Jamaican reggae artist Everton Blender has explained how his daughter, Jamaican podcast host and vocalist Chisomo Williams, came to have a Malawian name. He recalled that a live radio broadcast helped confirm the choice with her mother.
In a Saturday Facebook post, Blender, born Everton Dennis Williams, traced the story back to Kingston, Jamaica.
A team scouting artists for Malawi’s Power 101 FM was moving around the city when its members spotted the number 101 displayed on a wall. That chance discovery led to further conversations and eventually to Blender’s journey to Malawi.
The trip took on added significance when Blender and his family were choosing a name for their newborn daughter.
With no name settled on, someone in Malawi suggested “Chisomo.” Still seeking a final choice, Blender called IRIE FM and spoke with radio host Elise Kelly.
“We are looking for a beautiful name for my daughter. Can you help us find one?” he recalled asking.
Kelly endorsed the name and urged Blender to tell the baby’s mother, Mama Phil, to give it to their daughter. She then announced the decision on air: “Mama Phil, he has agreed, so you should give your daughter the name Chisomo!”
In Malawi’s Chichewa language, Chisomo means “grace” and is also associated with blessing.
The name became a bridge between Blender’s Jamaican family and Malawi, linking two places through a story shaped by many voices.
Years later, at a friend’s birthday celebration, Chisomo, now in her late twenties, met another woman with the same name, prompting a reminder of its origins.
The connection between Jamaica and Malawi also appears in the family of fellow Jamaican artist Queen Ifrica, who named her son Malawi, a name said to mean “flames of fire.”
