Actor Antar Laniyan Shares Story Behind His Unique Name: “My Mum Ate a ‘Lizard’ To Give Birth to Me”

• Antar Laniyan, in an emotional video making waves on social media, shared the mystery behind his name
• The Nollywood actor opened up about what happened to his mother during his pregnancy and what led her to name him after an animal
• His revelation has sparked conversation on social media as many Nigerian netizens shared diverse opinions

Nollywood actor and film director Antar Laniyan has sparked conversation online with a video where he shared the story behind his name.

While speaking on Behind The Fame, Antar recalled the action his mother took after overstaying in her womb for 18 months.

He disclosed that his now-late mother was required to eat a lizard-like creature known as Anta in the Yoruba language to facilitate his birth.

According to the filmmaker, there can never be another Antar because there’s a story behind the name.

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"There’s a story behind it, and I like telling it at times because I want every individual to know the importance of having a mother: a good mother, a great one,” he said.

The Nollywood actor explained that many people never fully understand the challenges their mothers endured before their birth.

“The kind of things that our mother passed through before they gave birth to us individually, we do not know because we were not there. But when a mother goes into telling you how you came to be, you will weep for yourself," he said.

When asked what the name meant, Laniyan revealed that he had remained in his mother’s womb far longer than usual.

“I overstayed in my mother’s womb; I stayed 18 months, according to her." “People around were wondering what was wrong. I mean, something must have gone wrong, not medically. So it could be spiritual. She had to eat something in Yoruba called Anta. It looks like a lizard, smaller than a crocodile.

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"So my mother didn’t see anything wrong with adding that thing to my name. She had to take it. They had to prepare it for her. She took it. An hour later, I came," he said.

However, the original name did not stay the same.

“When I got to primary school and my friends were playing with the name, I added an R to make it Antar," he said.

The video of actor Antar Laniyan sharing the mystery behind his name is below:

Comments about Antar Laniyan's name

Legit.ng compiled some of the reactions, read the comments below:

Olamaniia said:

"If you like no do consultation about your life too just Dey sleep Dey wake like white men."

OluwaKamal commented:

"Adding that to his name shows how creative his mum is."

baethiks said:

"Everywhere I go in the world, I tell them the Yorubas don’t just give names without reason. I mean the real Yorubas."

YusufSa4283310 wrote:

"In those days Yoruba named their child based on what happened during or before the child’s birth but not anymore olaju ti fo gbogbo e loju."

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lowkeypayz commented:

"My grandad spent 3 years that he was named “omope ninu” shortened to “omope."

Big_Fella said:

"The animal Antar should be monitor lizard."

Man with unusual name goes viral

Legit.ng previously reported that a 21-year-old Nigerian man, @DestinyOtumala, attracted netizens' attention on X because of his name, which was not common in Nigeria.

He had shown netizens an image which contained his full name, and this sparked people's interest.

The image that @DestinyOtumala posted showed his full name is Destiny Otumala Ronaldo.

Source: Legit.ng