KENYA: Mother names newborn twins Obama and Romney after Barack's election victory

Record ID: 362416

  • Title: KENYA: Mother names newborn twins Obama and Romney after Barack's election victory
  • Date: 7th November 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Luo) MOTHER OF BARACK OBAMA AND MITT ROMNEY, MILLICENT AWUOR, SAYING: "I gave birth to twins and I decided to name them after Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. I named the first twin Barack and the second one Mitt just the way Obama and Romney performed in the US election." MILLICENT BEING HELPED BACK ONTO HER BED OTHER NEW MOTHERS IN THE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Luo) B
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Quirky,Politics,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA2TEMBQDRT24XHJWZQYUB7XQ0F
  • Story Text: In a town near Obama's father's rural village, newborn twins have been named Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, as other single boys are named after the US president.

    The U.S. election has triggered a new generation of Barack Obamas and one Mitt Romney with parents in Kenya naming their newborns after the newly re-elected president and his defeated rival Mitt Romney.
    At the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital in Kisumu, western Kenya, Barack's ancestral homeland, several mothers were naming their babies after the U.S.'s first African-American president and Romney hours after official announcement that Obama had been re-elected .
    Millicent Awuor, 20, named her newly born twins Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney.
    "I gave birth to twins and I decided to name them after Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. I named the first twin Barack and the second one Mitt just the way Obama and Romney performed in the US election," said Awuor, a housewife.
    Another mother Monica Akinyi, said she wanted her baby to grow up to have the same successful traits as Obama.
    "I decided to name my child Barack Obama after the president of the U.S. because of his achievements and the developments he has brought here," said Akinyi.
    Obama has been elevated to rock star status in the east African nation which had named a beer, "president," after him during the last elections in 2008. Before he became president, there was a "Senator" beer.
    Obama, who was born in Hawaii to a white mother from Kansas and a Kenyan father, is idolized by many Africans in the way the Irish revered U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the 1960s -- as one of their own who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
    Eucabeth, a nurse at Nyanza general hospital said most parents from that region prefer naming their children after people around the world and it was not surprising to see them naming their children Mitt Romney.
    "Traditionally we find mothers naming their babies after famous people because even in 2008 during the election year some babies were named Barack others were named Joe Biden. So you find they tend to pick after people who are in high positions in society or wherever," said Eucabeth, a nurse at Nyanza hospital.
    The name Barack means blessed while Obama was the given name of his great-grandfather that became his grandfather's surname.
    ENDS
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