What's in a name?

Ancient Mweemba #221

Event Hanatonga #345

Obvious Mainza #459

Loveday Lwiindi #498

Gift Mainza #687

Mervalous Habanyama #317

Marble Munyanti #451

Cryness Nembo #500

Sadness Matongo #595

Precious Moomba #605

I have put the child's name right below their picture. You can see that these children have come pretty unique names. It got me wondering how the families go about naming their children. I asked our yahoo group the question, "how do Zambians name their children?" Susan researched and came up with this information found at afrikannames.com:

"Several cultures in Zambia name the child the day its navel cord finally falls
off. Commonly, the maternal grandmother conducts the naming ceremony and the
maternal side of the family takes responsibility for asking the mother whom she
dreamt of during her pregnancy. Elders also ask the baby (directly) if s/he has
come back as one of its ancestors. If the baby smiles, the elder believes s/he
has found the appropriate name. If the baby cries through the night, then the
elders select another name, and another, until the child sleeps peacefully
through the night."

http://afrikannames.com/resources/african-naming-ceremonies/