Is that his name?

For those of you who might be wondering, I refer to the baby as "junior", but he will not be Oladapo Olufemi Temitayo Eso, II. I call him junior because I can tell while he is yet not fully formed, that he is so much like his father. I know that he will have some of my characteristics and only my good ones, at that (slim pickins, eh?). But just going by my aversions and cravings I had I know that he really has Dapo's taste. His name will also not be Junior anything, it's just something I call him, and right now he doesn't have a name. Dapo makes a great point, that he wants his son to become greater than he is, so he would never give him a name to say you are a smaller version of me.

So, what are we naming him, then? Initially, Dapo and I discussed giving him an English first name with traditional Yoruba names to follow, since an English name in America would be easier on all involved. But, then we found a Scripture in Proverbs 22:1 which reads, "a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold". So, we began to pray about the names we were thinking of.

Dapo came up with the name Ayomide (eye-yo-me-day), which is "joy came to me". I like it because I've been so full of joy the entire pregnancy, and feel like he will be a bundle of joy. It has also been said that joy and melody will be in our house. People at church have said that he is going to come out singing and dancing. I am relieved no one has said playing the piano, because that would require a piano to be born, also.

I was online researching Yoruba names and their meanings, and came across Olujimi (oh-loo-gee-me). I ran it by Dapo and initially he didn't like it because I didn't pronounce it right, and what he heard meant something else. It means "God's gift". I think literally it means God gave me. We both like it for obvious reason. Okay, so Olujimi is a mouth full. I realize that, and just as Dapo's full name is Oladapo, Olujimi would go by Jimi. And, as Dapo says, that should be easy enough for the "the" Amercians. I also like Jimi because my dad's name is James, but he goes by Jim. And many of his friends call him Jimmy. So, it would be as though we were giving him a namesake, albeit coincidentally. I pictured me chasing him in diapers around the house when I found the name, so I was elated when Dapo agreed it would be a good one.

Alright, so it would seem that Olujimi Ayomide Eso (eh-show) would be enough and we would stop there, right? Evidently, in my limited understanding of the Yoruba culture, the grandparents of the child also have an opportunity to give the baby a name. The concept is to give the child many names so that they have lots of options to choose from when they grow old enough to pick their given names. So, my parents passed on the name game, and his parents gladly accepted. They came up with many names, but the one we liked was Toluwani (toe-loo-wah-knee), which means "this belongs to God".

So, there you have it. The name we've chosen for him is Olujimi Ayomide Toluwani Eso.