A Sociologist, Nana Obiri Yeboah has slammed the decision by the Births and Deaths registry to ban names such as Nana, Naa and Junior.
Mr John Agbeko, Registrar at the Births and Deaths outfit, explained to Daily Heritage that local names like “Nana, Nii and Togbe” are most used as stool names and title for leaders in the traditional setup.
According to him, parents choose these names (titles) to honour relatives who have played vital roles in their lives and do not want their names to be missing from their family.
Mr Agbeko suggested that such titles that the registry does not accept as part of names should only be used in the house and the community and not add them to name for birth registration.
He said “if we allow ourselves as a nation to give names the way we want because it is us who have got the child and we will want to name the child the way we want, there will come a time that we will have wonderful names in Ghana. So it is just a control measure to make sure that there are moderating factor on us citizens to direct how our naming should go.”
But the comments has provoked anger in Ghanaians with some suggesting that the Births and Deaths has no right to decide which names parents give their children.
Speaking on the Starr Midday News, Mr. Obiri Yeboah said the measure taken by the Births and Deaths registry is unfortunate and called on them to rescind the decision.
According to him, the Registrar should run for cover considering that backlash the decision has been met with.
“In Ghana everybody is a royal. So we ought to take royal names such as Nana, Ohene et al.
“It is bogus. I think whoever took that decision should run for cover…Is he [Registrar] saying that if Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president comes, he won’t register him,” Mr. Obiri Yeboah said.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM