African Names

Rhythmic, strong, and buoyant.

Lissa might be an abbreviation of Melissa, but it's more substantial in its own right: Lissa is the name of a supreme mother goddess in African mythology and an Arabic symbol of rebirth.

Unlikely to take over Kenya's spot as the dominant African place-name.

Adverse associations with the ruthless Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

The raja sequence of sounds gives it a regal feel.

Gingery.

This town in northern Libya could find a spot on the name map.

Igbo name made more familiar by its relationship to the popular Belle and Bella.

The Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. Most Ghanaians have a name using this system (think Kofi Annan, whose name means born on a Friday).

One African choice that might be easier to understand if spelled phonetically: it's pronounced TAH-shee.

This name from the Igbo language of Africa, which feels like the more-familiar Arabic Ahmad, might be an original and attractive choice.

Kwadwo is a name given to men born on Monday in Western Africa, particularly Ghana and some parts of Togo and Ivory Coast. The female variant is Adwoa.

Will be frequently misunderstood as Pele or, worse, "pilly".

Wesley Snipes chose this distinctive East African name for his son.

A bright and melodic Swahili name with a positive meaning, Zuwena is particularly popular in Tanzania and Uganda. It also appears in the title of a song by Tanaznian artist Diamond Platnumz.

A relatively common French surname associated with sometimes scandalous French novelist/dramatist Jean Genet. The name may derive from genêt, the French name for the broom shrub. Alternatively, it can derive from the French forms of Eugene, John or Janet as an ancestral surname.

The Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. Most Ghanaians have a name using this system (think Kofi Annan, whose name means born on a Friday).

The Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. Most Ghanaians have a name using this system (think Kofi Annan, whose name means born on a Friday).

Nigerian-born supermodel Oluchi Orlandi brought this little-known (to non-Nigerians), lovely choice into the lexicon.

Akosua means "born on a Sunday," which relates the name to the sun and thus to fire.