngozi – Ngozi is a lovely name, but it is too common and it didn’t feel like me. I remember just lying there and it came to me. “Chimamamda”. Obviously, I could have just picked any Igbo name, but I wanted a name that had Amanda in it, so that I wouldn’t have to change my passport because I already had the identity. I had a passport, a driver’s license and bank accounts with that name.
So it was really just me thinking, how can I hold unto this name, but then make it Igbo?
The reason I didn’t want to talk about it – because I have actually decided to write about it – is because I wanted to give it time to have its own legitimacy. Had I started talking about it earlier, it would have been so easy to dismiss. In some ways, it feels legitimate now because half of the kids born in Igboland are being named Chimamanda.”
See how Netizens reacted below:
One Sabi Girl Fashion wrote: “Oh and I named my daughter Chimamanda after her”
One Able Peter wrote: “No wonder. I have never seen a Chimamanda older than 20 years. All the Chimamanda i know were born after 2003 when her book was first released”
One Oluwanifesimi Love wrote: “So this is where Amaka refusing to pick an English name for her confirmation in Purple Hibiscus comes from… wow”
One Vive Isabell wrote: “My daughter name is Chimamanda, and i love it”.
One Call me Gozie wrote: “Wow!! This is a revelation, bending that there are a plethora of female children born in Igbo land called Chimamanda”
One Ammyy X wrote: “Wow I’ve always loved my native name, even tho I fancied having an English name as a kid, I’d still always tell people my name is Amaka first. Even now being in the diaspora, and the non Nigerians mispronounce my name, I make sure to correct them politely, Amaka, I mean it’s not even hard”
One Swiss Shalom wrote: “My primary school days, I detest my native day “udoka “ but entering a new school for my senior secondary education, all my classmates bears their Igbo names, there was the sense belonging I felt there, I had to just start bearing the full name “ UDOCHUKWU”. Also this particular author, made me accept my Igbo heritage and identity with pride. Thank You Chimamanda Adichie”
One Wenbo Chris wrote: “Most Igbo girls change their name , even me changed mine by reducing the spelling and the pronunciation”
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