Did you know that the initial names of the founding father of the nation, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta were not Jomo Kenyatta? Well, his names changed five times.
Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was born on 20th October 1891 to Muigai wa Kung's and Wambui wa Kung’u, and was initially called Kamau Wa Muigai (Kamau son of Muigai).
After his father’s death at a young age, he was taken in by one of his uncles, uncle Ngengi. This made him change his name to Kamau wa Ngengi.
In 1914, his name changed to Johnstone Kamau wa Ngengi. He acquired Johnstone was a Christian name he acquired after being baptized by the Church Missionaries of Scotland (CMS) mission after undergoing a three years training at Thogoto in Kiambu.
According to some historical reports, he had some relatives in Narok. He regularly visited his Maasai relatives. In the process, he fell in love with the beaded Maasai belts, popularly known as Kinyatta.
In 1928, he dropped his second and third names and became Johnstone Kenyatta.
In 1938, Kenyatta he changed his names to Jomo Kenyatta. This was after his supervisor Professor Bronislaw Malinowski from the London School of Economics (LSE) advised him to change his names. He had to Africanize his thesis he had gone to present in the UK.
Kenyatta picked Jomo which he said were a good combination for Johnstone and Muigai.