But Why Not Sally Thompson?

Playing: Baami by Femi FlamexMike Abdul

Heey😊
First, thank you everyone! Thank you for your support since yesterday 😭
No, I'm not sorry for being mushy. Thank you really. I'm super grateful.

☆☆☆☆☆

So, growing up, I never really liked my name 'Iyanuoluwa'. Iyanu for short. The Yorubas have a saying that 'you first look into the house the baby is coming from before naming the child', but I just didn't like my name.




Even during my nursery/primary education in Ecoles Divines, when the teacher brought us kids out to play;we had the opportunity to sing a couple of nursery rhymes. One of them being;

My naame, my name, my name
Pamuregeji
My name is ...
Pamuregeji
İ come from ... state
Pamuregeji
(Some people are already singing along)😂
Sorry if you were born in 2004😆
But wait, that song is a nursery rhyme nah abi?😅

Don't get me wrong, I liked the song and all the fun attached (which included shaking our waists) but my name didn't fit in the part we were to put our names because it was 3 syllables. It wasn't really interesting, y'know? Why didn't I have a fine jaw and name as perfect as that girl in Basic 3, Sally Thompson? Why, God, why?



Infact, having to introduce myself to fine boys was somehow because they end up asking stuff like, 'Iyanu? What does that mean? Doesn't Iya mean mother?'
Imagine if my name was Sally😒
They'll be saying things like, 'aww, that's a nice name' instead.
What about those who wanted to write the name and started with the letter E😞

Then one day few years ago, my whole family went to see one of our family friends. The father of the house supposedly helped with my birth. After calling me 'man in skirt', he turned to his colleague and said, 'they already finished this one'. It was surprising. Who are they?😂

Although I knew mom almost went through a C-section trying to conceive me but I didn't know I was already finished. Ah God😢
Then it clicked.

Mom had wanted to go to the rest room few minutes before the operation and on her way back had started experiencing labour pains. Mama put to bed without the operation. Easy and stress free. The nurses were said to have started rejoicing, saying, 'Iyanu ni!', meaning, 'it's a miracle!'all through the hospital.



I got to understand that names are a vital part of us. If my parents think of me as a wonder, why should I think otherwise? My name is deep with meaning please.
I could even go on and on about what miracles and wonders are but I'm süre you know what a miracle would be if it happened to you.

So now, whenever I have to introduce myself, I do it with pride. 'Hi, I'm Iyanuoluwa. No no no, not Aanuoluwa, Iyanuoluwa'.😂





- What's your name and what does it mean?