The power of names: An example from football

Many years after some of the aforementioned players retired from football, with some passing on, their names seem to have come to stay in a region that has shown strong affinity with the game, since its early days in the country. Some of those names have stuck with the adoptees and, in some cases, they […]

Many years after some of the aforementioned players retired from football, with some passing on, their names seem to have come to stay in a region that has shown strong affinity with the game, since its early days in the country. Some of those names have stuck with the adoptees and, in some cases, they have  been replaced by their original names as my respondents explain.
After assembling a list of names, I set out to talk to the persons involved, and hear their side of the story regarding the social and economic influence of their new found names. I began with Hassan Zico who is my neighbour in Kano, whom I had known for over 20 years. Many people, including those very close to him, have testified to not actually knowing his first name, because the name “Zico” has overshadowed “Hassan,” his first name.
He answers the name everywhere he goes and leaves its imprint on all that he does. His kebab business is called Zico suya and he says all the formal letters and wedding invitations he gets, carry the Brazilian name instead of his birth name. “The 1982 World Cup was the first I followed and everyone knew Zico was the star of that tournament. Unlike today when matches could be broadcast live, at that time we relied on match reports from newspapers and radio stations and Zico was so good that his name was mentioned very often. I was playing football then and when I went  to play, the name was given to me by my teammates, who felt I anchor the midfield like the Brazilian.Since then the name has stuck with me; even my parents call me with the name.”
“I believe it has made me more popular and easily recognisable, coupled with my jovial nature.No wonder my kebab always sells on time.” He  points to the fact that the name does  benefit him economically.  
Haruna Beckenbeur (after German legendary footballer Franz Beckenbeur) is also another resident of Kano who, like Zico, says the name has done something for him since he adopted it in the late seventies. But he says he has never played football on a serious level. He said: “Popularity makes it easier for people to know you, and whenever you seek things such as in an election, they are more likely to vote for you since you are more widely known. I thank God, because whatever I seek from people I always get it. That is what I got from the name Beckenbeur. He had a calm and commanding presence in the German team of that time, and people noticed the similarities of how calmly I do things and named me after him.”  

Kaduna State has more of these names than my city of Kano, and during my trip to the city, I took out time to meet Coach Sanusi Tigana (named after French legend Jean Tigana) and Jamilu Koller, who bears the name of former Czech striker (Jan Koller).  
Tigana who now coaches Gamji football club said: “Tigana emerged as one of the best midfielders in the world, around the 1982 World Cup, at exactly the same time I started out as a young midfielder here in Kaduna with my club ‘Armour,’ and people were quick to notice the similarity in our playing styles, and that’s how I got the name. In terms of economic benefit, I wouldn’t say the name has opened doors for me, or maybe I haven’t really knocked in the first place. But one thing is  sure ,it has made me more popular in my local government and elsewhere.”   
Jamilu said features as physique, were considered in naming him Koller, adding: “At first I was against it because I didn’t know who the person was. It was later that I realised that he’s a popular footballer with Czech Republic. He usually keeps a bald head which I also happen to  maintain at the time and he is also tall just like me. Now, I can’t reject the name anymore, because it has spread really wide. All the people I know call me ‘Koller,’ I wouldn’t say I have benefited from the name in any way.”    

My final respondent, Sani Valderama, said he only bought a jersey that carried the name of the popular Columbian star Carlos Valderama in 1990 and that single act was responsible for people calling him “Valderama,” for over twenty years now. H said: “When I went to the market that day, my plan was just to buy an ordinary shirt .But when I saw the Columbian jersey with Valderama on it, I liked it and bought it. The name started from the first day I wore it, people started calling me ‘Valderama.’ The irony is that I can’t even find the jersey now, but the name has stuck with me, everyone calls me by that name now.”   

Finally, I spoke with Mallam Hussaini Haruna, the Imam of O.A.U Quarters, Area 3, Garki mosque,  Abuja, on the spiritual implications of this kind of name-change, especially considering the fact that Islam attaches so much importance to names given at birth.
Haruna said: “Names are part of one’s identity. As such it is the view of Islam that people should associate themselves with good names. Therefore, these foreign names, even if they have good meanings should be avoided as much as one can. This is because during the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) he came across a man and asked of his name, and the man said he was named Murra, in Arabic that means bitter. The prophet asked him to change the name if he could, due to the name’s unsavoury meaning.”
Today, football followership has reached unprecedented levels across the globe, especially in the last decade. This means there are names like Messi and Ronaldo, waiting to fully take over from the Zico’s and Beckenbeur’s, in a few years to come.