African American Baby Name Meanings

Generally speaking, the African American baby names are derived directly from African languages and African tradition.

Popular sources of African names come from

- Nigerian,
- Somali,
- Ghanese,
- Malawian,
- South African,
- Botswanan,
- Zulu,
- Kenyan,
- Tanzanian,
- Urdu,
- Ugandan, and
- Swahili baby naming traditions.

In many parts of Africa, extraordinary importance is given to naming a baby, with the baby name reflecting the status of the family, current occurences, hopes of the family, and celestial events.

To add to the variety of names, sometimes, the "American" part of African American names translates into unique combinations of African and modern English-language names.

In addition to the list of baby names and meanings from the African American tradition, there is one good book on the subject available:

The Complete Guide to African-American Baby Names
by Linda Wolfe Keister

African American Baby Name Meanings

As an exemplary list, here are 248 available baby boy and girl names from major African language cultures.

Before using any of the names, check the correct usage (in terms of gender) and correct spelling as there may have been errors in the translation process and transfer into the database.

African American Baby Name Meanings - Boy Names - A