Lifestyle

Do you want to know more about this name "Bello"? Read this

By Muyiwa Olayinka

I was at home with chilling when my daughter innocently popped up a question: “what is the real meaning of this name” Bello”.I was taken aback because it has never crossed my mind the full meaning of Bello.

Africans attach importance to names given to their children. It may be long or probably jaw breaking but it has in depth meanings.

“Bello” is a popular Nigerian name that cuts across almost all ethnic regions in Nigeria. It is common among the Hausas in the northern region of Nigeria and also with the Yorubas in the southwestern part of the country. It is synonymous with the adherents of Islamic religion.

Fortuitously, my wife’s maiden name is Bello. This actually led to the question my daughter raised.

The name is not common with other tribes in Nigeria, particularly among the south eastern part of Nigeria.. Majority are more of them are of Christian faith, basically Catholic and Anglican denominations.

A school of thought thinks the name originated from Ilorin, an ancient town of Kwara state, north central part of Nigeria. In Ilorin we have the Yorubas, Fualnis and the Hausas cohabiting, and together they share similarities in culture and names like Giwa, Bello and so on.

Some historian says Bello is a Fulani name with a pronunciation “Ballo” meaning helper. Just like the name Muhammadu in Arabic converted to Mohammed (in pronunciation), Ballo was pronounced Bello.

In addition, Usman Dan Fodio, the Fulani Islamic jihadist of the 19th century, named his son, Muhammadu Bello.

From another perspective, Bello is a nickname from “bellus” meaning “handsome”, “beautiful” in Latin. So if Uthman Dan Fodio that named his son Mohammed Bello, it means handsome Mohammed in Latin.

In medieval Italy, according to Wikipedia, Bello was also applied as a personal name, which also gave rise to surname. It is also a Spanish name

Some popular Bellos are:

PAndres Bello (1781-1865) Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, philosopher and educator

Marco Bello (1470-1523) Italian painter

Mohammed Bello (1930-2004) Nigerian former Chief Justice of the federation.

Concetto Lo Bello (1924-1991) Italian football referee

Oluwakemi Bello (now Olayinka) My darling wife but she’s still alive.

Next time you hear Bello, be rest assured that it is an old name dated many years back

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