Browse Names - Behind the Name

Abeba f Amharic
Means "flower" in Amharic.

Abena f Akan
Means "born on Tuesday" in Akan.

Adisa m & f Yoruba
Means "bundled up and set to dry" in Yoruba.

Adwoa f Akan
Means "born on Monday" in Akan.

Afua f Akan
Means "born on Friday" in Akan.

Aisha f Arabic, Urdu, Hausa, Swahili, Kazakh, African American
Means "living, alive" in Arabic. This was the name of Muhammad's third wife, the daughter of Abu Bakr. Some time after Muhammad's death she went to war against Ali, the fourth caliph, but was defeated. Her name is used more by Sunni Muslims and less by Shias.... [more]

Aïssa f Western African
Form of Aisha used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Akua f Akan
Means "born on Wednesday" in Akan.

Alaba f & m Yoruba
Means "second child after twins" in Yoruba.

Amaka f Igbo
Short form of Chiamaka.

Amara f Igbo
Means "grace" in Igbo.

Amina 1 f Arabic, Bosnian, Tatar, Bashkir, Chechen, Ingush, Kazakh, Urdu, Swahili, Hausa
Derived from Arabic أمن (ʾamina) meaning "safe, secure". This was the name of the Prophet Muhammad's mother, who died when he was young.

Asha 2 f Swahili
From Swahili ishi meaning "live, exist", derived from Arabic عاش (ʿāsha).

Ayana 1 m Ethiopian
Meaning unknown (possibly Amharic or Oromo).

Ayuba m Hausa
Hausa form of Job.

Chika 1 f & m Igbo
Means "God is greater" in Igbo.

Chima m & f Igbo
Means "God knows" in Igbo, derived from Chi 2, referring to God, and má meaning "know".

Dada m & f Yoruba
Means "curly hair" in Yoruba.

Desta f & m Amharic
Means "joy" in Amharic.

Dihya f Berber
Meaning unknown. This was the real name of the Berber queen Kahina.

Ebuka m Igbo
Short form of Chukwuebuka and other Igbo names ending with the same element.

Efua f Akan
Variant of Afua.

Ekua f Akan
Variant of Akua.

Emeka m Igbo
Short form of Chukwuemeka and other Igbo names ending with the same element.

Haoua f Western African
Form of Hawa used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Hauwa f Hausa
Hausa form of Hawa.

Hawa f Arabic, Swahili
Arabic form of Eve.

Juma m Arabic, Pashto, Swahili
Means "Friday" or "week" in Arabic.

Maina m Kikuyu
Means "sing, dance" in Kikuyu. Kikuyu males were traditionally organized into age sets or generations, each lasting about 30 years. The Maina generation occupied the last part of the 19th century.

Musa m Arabic, Turkish, Hausa, Urdu, Bengali, Indonesian, Malay
Arabic form of Moses appearing in the Quran.

Nana 4 m & f Akan
From an Akan word used as a title of a monarch.

Neema f Swahili
Means "divine grace" in Swahili, from Arabic نعمة (niʿma) meaning "blessing".

Nneka f Igbo
Means "mother is greater" in Igbo.

Nsia m & f Akan
Means "sixth born child" in Akan.

Retha f Afrikaans, English
Short form of Margaretha.

Sara f Hebrew, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Galician, Romanian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, Macedonian, Polish, English, Arabic, Persian, Amharic, Tigrinya, Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Latin
Form of Sarah used in various languages.

Sauda f Swahili
Meaning uncertain, possibly a variant of Sawda.

Simba 1 m Shona
Means "power, strength" in Shona.

Simba 2 m Swahili
Means "lion" in Swahili. This is the name of the main character in the Disney movie The Lion King (1994), about a lion cub who exiles himself after his father is murdered.

Thema f Akan
Means "queen" in Akan.

Uzoma m & f Igbo
Means "good way" in Igbo.

Xafsa f Somali
Somali form of Hafsa.

Yalwa f & m Hausa
Means "abundance" in Hausa.

Zodwa f Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele
Short form of Ntombizodwa.

Zola 2 f & m Xhosa
From the Xhosa root -zola meaning "calm".

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