Names.

Name by Definition is a set of words by which a person, thing, or place is known as or referred to.
In some African countries, it is said that parents give names to their children according to how troubled they were when they were pregnant with that child, how happy they were, or according to what they want the child to be in the future.
In Nigeria, it is believed that names given to children can determine their destinies, the way they behave, and how far they will go in life.
It is almost impossible for you to see a child bearing a name that doesn't have a good meaning in Nigeria. Parents give their children biblical names like David, Joseph, John, Abraham, Serah, Shekinah, Zoe, and lots more. These names come with good meaning and are outstanding names in the bible. When parents give their children names like this, they are hopeful that the meaning of these names or the personality of these names will reflect in their children's lives. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't happen.
In the western part of Nigeria, it is said that parents do not use abusive words directly on their children, rather they will use those words on their children's enemies.
If they want to tell a child that the child is stupid, they will say things like "Your Enemy Is Stupid". It is said that they do this because they believe that whatever they use their mouth to pronounce on the child will rob on the child's life.
In other cases, when a parent is not conscious of the name they give to their child, it is believed that the child has the power to change the name when he/she grows up.
It is amazing how these beliefs are true sometimes, you see a man with a name that means suffering, suffering all his life.
These things do happen, and that is why African parents especially mothers take it very personally to give their children great names and they can go crazy if the child's name was changed.
I once watched a video of a lady who said her niece's teacher in school used the children's names in the class to explain what words and opposites meant.
The teacher would use their names and tell them the opposite of their names, like in the case of her niece whose name is Fidel, the Teacher called her Infidel, when the child got home and told the parent, the lady said her parent went to the school the next day to talk to the teacher, Low and behold, all the parent of the pupils in that class were in school that day to talk to the teacher.
African parents take names very personally.