Whoopy Yun! what is the meaning?

Dear reader,

I think it’s important we start from the very beginning, Who is Whoopy Yun or What is Whoopy Yun?

I am Omobolanle Afolasade ADEDEJI, a lot of you know me as Whoopy Yun. One question I get regularly is How did you come about the name “WHOOPY YUN”

I am from Ibadan Nigeria, the second child of Atinuke Gladys Osifeso and I am sure of what number i am amongst my father’s children but my dad is Alhaji Chief Suara Elegbeowo Raji, from Isale Osi, Ibadan, however, I lived with my grandmother Funso Aderinola Osifeso, we call her FAO but others call her “Mama Marindoti”.  (her story will be in another episode), but she raised me. Born, schooled and grew up in Ibadan, so you see, I have no affiliation whatsoever to China or America, how then did you get the name Whoopy Yun? Maybe from the features of my face, I have a round face with small nose, small mouth and tiny eyes like most Chinese.

Well.. the name Whoopy Yun evolved over time, yes you read that right, its an evolution, lol.  When I was in secondary school, I was called different names, from black Chinese, Black Chinco, Chinco, black Jet Li, Yun Chun etc, I was called mostly “Black Yun Chun”, to tease me, insult me, to bully me or to complement me, not sure which, I guess I will never know, because I didn’t care to know, I be confirm  Omo’Badan, Ibadan girl to the bone, insult rarely moves me, so like most insults I get, I just laugh it out. over time I started calling myself black Yun Chun too, why not, it sounds so cool and I don’t have a nickname then and most importantly, so no one can call me names to hurt me, then it stick, my nickname became “Black Yun Chun”.

Trust young people now, black Yun Chun was just too long, so black was removed and most people just call me Yun Chun. The only Chinese girl in my school, so cool right, not so cool at first though.

It took me years to gain admission into the university about 5 years, that will be another episode of ADVENTURE OF WHOOPY YUN. so I had the name Whoopy Yun for a long time, eventually I got into the University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife to study Demography & Social Statistics. My classmates call Whoopy Yun,  200 level (I guess) a lecturer came into our class because of my hairdo, he said I remind him of an American actress Whoopie Goldberg that acted the ghost, he spent his 2 hours lecture time to tell us about the movie, the second time he showed up in the class, he said the same thing, that I remind him of Whoopie Goldberg and he kept calling me Whoopie, so some of my classmates that doesn’t know my nickname started calling me Whoopie, even those who knew me as Whoopy Yun started calling me “Whoopie Yun Chun”, wahala!!! Like before, I just laugh and answer everyone, by 300 level, the name became Whoopie Yun, I started customizing my shirts as ‘WHOOPY YUN” my name has to be different I am not carrying some else’s identity around, even though I love Whoopie Goldberg myself, I wanted my name to be different.

Fast forward to when I wanted to start my business, I thought of Elegbaowo, my father’s name, it has to do with trade, I thought of Osifeso, because I love my grandmother, but I needed the name to be unique, something that people will remember so I stick with my nickname “WHOOPY YUN”. When my partner came on board, we agree to continue with the name, we now have “WHOOPY YUN FASHION HOUSE” “WHOOPY YUN LTD”, ‘WHOOPY YUN COLLEGE” and “WHOOPY YUN FOUNDATION”.

What do you think Whoopy Yun mean?

XoXo Whoopy Yun.