What is it with northerners and Mahama?

When we do a simple surgical analysis of the northern part of Ghana, we will come up with a tall list of prominent Ghanaians who bear the name Mahama.

Just do a quick cursory glance at the north and “Mahamas” keep popping out like snow in a winter storm. A mention can be made of former president John Dramani Mahama, the late Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, renowned artist Ibrahim Mahama who coincidentally shares the same name as the business mogul and brother of former President Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, founding member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and former Minister of Defence, Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, former flagbearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr. Edward Mahama, Ghana’s current ambassador to the United States, Hajia Alima Mahama, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, former New Patriotic Party Regional Chairman of the Upper East region, late Adam Mahama, and the list goes on.

And there are many more others in obscure places who bear the signature name Mahama. Any attempt to get hold of the number of people who take the name Mahama will be an impossible task - like how Covid variants are evading the latest vaccines.

My own dad is known in private life as Mahama. In fact, all his official documents including his passport have the name Mahama. But for adding our family name Awaf to his name, my dad would have been called Mahama Ibrahim.

But has it ever struck you to wonder where that name originated from?

The primordial instincts of many people might be to assume it’s perhaps a traditional name. Ouch, that’s not quite right.

Take a second guess. An Arabic name? Well, You might be a bit close but mmm … (scratching my head)

Growing up, my surname was Mahama so my full name when I started kindergarten was Abdul-Karim Mahama. As for Awaf, it was a later addition when I was registering for my BECE and that’s a story for another day.

But one day, during my Arabic classes (Makaranta) early on in life, the lid was opened - My Mallam (An Arabic word for teacher) asked everyone to mention their favorite Arabic name. One child said Mohammed and our Mallam was impressed and nodded. With a childhood self-assuredness and pride that betrayed every caution, I also mentioned Mahama.

Then my Mallam corrected me; it was either Mohammed or Ahmed but there is nothing like Mahama.

I looked at him with bulging eyes. His correction didn’t sync with me. But I buried my confusion in my head. The next day, I asked my dad to clear my doubt for me. And he said my Mallam was right after all. Mahama was a corruption of the name Mohammed!

According to my dad, when Islam started spreading from the north, many first and second-generations of converts took the name, Mohammed. (In Islam, converts are often encouraged to choose any Muslim name they like to mark their new beginning in the faith even though it’s not compulsory to change one’s name so far as the name you bear has a positive meaning.)

My dad added that since many of these people were new to Islam and had difficulty pronouncing the name Mohammed, they corrupted it as Mahama. So those who went to school carried it there and it got stuck! Others too inherited the name from their fathers and in order to preserve the lineage of their families, they kept the name as it had been known.

Upon hearing this story, I made the decision to correct that historical error. That was when my surname changed from Mahama to Mohammed.

Mohammed, Muhammad, or Ahmed, named after the 14th-century prophet of the Islamic faith, is one of the most revered and popular Arabic names in the world but how the people of the five northern regions of Ghana decided to corrupt it to Mahama is a puzzle that needs to be solved.

That notwithstanding, the name Mahama has evolved to become an irresistible nomenclature in Ghanaian parlance and many more children will be named Mahama to carry on with the legacy.

Oh did I also tell you that Mahama is not the only name that has suffered this terrible butchering? Did you know that it’s pronounced Abdul-Rahman NOT Dramani, Abdul NOT Awudu, Hussein NOT Fuseini, Abu Bakr NOT Bukari or Abukari? The list is endless.

Well, let’s call it a shibboleth that comes rolling off the lips of people from the north any time they pronounce certain names or words.

Ba easy ba ooo (In Hausa).