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Baby Names 2015: Barack Obama Inspires Unique Trend In Kenya

Obamamania is here.
President Barack Obama, waves as he leaves the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2015, for a trip to trip to Kenya and Ethiopia. Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Kenya, his ancestral homeland, when he arrives Friday to attend a business summit and meetings with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Obama will become the first U.S. president to travel to Ethiopia when he lands there Sunday to confer with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and to address the African Union, which is headquartered there. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Barack Obama, waves as he leaves the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2015, for a trip to trip to Kenya and Ethiopia. Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Kenya, his ancestral homeland, when he arrives Friday to attend a business summit and meetings with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Obama will become the first U.S. president to travel to Ethiopia when he lands there Sunday to confer with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and to address the African Union, which is headquartered there. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

U.S. President Barack Obama has inspired a unique baby name trend. According to AFP, at least eight Kenyan children were named in honour of the President after he touched down in the country on Friday.

“Mothers are interested and inspired to name their babies after the U.S. president, hoping for blessing and success,” Eunice Omolo, the maternity ward direct at Nairobi’s Avenue Group hospital, explained. “Other mothers have named their girls after Obama’s family in the U.S.”

AFP reports that since the President’s visit, three babies have been named Michelle, Malia and Malia Sasha after Obama’s wife and daughters, while two other babies have been named after the President’s plane.

“I have decided to call my baby AirForceOne Barack Obama so that we can all remember Obama's visit to Kenya because it is a huge blessing,” Lucy Akinyi Okoth, one of the mothers, explained.

Another fellow mom, Lucy Atieno, said: “I have been told that it is the best aeroplane because it carries a very powerful leader of America who is also a Kenyan.”

Obama’s father was Kenyan, which is why many people in the country feel a strong connection towards the U.S. president. In fact, there is so much love for him that two schools were named “Senator Obama” after the President paid a visit to his father’s village, Nyang'oma Kogelo, in 2006.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time President Obama has inspired a surge in baby names. When he was first elected in 2008, couples in the U.S. began naming their children after him. For instance, one Florida boy who was born right before the election was named Sanjae Obama Fisher, and an Arkansas boy who was born on the day of was named Benjamin Barack Kimbrough.

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