...but you can just call me Chiddy

My name is Chukwudubem Chijioke Daniel Umeano.

What are your first thoughts when you read it? "Bit of a mouthful?" "Where on earth is that from... does his name even fit on a passport?"

Let me break it down. My parents are both Nigerian, Igbos in fact, both hailing from Anambra State in the south east of Nigeria. I have 4 siblings, 3 sisters (yikes) and a brother, and our parents were adamant in giving us all Igbo names with ties to our Christian faith.

My first name is Chukwudubem, which means God guides me. A simple but powerful meaning, one I believe has held true throughout my life. In fact, “Chukwu” and “Chi” are interchangeable in Igbo language, both meaning God. Therefore Chukwudubem and Chidubem are essentially the same name, the latter being the name I predominantly go by within my family.

From Chidubem it is a bit easier to see where my nickname “Chiddy” derived from, but there is a second layer to its origin; my father. His name is Chukwudi, or Chidi (meaning: there is God), and when I was a child he used to help run football training for our Saturday league side. There it was noticed that I had (/still have?) a striking resemblance to my dad, so the kids started calling me “Chidi Jr”.

The reason for the change in spelling? I have no real answer for that one - let’s call it a natural evolution. But the name stuck and I like it; the similarity of the name ties me closely to my dad, while the different spelling represents my own individual path through life.

I tend to use “Chiddy” in most informal contexts, but I am fiercely proud of my full name and what it means. I really appreciate when people make efforts to pronounce it correctly and I took special delight in hearing the decent attempts to say my full name during my two graduation ceremonies in 2022. It really isn’t too difficult to say either as it’s written phonetically – just say it as it is. Chook-wu-du-bem.

Has my name got me into any sticky situations? I guess you could say that. Registrations at the start of a new school year were always daunting. You know when you’re a little shy so you want to draw as little attention as possible? Impossible when every teacher under the sun is fumbling your name.

"Just call me Chiddy"

“Ch-ch-chuck-”“That’s me miss, just call me Chiddy.” was the usual state of affairs. Things are better now I have more confidence to speak up, but it is still sometimes a bit of a pain when meeting new people for the first time.

Other situations? Applications are fun. I have heard of people hiding their real names from CVs, which unfortunately has been shown to increase chances of bypassing the first screening during job applications. I fully understand this tactic, but I have refrained from using it myself: if a company or university really believes in me, then they should take me as I am. I sometimes sense an initial shock during interviews when they realise that the candidate named Chukwudubem is in fact, a British national with a British accent.

I realise that I have waffled along about my first name and not delved at all into the others. Here’s a quick rundown:

Chijioke is another Igbo name (notice again the Chi), which means something like God holds all gifts (I had to google this one, whoops). Daniel is my baptismal name, so naturally the inspiration is the courageous Bible fellow who was rescued from the lion’s den. Believe it or not, even this fairly common western name has a meaning; this time derived from the Hebrew language: God is my judge.

My family name, Umeano? I don’t know as much about it as I should. All I know is a lot of great men and women down the years have held this name; visiting the road in Nigeria bearing this name was a source of great pride. I hope to fly the Umeano flag to even greater heights

So there you have it. A long breakdown for a long name!