What to Wear to a Nigerian Naming Ceremony

Saturday morning, somebody's family house, and about four days' notice.

The message comes in on Tuesday. The ceremony is Saturday morning, at the family house or a hall nearby, and you are expected. Nobody says anything about what to wear because everybody is assumed to know.

Naming ceremonies get far less written about them than weddings and they have their own rules entirely. Getting them wrong is more noticeable, because the guest list is smaller and everybody can see everybody.

It is a morning event, and that changes everything

Most start around ten or eleven. Daylight, often partly outdoors, and usually finished by mid-afternoon.

Which rules out a lot of things that would be perfectly fine at a wedding reception. Anything sheer, anything with a low back, anything that reads as evening wear. Morning light is unforgiving and the photographs will be taken in it.

The room is mostly family, and mostly older

This is the thing to understand before anything else. A naming ceremony is a family occasion, there will be prayers, and the people who matter in that room are usually two generations above you.

So cover properly. Shoulders, a longer hem, a higher neckline. You do not need to dress conservatively in the sense of dull, but you do need to dress respectfully, and those are not the same thing.

If there is a religious element, and there usually is, assume you will need your shoulders covered for part of it. Carry something if your dress does not do it on its own.

If aso ebi was sent

Wear it. Naming ceremonies use aso ebi less often than weddings do, but when fabric has been sent it means you are being counted as part of the family group, and that is not something to opt out of.

If you were not sent any, do not try to guess the colours. Wearing something close to the family colour without being part of the group reads worse than wearing something else entirely.

Dress for holding a baby

You will be handed the baby. Possibly for longer than you expect, and probably while somebody is taking a photograph.

Which is a genuine styling consideration. Avoid heavy necklaces and large earrings, both of which small hands find immediately. Avoid anything you have to hold in place, because you will not have a free hand. And anything delicate enough to worry about is the wrong dress for the day.

What actually works

A well cut midi in a good fabric, in a colour that is rich rather than pale. Something with a bit of detail so it reads as an occasion, with enough coverage that you are comfortable through prayers and family photographs.

Low heels or a block heel. You will be standing on uneven ground at some point, probably in a compound, and thin heels and sand do not work together.

Carry a light wrap. It covers your shoulders when the prayers start, goes over the baby when the sun is direct, and sits in your bag the rest of the time.

What to avoid

White, for the same reason as any other ceremony, since somebody is being presented and it is not you. Anything sheer or backless, which belongs to a different kind of event entirely. And anything so striking that people remember your outfit rather than the morning, because this is not the occasion for it.

For this kind of day the Willow works well when you want something with a sense of occasion, and the Iris when the ceremony is smaller and the register is closer to a family gathering.

Shop AMARAÉ for occasion dresses that suit a family morning. Delivery across Nigeria and worldwide.

Read next: Nigerian Wedding Dress Codes, Event by Event

Read next: How to Choose an Occasion Dress for Your Body Type