Nine Ways To Name Your Child In Africa

Traditional African names often have unique stories behind them. From the day or time a baby is born to the circumstances surrounding the birth, several factors influence the names parents choose for their children.

Whichever ethnic group you look at, these local names reveal a wealth of information about the bearer.Here are nine different ways African parents name their children:

• happiness to their Yoruba parents in Nigeria.
• Yetunde or Yewande (mother has come back) is a Yoruba name given to a girl whose grandmother or other female relative died before she was born.
• Adetokunbo (crown/wealth has come back home) is a unisex Yoruba name often given to a child born abroad.
• Ajuji (born on a rubbish heap) is a Hausa name given to a baby after those born before it failed to survive. It is believed that giving the child a "terrible" name will deceive evil spirits into thinking the child is not loved and as a result, allow it to live.
• Kgomotso and Pumza (comfort) are given to babies born shortly after a death or tragedy in Sesotho and Xhosa families in South Africa.
• Kiptanui and Cheptanui are often given to babies whose mothers may have suffered extreme difficulties during childbirth among the Kalenjin ethnic group in Kenya.
• Kimaiyo and Jemaiyo are names sometimes given to baby boys and girls whose births coincide with men drinking locally brewed beer (Maiywek) among the Kalenjins.
• Misrak (east) was given to an Ethiopian baby girl whose father was in Japan at the time she was born.
• Lindiwe (we have waited) is an isiZulu name often given to a baby girl after a long line of boys.