There is only one Mungai Kihanya in the whole world – me!

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

20 September 2009

Why do people write their names in reverse order? A person called Mary Atieno Onyango will have many documents where her name is written as Onyango Mary Atieno…and even Onyango Atieno Mary.

This phenomenon is quite common in examinations, college and university registers. I suspect that the problem started from the practice of writing surnames first followed by other names.

When writing names in this order, it is standard practice the world over (except in Kenya) to put a comma immediately after the surname. The other names are then written in their proper sequence. Thus Mary Atieno Onyango becomes Onyango, Mary Atieno.

In this example, I have assumed that Onyango (presumably, her father’s name) is Mary’s surname. Fellow columnist Philip Ochieng may differ with that, but let’s go with it for now.

Without the comma after the surname, the name Onyango Mary Atieno would be taken to be that of a totally different person from Mary Atieno Onyango. My name, Mungai Kihanya, provides a real example. It may be written as Kihanya, Mungai. However, if you write Kihanya Mungai (without the comma), you will be referring to another individual altogether – my son!

I had to close an account a few years ago when the bank insisted on calling me Kihanya Mungai even after I pointed out the mistake through very many letters. I wasn’t just nit-picking; it just occurred to me that if they couldn’t get my name right, there must be other important things that they got wrong!

One may wonder why I named my son Kihanya Mungai while my name is Mungai Kihanya. Was there a shortage of names? No! I simply followed my culture’s naming system. It’s quite simple: The first son is named after the father’s father (the paternal grandfather); the second boy after the mother’s father; the third one takes the name of the father’s eldest brother and so on.

Thus, since my father is Kihanya, this is the name I gave to my first son and he became Kihanya Mungai. Now when you think about this naming system, it turns out that the first son takes the name of his paternal grandfather; the third one is named after the paternal great-grandfather; the fifth after the great-great-grandfather and so on.

Since my paternal grandfather had many sons, I able to work out the names of my forefathers to the fifth generation without doing any research. I simply pick them out from the names of my uncles.

Moreover: I am the fifth son in my family and my father is also the fifth son in his. I have therefore deduced with almost absolute certainty that my name is unique. I am the only Mungai Kihanya on Earth (not just in Kenya)! There are many Mungais and a few Kihanyas out there; but there is only one Mungai Kihanya – me. If you know another one, bring him out.

Going back to the fictitious Mary Atieno Onyango, isn’t it strange that people take their baptism names as their first names? Clearly, your first name is the one that you were given first – in some cultures it is given after birth and in others long before you are born (like mine)!

The name that comes afterwards is the second name, then the third and so on. Thus, if she was named Atieno at birth and then baptized Mary a few days (or even years) later, then her name is Atieno Mary Onyango, or, if your prefer, Onyango, Atieno Mary.