Names That Mean Born

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

Common male name in Ghana.

Phibba, Phibah, Phibbi, and Phebe were common names among enslaved people in America. They derive from Afua, the traditional Akan name for girls born on a Friday. They were often Anglicized as Phoebe.

Commonly Anglicized as Phoebe, Phibah and variations such as Phibbi, Phebe, and Phibba, were used among enslaved people for daughters born on a Friday.

Beneba was used by enslaved people as a form of Abena, the Akan day name for girls born on Tuesday. A notable current bearer is Australian writer Maxine Beneba Clarke, who is of Afro-Caribbean descent.

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).

Yoruba names often reveal circumstances around a child's birth. In this case, Abidemi reveals a daughter was born without her father present.