Names That Mean Born

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).

Quame is an Anglicization of the Ghanaian Akan name Kwame. In West Africa, it is traditional to name your child after the day of the week on which they were born. The feminine equivalent is Mimba, a variation of Ama.

Feminine form of the male name Wanjala.

Authentic African name with unfortunate coffee association, also too close to the male Kofi.

Midcentury macramé-maker.

The most prominent person with this unusual geographical choice might be actor Cuba Gooding Jr., however, Cuba has a far longer history as a feminine name. Deriving from the island in the Caribbean Sea, it had a brief spell of popularity in the US at the end of the 1890s, when Spain lost possession of the island during the Spanish-American War. Used predominantly (though rarely) on girls throughout the last century, it has occasionally been given to a handful of boys too

Used for summer-born babies in Japan.

Related to the better-known Arabic name Noor.

Among the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo, Yao is the name for babies born on Thursday.

Both graceful and melodious.

A pleasant seasonal name.

A West African day name traditionally used for Akan girls born on Tuesday. Kwabena is the male equivalent.

Slavic possibility for a girl born during the Easter season.

Used by the ancient Romans to distinguish a sixth daughter from her sisters of the same name. The first three letters make it pretty much unusable today.

Not many parents would want to use Tisa for its literal meaning in this era of smaller families, but Tisa is a name with much crossover appeal. Simple and straightforward, it's also both distinctive and feminine and relates to similar-sounding Western names such as Lisa and Trisha and Tea. If you're looking for an African name that can bridge cultures, Tisa is an excellent pick.

Melodic and friendly, and similar to a Spanish word for chilled and ice cream.

Even if you're not planning on having five kids, Enu makes a cute name for a son or daughter.

After your first little Primo, you could always call the next Segundo -- though that's like naming them number one and number two.

Ajambo is an African name of the Luo language, spoken by the Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania. Like many African names, Ajambo's meaning refers to the temporaity of the birth — in this case, the evening.

An Ancient Egyptian pharaoh's name which has its roots in the god name Iah.