Your
Name In Twi by The Fiankoma ProjectA name is an important part of an Akan1. Names are believed to describe the spiritual identity of a person as well as shape that person's character and behavior1. The first name of the child is determined by the day of the week the child is born1. That name describes the child's spiritual qualities. The last name is determined by the father2. He carefully chooses a name of usually an ancestor or relative whose character and behavior the father hopes to see in his child2.
The name Cudjo is a first name. The first name is usually called soulname (kradin)1. It reflects the child's soul (okra), which enters the child at birth2. Each day of the week is overseen by a different deity and one of these deities choses the unborn child3. The child then gets born on the day of the deity and the deity gives the child his or her soul and destiny (nkrabea)2,4. Exactly one week later, on the same weekday, the child's soulname is announced in an outdooring ceremony1. Boys born on Monday are called Kwadwo (Akan for Cudjo) and girls born on Monday are called Adwoa, because Monday is Dwoda, and they received their soul from Adwo, the deity of Monday3.
Picture Sources:
1) Late Kontihene of Obo, Nana Adofo, with child. From Akan Studies - Gods III; Health & Fertility by Phil Bartle, PhD
2) Akan woman wearing her child on her back. From Akan Studies - Gods III; Health & Fertility by Phil Bartle, PhD
Sources:
1) "The Origin and Significance of Ghanaian Personal Names." SUSUBIRIBI: People & Culture.
2) Bartle, Philip F. W. "The Universe Has Three Souls - Notes on Translating Akan Culture." Journal of Religion in Africa 14.2 (1982):85-114.
3) Agyekum, Kofi. "The Sociolinguistic of Akan Personal Names." Nordic Journal of African Studies 15.2 (2006): 206–235. 22 Mar. 2007 <http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol15num2/ agyekum.pdf>.
4) Rutledge, Christopher Kweku. "African Traditional Religious Beliefs, Among the Akans." Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 19 Oct. 2006 <http://colanmc.siu.edu/BAS495/students/chris/ ghweb.html>.