Editorial : Respect names for what they mean and where they are applied

Names are part of the great mystery of our being. They express to us and to others our essential uniqueness, even though the same names could well be shared by thousands of other people or added to business enterprises. When we hear our names being called, it gives us an unaccountable thrill. We have a sense of being known and accepted as who we really are. We are somehow reassured by our names and at their being sounded, something deep within us responds joyfully. Languages, cultures and traditional heritages have been preserved orally through the various meanings attached to different names that have been carried on from one generation to another. As it were in the colonial times, names also serve our interests and act as bridges that connect us to other people and global bodies across the moats of distance that sometimes surround us. It is the respect given to some people or periods in time that has advanced the use of names in businesses and many other economically motivated enterprises. This serves to ring a tone in our mind that names are meant to be respected for what they mean and where they are applied. Readers and writers still express that names of our countries as we know them today were not in existence at the time of territorial demarcations. It is only historical facts for example that will determine knowledge of our ancient past, which involves the exodus of the Rwandan Muntu; the same person called by different names in Uganda, Sudan, and ancient Egypt. Not withstanding this fact, one may say that it is almost as if places, countries, people and businesses bring their names with them and transmit this knowledge to society. We shouldn’t be surprised that some of these choose their names depending on the circumstances in which they appear and their first impressions to society. Names therefore, appear to have an importance that goes beyond just being stick-on labels for identification purposes. The respect given to them for what they mean and where they are applied should go beyond personal comfort to understanding the power that lies in names. Ends