597 African Baby Girl Names With Meanings

African baby names are often traditional and have unique stories behind them. For example, the time a baby is born or the circumstances or the surroundings during the birth; all of these factors are involved while choosing a name for the baby. Events and surroundings of the baby when born influence the parents in keeping the name of the baby, it can be either positive or negative circumstances. Some of the names are a complete picture of the conditions for example; "Yetunde Nwaokeke"; the name of a baby girl kept under the circumstances when her grandmother died just before her birth, "Yetunde" means mother has come back.

Before the parents decide the names of their child, circumstances also decide the name of the baby. It happens among some Ghanaian ethnic groups where a name is automatically assigned based on the day a child is born. For example, a baby girl who was born on Friday was named "Ghanaian Efua" which means a Friday-born.

Several local names also have strong religious faith in keeping their baby's name. Among the Lgbo and Yoruba ethnic groups in Nigeria, baby names mostly start or ends with "Chi" "Chukwu" or "Oluwa" which has some reference to God. Some groups in eastern or southern Africa certain names are given depending on the time of the day or season a baby is born. In Yoruba tradition, it is very common for each parent or grandparent of a baby to contribute in at least one name of the baby. As a result, a baby ends up with having several names, each telling its own unique story.

We have curated a list of famous African baby names that you can choose.