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Help[Facts] Names
Hello, I am not sure if anyone can answer but I recently had my DNA test done and come find out I have a big percentage of West Africa in me. Benin/Togo 30%, Cameroon/Congo 24%, Mali 13%,and Senegal 9%. I am wanting to embrace my culture and want to change my name and adopt the language in my new life moving forward but do not want to disrespect the culture by going about it the wrong way. Do anyone know if there is a certain procedure in order to do this other than of course pay for a name change in the courts?
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I love when people embrace their heritage/cultures.
I would suggest finding someone who lives in or has come directly from one of these cultures and ask them. Maybe there are naming traditions that they can fill you in on. Maybe people are named after times/places/events when they were born. This would allow you to follow that pattern when coming up for a name for yourself.
If you cannot (or do not wish to) find someone from this culture who is near to you, maybe try a pen pal from one of these countries. You can google "pen pal Togo" and multiple websites immediately populate that will allow you to find someone to communicate with and that will allow you to ask questions about the culture from someone there living in it. I've found this kind of things to be very helpful in the past.
Best of luck.
I would suggest finding someone who lives in or has come directly from one of these cultures and ask them. Maybe there are naming traditions that they can fill you in on. Maybe people are named after times/places/events when they were born. This would allow you to follow that pattern when coming up for a name for yourself.
If you cannot (or do not wish to) find someone from this culture who is near to you, maybe try a pen pal from one of these countries. You can google "pen pal Togo" and multiple websites immediately populate that will allow you to find someone to communicate with and that will allow you to ask questions about the culture from someone there living in it. I've found this kind of things to be very helpful in the past.
Best of luck.
This message was edited 11/27/2017, 10:22 PM
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Thanks for your reply. That is a great idea. I did have a sorority sister that is from Benin as well. She has found a friend from Benin and he gave her a name. I hope to meet him soon. In the meantime, I am going to do what you suggest. Your name is beautiful, where are you from?
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