Browse Names - Behind the Name

Aadan m Somali
Possibly a Somali form of Adam.

Aamadu m Fula
Fula form of Ahmad.

Aamina f Arabic, Somali
Alternate transcription of Arabic آمنة (see Amina 1), as well as the Somali form.

Aaminata f Fula
Fula form of Amina 1.

Abdou m Western African, Northern African
Form of Abduh common in West and North Africa.

Abdoul m Western African
Form of Abdul used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Abdoulaye m Western African
Form of Abd Allah used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Abdullaahi m Fula
Fula form of Abd Allah.

Abdullahi m Hausa
Hausa form of Abd Allah.

Abeba f Amharic
Means "flower" in Amharic.

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

Abeni f Yoruba
Means "we prayed and we received" in Yoruba.

Aberash f Amharic
Means "giving off light, shining" in Amharic.

Abidemi m & f Yoruba
Means "born in my absence" in Yoruba. It is typically given to children born when the father is away.

Abimbola f & m Yoruba
Means "born to me with wealth" in Yoruba.

Abiodun m & f Yoruba
Means "born on a festival" in Yoruba.

Abiola f & m Yoruba
Means "born into wealth" in Yoruba.

Abioye m & f Yoruba
Means "born into royalty" in Yoruba.

Abosede f Yoruba
Means "comes with the start of the week" in Yoruba, given when the child is born on Sunday.

Aboubacar m Western African
Form of Abu Bakr used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Abubakar m Hausa, Fula
Form of Abu Bakr used in Nigeria.

Achieng f Luo
Feminine form of Ochieng.

Adaeze f Igbo
Means "eldest daughter of the king" in Igbo.

Adamou m Western African
Form of Adam used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Adanna f Igbo
Means "eldest daughter of the father" in Igbo.

Adannaya f Igbo
Means "eldest daughter of her father" in Igbo.

Ade 1 m & f Yoruba
From Yoruba adé meaning "crown", also a short form of other names beginning with this element.

Adebayo m Yoruba
Means "the crown meets joy" in Yoruba.

Adebola m & f Yoruba
Means "the crown meets wealth" in Yoruba.

Adebowale m & f Yoruba
Means "the crown has returned home" in Yoruba.

Adedayo m & f Yoruba
Means "the crown becomes joy" in Yoruba.

Adegoke m Yoruba
Means "the crown has ascended the mountain" in Yoruba.

Adekunle m Yoruba
Means "the crown has filled the home" in Yoruba.

Ademola m Yoruba
Means "the crown is with wealth" in Yoruba.

Adenike f Yoruba
Means "the crown is to be cared for" in Yoruba.

Adeola f & m Yoruba
Means "the crown of wealth" in Yoruba. It is also a surname.

Adetokunbo m & f Yoruba
Means "the crown returns from over the sea" in Yoruba.

Adewale m Yoruba
Means "the crown has come home" in Yoruba.

Adhiambo f Luo
Feminine form of Odhiambo.

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

Adjoa f Akan
Variant of Adwoa.

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

Adzo f Ewe
Ewe form of Adwoa.

Afi f Ewe
Ewe form of Afua.

Afia f Akan
Variant of Afua.

Afolabi m Yoruba
Means "born into wealth" in Yoruba.

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

Ahmadu m Hausa
Hausa form of Ahmad.

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

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]

Aishatu f Hausa
Hausa variant of Aisha.

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

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

Akachi m & f Igbo
Means "the hand of God" in Igbo.

Akinyi f Luo
Means "born in the morning" in Luo.

Akli m Berber
Means "slave, servant, black" in Tamazight.

Akosua f Akan
Means "born on Sunday" in Akan.

Akpan m Ibibio
Means "first-born son" in Ibibio.

Akpofure m & f Urhobo
Means "life is peaceful" in Urhobo.

Aku 2 f Ewe
Ewe form of Akua.

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

Akuchi f & m Igbo
Means "wealth from God" in Igbo.

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

Alassane m Western African
Form of Al-Hasan used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Alemayehu m & f Amharic
Means "I have seen the world" in Amharic.

Alhaji m Hausa
Means "the pilgrim" in Hausa, a derivative of Arabic حجّ (ḥajj) meaning "pilgrimage, hajj". It is typically a title, not a name.

Alhassan m Western African
Form of Al-Hasan used in West Africa.

Alheri f Hausa
Means "the charitable, the good" in Hausa, from Arabic خير (khayr).

Alinafe f & m Chewa
Means "he or she is with us" in Chewa.

Aliyu m Hausa
Hausa form of Ali 1.

Ama f Akan
Means "born on Saturday" in Akan.

Amadi 1 m Igbo
Means "freeborn man" in Igbo.

Amadi 2 m Yoruba (Rare)
Possibly means "seemed destined to die at birth" in Yoruba.

Amadou m Western African
Form of Ahmad used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Amadu m Western African
Form of Ahmad used in West Africa.

Amahle m & f Zulu
Means "the beautiful ones" in Zulu.

Amaka f Igbo
Short form of Chiamaka.

Amara f Igbo
Means "grace" in Igbo.

Amarachi f Igbo
Means "God's grace" in Igbo.

Amastan m Tuareg
Means "protector" in Tamazight.

Amayas m Tuareg
Means "cheetah" in Tamazight.

Ameqran m Berber
Means "large, great" in Tamazight.

Ameẓyan m Berber
Means "small" in Tamazight.

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.

Aminata f Western African
Form of Amina 1 used in West Africa.

Aminatou f Western African
Form of Amina 1 used in parts of French-influenced West Africa.

Aminu m Hausa
Hausa form of Amin.

Amogelang m & f Tswana
Derived from Tswana amogela meaning "welcome, accept".

Amondi f Luo
Feminine form of Omondi.

Anan 1 m & f Akan
Means "fourth born child" in Akan.

Andile m & f Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele
Means "they have increased" in Zulu, Xhosa and Ndebele.

Annet f Dutch, Eastern African
Dutch variant of Annette, also in use in East Africa.

Anuli f Igbo
Means "joy" in Igbo.

Asabe f Hausa
From Hausa Asabar meaning "Saturday" (of Arabic origin).

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

Ashura f Swahili
From the name of an Islamic holy day that commemorates the death of Husayn ibn Ali. It is so named because it falls on the tenth day of Muharram, deriving from Arabic عشرة (ʿashara) meaning "ten".

Asma'u f Hausa
Hausa form of Asma.

Atieno f Luo
Feminine form of Otieno.

Awa f Western African
Form of Hawa typical of West Africa.

Awiti f Luo
Means "thrown away" in Luo, possibly used for a child born prematurely.

Awotwi m & f Akan
Means "eighth born child" in Akan.

Axmed m Somali
Somali form of Ahmad.

Ayaan 2 f Somali
Means "good luck" in Somali.

Ayan 3 f Somali
Variant of Ayaan 2.

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

Ayanda m & f Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele
Means "they are increasing" in Zulu, Xhosa and Ndebele.

Ayele m Amharic
Means "become strong, become powerful" in Amharic.

Ayo f & m Yoruba
From Yoruba ayọ̀ meaning "joy", or a short form of other names containing this element.

Ayodele m & f Yoruba
Means "joy has come home" in Yoruba.

Ayokunle m Yoruba
Means "joy has filled the home" in Yoruba.

Ayomide f & m Yoruba
Means "my joy has arrived" in Yoruba.

Ayotunde m & f Yoruba
Means "joy has come again" in Yoruba.

Ayuba m Hausa
Hausa form of Job.

Azubuike m Igbo
Means "the past is your strength" or "your back is your strength" in Igbo.

Usage	clear
Language	clear
Place	clear

Initial	clear
Start	clear
End	clear
Substring	clear
Pattern	clear help?
the letters in the pattern are compared to the letters in the name * is a wildcard that matches zero or more letters example: oo matches names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that matches exactly one letter example: __z matches names which have two letters and then z

Meaning	clear help?
	expand search to include grammatical forms
	expand search to include close synonyms
	expand search to include subclasses
	expand search to related names
separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to include grammatical forms: attempt to include grammatical forms of the meanings example: speak includes spoke expand search to include close synonyms: attempt to include synonyms of the meanings example: brave includes courageous expand search to include search narrower synonyms: attempt to include subclasses of the meanings example: reptile includes turtle expand search to related names: allow related names to inherit the meaning of the main form
Description	clear help?
	ignore name meanings
the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" matches names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus matches Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored

Pronunciation	clear help?
	case sensitive
see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee matches names which end with the sound lee* _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter in the pronunciation example: __z matches names which have two letters and then a z (s) matches exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)ra matches names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) matches a consonant (k) matches a consonant or consonant cluster (v) matches a vowel (p) matches a plosive or stop consonant (f) matches a fricative consonant (n) matches a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
Syllables	clear help?
syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results

Related name	clear
Relationship	clear help?
	expand search to ancestral names
the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive matches Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* excludes peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree are included

Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community

List	clear
Year	clear
Rank	clear

Country	clear
Month	clear
Day	clear

Sort	clear
Display	clear