Life Story

When people name their kids in America, they often chose a name because they like the sound of it, or use the name of a relative. In Japan, they do the same, but they also take the kanji character(s) that will be used into serious consideration, wanting to convey a positive message, and sometimes a certain number of brush strokes.

In Ethiopia, some people name their children after people in the Bible, such as Dewit (David) and Yared (a 6th century musician and, later, saint), but many of the names have meanings related to what the parents are experiencing/feeling at the time. This differs to the American and Japanese examples, because there seems to be more emphasis on the parents. For example, Dereje said his name means prosperity, so maybe his parents felt things were going well for them at that point. His oldest brother's name is light (a form of the verb to shine), since they must've felt he was a gift from Heaven. Then the next child was a girl, and maybe feeling the same way, they just went ahead and named her Heaven, followed by Dereje/Prosperity. In the 70s, they had a girl they named "to replace" the old with the new. This was in reference to the Socialist government that had just come into power and replaced all the old officials (and, apparently, their hope of prosperity). The next child, a son, was named Sintayehu, meaning I have seen so much. The youngest two brothers are named Dewit and Yared, but he said his parents didn't chose these names. After the children were born, the neighbors began calling them by these names, and his parents simply agreed!
For Dereje's own daughters, his first one's name means in thanks to God, because he said he had gone through some troublesome times before that, and felt deep gratitude to God to deliver him to that happy point in his life. His second daughter's name, Eden, which is in reference to the biblical place and which Dereje considers to mean heaven, was actually suggested to him by his brother (possibly an ode to his sister Heaven, who died tragically young). Considering that Ethiopian families are quite large, it's interesting to imagine the reason they choose certain names; it's as if children are literally their life story.