African Baby Names
Names recorded as coming from languages of sub-Saharan Africa — Swahili, Yoruba, Akan, Igbo, Amharic and others. American usage is tracked from births, so rare here means rarely registered in the U.S., not rare at home.
| Save name | Name & meaning | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Son of Aodhagán, a diminutive of Aodh meaning fire | 449#621 | Down 125 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
Faith | 512#579 | Down 57 rank positions in five years | 1998 | ||
Beautiful in Swahili; white in a separate Basque use | 932#329 | Down 94 rank positions in five years | 2022 | ||
My dream | 1,614#195 | Up 404 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Almighty, powerful | 172#1,189 | Down 247 rank positions in five years | 2006 | ||
Born on Saturday | 42#2,961 | Down 471 rank positions in five years | 1990 | ||
From Shona Tendai; literal meaning unconfirmed | 195#1,189 | Down 223 rank positions in five years | 2022 | ||
Son of Aodhagán, a diminutive of Aodh meaning fire | 48#3,275 | Down 793 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
Faith | 41#3,013 | Up 433 rank positions in five years | 2021 | ||
Literal meaning not recorded; Swahili origin | 8#9,579 | Up 2,233 rank positions in five years | 1992 | ||
Beautiful in Swahili; white in a separate Basque use | 17#5,604 | Down 1,470 rank positions in five years | 2002 | ||
Sunday | 6#11,429 | Down 1,280 rank positions in five years | 1977 | ||
Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition | 25#5,101 | Down 455 rank positions in five years | 2024 | ||
Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition | 14#6,394 | Down 975 rank positions in five years | 2023 | ||
Crown, royalty + to meet, through Adébáyọ̀ | —Unranked | — | 1997 | ||
Literal meaning not recorded; Swahili origin | —Unranked | — | 1992 | ||
For you + I am, me, through Siifan | —Unranked | — | 2017 | ||
Born on Saturday | —Unranked | — | 1971 |
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Sources & methodology
Meaning summaries use Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and referenced name histories. Each name’s detail page includes its sources.
Names are included when their documented origin matches African. The list shows up to 100 names for each sex, ordered by current popularity. Origin records are derived from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); coverage reflects documented records, not every name in the language. Rankings and counts come from official SSA birth records. “—” means fewer than five published applications for that sex and year.