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Nigerians are well known for the over-elaboration of acquired foreign practices in the process of their domestication. Just consider how our politicians have operationalised the concepts of executive president or governor, which we borrowed from the United States into our democracy. Or consider how we have elaborated birthday ceremonies, which our forefathers never celebrated at all, because no records existed that could guide them as to their exact dates of birth. Even the three indigenous rites of passage they celebrated in those days, namely, naming, wedding, and funeral ceremonies, have been heavily influenced by the Euro-American models.
This is particularly true of the address terms we now use in social interaction. Many chieftaincy or professional title holders are addressed by their titles: Good morning, Chief, Prof., Doctor, Engineer, Architect, and so on. Many pilgrimage returnees from Mecca also often lose their real names. They are addressed as Alhaji or Alhaja. Become a preacher in your church and you lose your given name, as you are thereafter addressed as Pastor. And the list goes on.
Shortly after joining the faculty of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, I came across an emerging address practice by which a number of students and young faculty introduce themselves to someone else by putting their surname first. So, in all probability, when a guy tells you that his name is Adebayo Olumide Johnson (not a real name), Adebayo would be his surname, while Olumide and Johnson would be his first and middle name, respectively. This practice conflicts with the standard first, middle, and last name sequence, to which I was accustomed to before I left Nigeria some three decades ago. It also conflicts with the practices I experienced in the US and Europe.
The privileging of surnames in self-introduction is so rampant among Adekunle Ajasin University students that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Mimiko, has had to address the problem on several occasions. Its persistence led me to investigate its origins and spread, by interviewing a number of students, school teachers, and some employers of labour.
It turns out that the practice, which is fairly widespread among the youth across the country, has bureaucratic origins. It came from the format of various official documents, ranging from school registers to various types of forms and applications. Historically, surnames were privileged over other names in school registers because of the requirement of arranging names alphabetically by surname. School teachers then perpetuated this practice by addressing kids by their surnames.
This was the case for my generation, which started going to school in the 1940s and early 50s. We found this imposition of our father’s identity very curious but left it within the four walls of the school. Although our teachers continued to address us outside school by our surname, we continued to introduce ourselves by our first name, and community members addressed us as such or sometimes by a patronym, such as Omo Aba Yegbata (Child of Father Yegbata).
So, when and why did the use of the surname become so ubiquitous? The answer lies in the ubiquity and frequency of forms and applications, which must be completed today in order to cross various “gates”. There are forms for public examinations, admission to various institutions, employment, and promotion. There are also forms to complete when applying for a driving licence; to open a bank account; to obtain a passport; to rent an apartment; to register a company, and so on. A common feature of these forms is the requirement to write the surname first, followed by other names.
The foregrounding of surnames is also promoted by the use of titles, which are normally prefixed to surnames. Thus, I am often addressed as Professor Akinnaso, although some mistakenly address me as Professor Niyi. However, if the title is being used along with all my names, then I am Professor Niyi Akinnaso, not Professor Akinnaso Niyi.
Another standard surname-only situation is found in publications. References cited in academic publications privilege surnames, because references cited in the text are arranged alphabetically in the bibliography. Moreover, in newspaper publications, the surname is used in subsequent references to a person after the person has been fully introduced in full, title and all. For example, once President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been introduced in a newspaper story or article, President Jonathan or simply Jonathan (never Goodluck) is used in subsequent references to him.
It is unfortunate that the bureaucratic foregrounding of surnames is now being extended to self-introduction in both formal and informal situations. The point is that you are not filling out a form when you verbally introduce yourself. The standard procedure for dictating one’s name to someone else is to follow the sequence first name, middle name, and surname. The middle name could even be omitted, unless your full “names are required, as in a formal interview situation.
The logic behind this sequence is simple. You are normally known and addressed by your first name, especially by your peers and your spouse. Some female spouses tend to use titles, honorifics or sweet nothings, especially where their husbands are much older or occupy some “big” position. Your first name is the name given to you at birth, and it is the name by which you are commonly known to, and addressed by, family members. That’s why it should be the privileged name by which you normally introduce yourself to others.
It shouldn’t matter whether you are introducing yourself by only one name or by all your names. For example, I normally introduce myself as Niyi or Niyi Akinnaso; never as Akinnaso Niyi. However, I would introduce myself as Akinnaso in a bureaucratic setting, as in a Passport Office, where the document to be collected would be located by my last name.
It is not for nothing that the surname is also known as the last name or family name. It is your father’s name or your spouse’s surname (if you are female). As such, it is shared with many other family members. That’s the more reason it should come last in self- introduction.
The irony about the privileging of surnames in self-introduction by Nigerians is underscored by the fact that the British, who introduced surnames and superimposed Western bureaucracy on pre-existing practices, never introduce themselves by putting the surname first. The United States is particularly interesting in this regard, because it is much less formal than Britain. In the US, people are normally known by their first name at home, at school, and at work, age or status notwithstanding.
Admittedly, there are cultural inhibitions against first-name behaviour in Nigeria because of our respect for age and status. That’s why it took me over a year before I could address my professors by first name, when I was a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley.
However, while shying away from imitating Europeans in first name behaviour, we have outstripped them in other aspects of their culture and behaviour, which we acquired or borrowed. In the process, we’ve been creating some unique cultural practices, one of which is the privileging of surnames in self-introduction. I am anxious to know how far this practice will go, realising that once a cultural practice takes root, it often takes a life of its own.
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