African baby names - full of meaning

Does your name reflect your personality?

Names of African native derivations are so exotic, full of meaning and significant - Barack in Swahili means ‘blessing’. In Africa, it is believed that the choice of a child’s names greatly influence the life of a child as most of them have specific meaning. Some names reflect the day of birth like Kwame meaning ‘Saturday child’, while some depends on the prevailing circumstance at that time or the environment such as Lekan which means ‘my wealth is growing’ and  Ayodele meaning ‘return of happiness’. Some names carry high expectations such as Zuberi which means ‘powerful’ and some could even have significant repercussions in a child’s life, like Ashanti which means ‘aggressive, warlike’.

African is the second largest and second most populous continent in the world. It covers 6% of the earth’s surface area (about 30.2 million km²) and 20.4% land area which habours about 15% of the world’s population. In this massive continent, many languages are being spoken within the hundreds of Ethnic groups with diversified believes and religion. Due to the fact that each ethnic group can even have hundreds of different regional or tribal dialects, names often vary from one region or village to another. In the North of Africa, most names turn to have Arabic origin (mostly Muslim) while the Central and Southern Africans bears some European names as a result of European colonization and partial Christianity. But still the majority in sub-Sahara Africa bears names from Africa native derivation with specific meaning which provide a wealth of naming heritage, a tradition passed down through generation. Below are some of them:

Names	Meaning	Names	Meaning
Amaka (f)	God is gorgeous	Lesedi (f)	Woman of light
Ayodele (m)	Return of happiness	Masego	Divine favour
Bongani (m)	The grateful one	Nala (f)	Successful
Chukwumeka (m)	God did great deeds	Nkechi (f)	God’s present
Deka (f)	The pleasing one	Nkiru (f)	The greatest will come
Ebele (f)	Compassion	Obasi (m)	In God’s favour
Ekene	Acclaimed	Olufemi (m)	Adored by God
Femi (m)	Adored by God	Onyeka	God is great
Ife (f)	Woman of love	Rufaro (f)	Joy
Imani  (f)	Faithful person	Sade (f)	Honour bestows a crown
Jaheem (m)	Dignified	Simba (m)	Lion
Jelani (m)	Full of strength	Talib (m)	Ones who seeks
Kanye (m)	Freedom	Tumelo	Having faith
Katlego	Achieving	Wekesa (m)	Harvest child
Kwame (m)	Saturday child	Zuberi  (m)	Powerful
Lekan (m)	My wealth is growing	Zula (f)	Unclear

My African native name Nvenakeng originated from the Bangwa tribe in Lebialem Division, South West Region of Cameroon. I was named after my paternal grand-mother who nursed me as a baby just like my mother is nursing my children. It has a specific meaning in the Ngweh language spoken by the Bangwa clan.  Nven means plants and Nkeng or Keng refers to the Peace plant. Therefore, Nvenakeng means a symbol of peace. Of all the plants in the forest, I am that which brings peace and harmony to its folks.

The peace plant (Lucky  Bamboo)– called Nkeng or Keng, in the Ngweh dialect.

During the ‘Graffy’ (Grassland Bantu clan) tribal wars around the 50s, the peace plant - Nkeng was used to make appeasement. During tribal wars if your opponent comes out with the Nkeng plant, you were not allowed to harm him, the war has come to an end and only a peaceful resolution will be sorted. Today it is use to settle dispute and restore peace and harmony in many Graffy clans. This plant is also use to evoke peace and blessing when Twins/Triplets are born most especially during the Essieh dance – a special dance in the Bangwa tribe to welcome twins/triplets.

Suzanne is my Christian name meaning ‘Graceful Lily’. According to SHEKNOWS (2013),people with this name have a deep inner desire to serve humanity and to give to others by sharing money, knowledge and experience, or creative and artistic ability. People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive. As unique, creative individuals, they tend to resent authority.

Awung is a short-cut of my family name which is Awunganyi. 'Anyi' refers to mother of twins/triplets/quadruplets while 'Awung' means catering for or taking care of. So Awunganyi literally refers to a person that caters for the mother of twins/triplets (Anyi) and her offspring. In Bangwa tribe, this refers to someone who has a strong desire to serve humanity, to cater for and improve the livelihood of the community.

I have grown not only to bear these names, but wish to keep and above all deserve them. I did not choose any of these names, but yet have grown to understand their meaning and that is just who I am. This is the purpose of my being and I call on you all to join me in serving humanity, lifting each other on our way up. Support us have control over the odds so as to achieve TFGH’s objectives. 

Thank you for leading the change,

Dr. Nvenakeng Suzanne Awung