I have been researching my ancestral makeup even more since I received the results from my first DNA test one month ago. I thought that everything would end once I received the results. I was wrong. While the results answered a lot of questions, they left me with even more.
I had gone on to run several more tests in addition to reading several books and academic research papers. Everything points to Yoruba making up the biggest part of me. Now it is time to embrace my heritage.
I decided to get a Yoruba name. There are several articles and sites about naming Yoruba babies. The names tend to have beautiful meanings. Choosing one was not difficult for me. But I also needed a last name.
None of those sites or articles were for last names. It was not so easy for me to find a last name. I went to one of the Nigerian forums and asked for assistance. The guys were nice and welcoming. One guy suggested a name that I really like. The meaning, when combined with my first name, tells my story.
Ogooluwa Omobowole
This name can be translated as “By God’s glory, the child has returned home.” This adequately describes my long search for my ethnic roots which were stolen from my ancestors. Growing up only knowing that my African side “came from West Africa” left me feeling empty. I had no trouble learning about my non-African roots, but the African roots remained shrouded in mystery.
West Africa is a huge place. There are close to 400-million people residing in West Africa. Just over a decade ago, I had learned that the majority of Africans brought to Jamaica during the Transatlantic Slave Trade were from present-day Ghana and Nigeria. That narrowed things down a bit. But Nigeria and Ghana combine for a population of over 247-million people spread over more than 250 ethnic groups.
My years of research have finally paid off. Thanks to historians and advances in technology, I now know that I am mostly of Yoruba heritage. I also share roots with the Akan from Ghana, Igbo and Edo (Bini), from Nigeria, and Mende from Sierra Leone among others. Of this ethnic potpourri, Yoruba makes up the largest portion of my being by far.
Now that I can trace my roots down to ethnicities, I feel like I have finally found my home. I may not have returned home physically yet, but spiritually, I have returned home. My next plan is a trip to Nigeria! As a matter of fact, since Yorubaland spans 3 nations, I should plan a trip to Nigeria, Benin, and Togo!