Recently updated on August 30th, 2022 at 12:30 am
The PositiveNaija Interviews (What Is And Why Your Name?): Episode 2 – Mbah Ekene Collins Arum and Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya is a series of interviews with the human race including Nigerians and Africans on recognising and understanding the meaning, purpose, importance/value, impact and story of their names.
This series, conceived and conducted by Toju Micheal Ogbe is dedicated to the lives of every human being with the hope that more understanding is provided on the subject of our names, which are the words everyone of us hears the most through our lifetime containing unique identity features.
Special thanks to people who have shared their stories and unique insights with us as well as with the world.
“I AM LORD JEHOVAH, and this is My Name, and my honor I shall not give to another, neither my praise to carved things”
– Isaiah 42:8
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum shares his story, experiences, thoughts and insights on the meaning and value of his name with PositiveNaija on July 5, 2022
PositiveNaija: Please, what is your name in full?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Mbah Ekene Collins Arum
PositiveNaija: What is your nationality and city you are from?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Nigerian (Enugu)
PositiveNaija: What decade were you born?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: 1980s
PositiveNaija: Who named you your name(s)?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: The truth is, until now, it had never occurred to me to verify who did, but I strongly believe it must have been my father – going by the regular traditional norm in the part of the Igboland where I come from.
PositiveNaija: What is the translation or meaning of your traditional name(s) in English?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: My first name, Ekene, which is the short for “Ekenedilichukwu” simply means, “Glory be to God”. My Surname, Mbah, which is the short for “Mba k’ ógú” can be directly translated to mean, “Warning is better than fighting”. And lastly, the other traditional name in the list of my names, Arum, is one of those names that have compound meaning, such that it can be translated contextually. For instance, it literally means, “my body”, but can also be interpreted metaphorically as “hurt me at your own peril”, and so on.
PositiveNaija: Why were you named your name(s) – the reason or story?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Ekene, must have been given to me following the circumstance of my birth. Before my arrival, my parents already had 3 girl children. So, you see, I don’t think any other words could have been more sensible to utter by my parents at the very moment of welcoming a son after all, than “Glory be to God”, and deciding to make that gratitude proclamation to be my very name, I think is a perfect decision. Mbah is my surname, so I can say, it is inherited, and, Arum is my Father’s name which I adopted after his death over a decade ago.
PositiveNaija: Did you give yourself a name – officially or unofficially? If yes, why and what does it mean?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Yes, I did, as much as three. Firstly, my western name, Collins – that I officially used to replace the other western name previously given to me by my parents: “Friday” – which I believe must have been motivated because I was actually born on a Friday. But growing up, I did not really fancy the name Friday. At some point, I was like, what if my birthday had happened a day earlier, would I have been named Thursday? (Smiles…) And please, my apologies if you are privy to this interview and your name is Friday or any of the related names that I implicated in my emphasis, I did not mean to downplay your name but simply trying to express myself explicitly. After all, it so said proverbially that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. So, lastly, for the other name Noble, it was partly a nickname that I was given way back in the secondary school, I can’t even remember now who first called me that name, “the Noble guy” back then, but I gradually became widely known by it and I loved it ever since then, though I later expunged the suffix “guy” and then integrated “Noble” into the acronym of my other names, “MECA” (Mbah Ekene Collins Arum), which I now altogether use as my penname, “Noble Meca”. Interesting, right?
PositiveNaija: Culturally and/or spiritually, do you see or perceive a significance or impact of your name based on the result of your life so far?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Yes, I do. Though one may also argue that some of the attributes that I may point to as my proof are also enjoyed by other people who do not bear same name as me, but of a truth, there had really been tremendous occurrences in my life that justify my names, especially Ekene.
PositiveNaija: Do you think your name has an impact on the lives of people or anyone who calls your name and why?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: (Smiles…) Well, I don’t know if it works that way. Though I believe there is more to a name beyond identity. But sincerely, it is people, perhaps someone other than me that are in the right position to say if my name and indeed any name other than “Jesus” does a thing when it is called. It is only the name of Jesus that I can emphatically say, yes, it has impact on people when they call it, based on my own personal experience and testimonies of some uncountable people on the planet earth. So, whether God deposits such a potential in mortal names is really beyond my comprehension right now.
PositiveNaija: What do you want your name to be remembered for?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: Exemplary Christian life, firmness, genuine humanitarian acts, I also want my name to be remembered for having being a reliable/fulfilled son, brother, husband, father and friend to many people respectively, and of course, for a legendary uncommon legacy in creative/songwriting. Thanks.
PositiveNaija: Any other insights or experiences you might want to share on the subject/importance of names?
Mbah Ekene Collins Arum: That would be that, I always have this inclination towards fighting for Justice for others even total strangers as I would do for myself. I don’t know if I should attribute that drive to the influence my name has over me as well, maybe so that people would always have reasons to glorify God for my sake” (Smiles…)
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya shares her story, experiences, thoughts and insights on the meaning and value of her name with PositiveNaija on July 5, 2022
PositiveNaija: Please, what is your name in full?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya
PositiveNaija: What is your nationality and city you are from?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Nigeria (Enugu)
PositiveNaija: What decade were you born?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: 1980s
PositiveNaija: Who named you your name(s)?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: My Dad
PositiveNaija: What is the translation or meaning of your traditional name(s) in English?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Chimelue means God should bring the good he has started to a completion.
PositiveNaija: Why were you named your name(s) – the reason or story?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Chimelue is more like a prayer request for God to give more children to the family because I’m the first child.
My second traditional name, Adannaya means I am the first daughter of my Father.
PositiveNaija: Did you give yourself a name – officially or unofficially? If yes, why and what does it mean?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Yes. Officially, I gave myself Emerald. I loved the name right from my secondary school meaning “A green precious ornament” and I used it as my business name.
PositiveNaija: Culturally and/or spiritually, do you see or perceive a significance or impact of your name based on the result of your life so far?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: No, I haven’t seen any significance of my name in my life so far, probably it is still in the process.
PositiveNaija: Do you think your name has an impact on the lives of people or anyone who calls your name and why?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: No, I don’t think so.
PositiveNaija: What do you want your name to be remembered for?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: Uniqueness and strength.
PositiveNaija: Any other insights or experiences you might want to share on the subject/importance of names?
Okonkwo Chimelue Adannaya: My experience so far is that people find it difficult to pronounce my name because it’s a lot unique and rare.
Research Credits
*Conceived, conducted, written/edited and poster designed by: Toju Micheal Ogbe.
*Inspired by: The PositiveNaija Interview Series (Advice of Nigerian Mothers) and Joshua Selman message (Redefining Inheritance)
*The title of this interview series (What Is And Why Your Name?) was suggested by Mr. Mbah Ekene Collins Arum on June 29, 2022.
*Last updated on July 5, 2022.
*The Interview Series is open for donation, sponsorship, collaboration or partnership.
*If you enjoyed these stories or have more questions/observations, please comment on this post below or message us on WhatsApp. Thank you.
Get Featured
If you would like to be featured on this series irrespective of your nationality, kindly send in your photograph and your submission according to the interview format above to our WhatsApp number on +2349064503292. Thank you.
