This blog is managed by the content creator and not GhanaWeb, its affiliates, or employees. Advertising on this blog requires a minimum of GH₵50 a week. Contact the blog owner with any queries.
There is a sacred significance in names; a mystery often overlooked by the modern believer intoxicated with cultural revivalism and pseudo-intellectual Pan-Africanism. In the traditional churches, the day of one’s birth often coincided with a saint’s day; hence, the newborn was named after that saint; a symbolic adoption into the household of faith. It was not mere ritual; it was mentorship, identity, and inspiration wrapped in a name. It declared: “You belong to the communion of saints.”
Today, however, many preachers, cloaked in the garments of Pan-Africanism, have begun to sneer at Christian names as symbols of colonial imposition. Ironically, they sanctify traditional names, many of which are direct dedications to ancient deities. But if local gods once named people, if fetish priests gave names to kings and commoners alike, how much more Christ; the Lord who redeemed us with His blood and wrote our names in heaven? Shall the children of idols bear proudly the marks of their gods while the children of Christ are ashamed to be known by His household?
Jesus Himself renamed His followers to signify spiritual rebirth and mission. In the book of Revelation, Christ promises to give every overcomer a new name written on a white stone; a divine emblem of eternal identity. Christian names, therefore, are not Western but heavenly. They echo our spiritual ancestry. They are confessions of faith and tokens of divine belonging.
What people fail to grasp is that names like John, Peter, Paul, James, Philip, Mark, Joanna, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Michael, Gabriel, Moses, David, Abraham, and Elijah are not European but Scriptural. These names predate Rome, Greece, and the British Empire. They are sanctified by divine narratives, sealed with prophetic destinies, and immortalized by faith. To call them “Western” is to expose biblical ignorance. Christianity is not the property of Europe; it is the heritage of heaven. The Gospel transcends race, tribe, and continent. Any preacher who racializes the Gospel is not a herald of Christ but a mere social activist robbed in clerical language.
Those who seek to “de-Christianize” the world by erasing biblical names, dismantling Christian monuments, and rebranding Christian legacies are simply repeating the folly of apostasy; departing from the ancient landmarks. It is not liberation they preach, but rebellion disguised as enlightenment.
Indeed, the craze for so-called “cultural names” such as Enhyira, Ahwenepa, Anigyie, and the rest is but a subtle attempt to de-Christianize our identity under the pretense of cultural pride. These names, though melodious in sound, are not rooted in the covenant of grace. They neither echo the cross nor remind the bearer of salvation; they flatter the flesh but do not edify the soul. The tragedy of modern African Christianity is that many have become ashamed of the names that once made devils tremble and martyrs fearless before the sword.
When the Gospel first entered Africa, it was not the sword that conquered us, but the love of Christ. The missionaries who bore names like William Carey, David Livingstone, Mary Slessor, and Samuel Ajayi Crowther laid down their lives to rescue nations from the darkness of fetishblood sacrifice. Their names became memorials of faith, compassion, and endurance. To despise those names is to scorn the lamp that once lit our path. Polycarp, Athanasius, Jerome, Tyndale, Wycliffe, Augustine, Hus, Calvin, and Luther are Christian traditional family names, not westernisation as purported by the skeptics! Renowned Preachers like John Wesley, John MacArthur, and Mark Randall Brown understand the significance of bearing a Christian name! My lawyer’s name is Samuel Gabriel Gaborah! One of my classmate’s name was Peter John Paul, i later on realised his father was a minister of Christ!
Mission schools, hospitals, and cathedrals built by those same faithful servants are not monuments of colonization but altars of civilization. They are noble emblems of love’s labour, testaments of faith that gave literacy to our fathers and dignity to our nations. To remove their Christian names in the name of “cultural restoration” is to demolish our own spiritual heritage.
Christian names are not colonial brands; they are spiritual banners. They mark those who have passed from death to life, who have been adopted into the household of faith, and who walk in the lineage of saints. To bear a name like Mary, Paul, Hannah, or Stephen is to proclaim, “I belong to the family of believers.” It is a confession, not of race, but of redemption.
Let every Christian, therefore, take pride in bearing and giving names that testify to faith. Name your children after saints, apostles, prophets, martyres, and missionaries; let your household echo names that heaven recognizes, not those that idols once adored. For it is written, “The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.” (Proverbs 10:7).
Beloved, there is coming a day when every faithful believer shall receive a new name from the lips of Christ Himself; a name that will shine brighter than gold, inscribed upon the white stone of eternal victory. In that celestial city, the foundations will bear the names of the apostles, the gates the tribes of Israel, and upon the redeemed, the name of the Lamb.
So, let us not be seduced by cultural sentimentalism. Let us love the name we bear and bear the name we love. For our truest glory is not in our skin, speech, or tribe, but in the name written over us; the name of Christ and His saints. Blessed is the man or woman who cherishes that identity, for theirs is not merely a name on earth but a testimony in heaven.
Therefore, Christian, bear your name with reverence; wear it with joy; and await that day when the Lord Himself shall call you by your new, eternal name; written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.
Rev. Emmanuel Boachie PRESIDENT, Centre for Biblical-Historical Christianity Defence, COUNTRY DIRECTOR, Awesome Bible College and HEADPASTOR, Souls’ Pasture Church Ghana, Kumasi Asuofua
