African Baby Names	Meaning
Abdi (m)	My servant
Adia (f)	Gift of a child
Adiel (f)	Goat
Afi (f)	Born on a Friday
Afiya	Health
Afram (m)	After a river in Ghana
Afua (f)	Born on Friday
Aisha (f)	Life
Akia (m)	First born
Alfa (m)	Leader
Alpha (m)	Leader
Ama (f)	Born on Saturday
Aminah (f)	Faith
Asante (m)	Thank-you
Asha (f)	Life
Asya (f)	Born at a time of grief
Azikiwe (m)	Full of vigour
Aziza (f)	Precious
Baba (f)	Born on Thursday
Bahati (f)	Gratitude
Bello (m)	Promoter of Islam
Camara (m)_	Teacher
Chatha (m)	Ending
Chausiku (f)	Born at night
Cheikh (m)	To learn
Chiku (f)	Chatterbox
Chuki (f)	Hatred
Dalila (f)	Gentleness
Dalili (f)	Sign
Dofi (f)	Second child after the birth of twins
Doto (f)	Younger twin
Dumaka (m)	Helping hand
Effiom (m)	Crocodile
Elimu (m)	Knowledge
Erasto (m)	Man of peace
Eshe (f)	Life
Essien (m)	6th born son
Faizah (f)	Victorious
Fatimah (f)	Daughter of Mohammed
Fujo (f)	Born following an argument

African Baby Names

African Kids Dancing

A compilation of happy African kids dancing on video, some traditional African dancing.
More >

African Games

An introduction to some of the traditional games played by children of all ages across Africa.
More >

African Child

About the lives and challenges the children of Africa face in a series of articles and videos.
More >

About Africa

This African baby names explained article is part of our About Africa series for volunteers. More here!
More >

African Baby Names

In the west most people have a given name chosen by their parent(s) as their first name followed by their family name. Its different in Africa where there are many different forms of name. For example in Uganda a child will be given a chosen first name representing parental choice such as 'Akampa' meaning 'he who gives and receives' followed by an English type name. Neither name is connected with the mother or father.

Page I Page II Page III