This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series that presents some excerpts found on the internet about how standard Arabic names are sometimes changed or incorrectly used in Nigeria and in some other West African nations.
Part II presents excerpts from two online sources about Arabic names in Nigeria, and in several other West African nations.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/07/article-excerpts-about-arabic-names-in.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents an excerpt about Arabic names from Wikipedia as well as an excerpt about Arabic names in Nigeria and Senegal from the Sahel Blog (with selected comments).
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/07/some-changes-in-arabic-given-names-in.html for Part III of this series. Part III presents excerpts from a December 2017 nairaland.com discussion about Arabic names in Nigeria, West Africa.
The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and onomastic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on Arabic names and an ongoing series on African names.
Click the "Arabic names" tag and the "African names" tag to find other posts on these subjects.
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ONLINE EXCERPTS
From https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/western-african
"Western African names include those from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo
ABOUBACAR m Western African, Wolof, Serer, Fula
Form of ABU BAKR used in western Africa.
ABUBAKAR m Western African, Hausa, Fula
Form of ABU BAKR used in Nigeria.
AISHATU f Western African, Hausa
Hausa form of AISHA.
ALHAJI m Western African, Hausa
Means "pilgrim" in Hausa, a derivative of Arabic حَجِّي (hajji) meaning "pilgrimage, hajj".
AMADOU m Western African, Wolof, Serer, Fula, Manding
Form of AHMAD used in parts of western Africa.
BOUBACAR m Western African, Wolof, Serer, Fula
Variant of ABOUBACAR.
FAƊIMATU f Western African, Hausa
Hausa form of FATIMAH.
FATIMATOU f Western African, Manding, Wolof, Serer
Form of FATIMAH used in parts of western Africa.
HADIZA f Western African, Hausa
Hausa form of KHADIJA.
IBRAHIMA m Western African, Fula, Serer, Wolof
Form of IBRAHIM used in parts of western Africa.
MAMADOU m Western African, Wolof, Serer, Fula, Manding
Form of MUHAMMAD used in western Africa.
MARYAMU f Western African, Hausa
Hausa form of MARYAM.
MUHAMMADU m Western African, Hausa, Fula
Hausa and Fula form of MUHAMMAD.
SEYDOU m Western African, Manding, Fula, Wolof, Serer
Form of SA'ID used in parts of western Africa."
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[This is all of the Arabic derived names from this list of 238 names.
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EXCERPT #2
From https://www.quora.com/In-Nigeria-what-are-the-most-common-first-names-male-and-female-for-different-groups-Hausa-Yuroba-Igbo-Fulani-etc
[Pancocojams Editor: These entries include information about non-Arabic given names in Nigeria, West Africa. These entries are numbered for referencing purposes only. No name meanings are given for the names in Excerpt #2.]
[QUESTION] "In Nigeria, what are the most common first names - male and female - for different groups? (Hausa, Yuroba, Igbo, Fulani, etc)
This question previously had details. They are now in a comment.
1. Muyiwa Saka, lives in Nigeria, Answered Aug 21, 2013
"Names starting with Ade(meaning King/Royal) or Olu( short form of Olorun(God)) or Oluwa or Ola (wealth) are usually Yoruba names.
Names starting with or including the word Chukwu belong to the Igbo/Ibo.
Names starting with Osa are usually from the Edoid groups including the Edo, Urhobo, Ishan.
The itsekiri have a habit (not always) of repeating the first name. e.g Femi John Femi, Oyo Orok Oyo"
**
2. Ama Mgbeoji, Answered Aug 28, 2013
"A Nigerian can tell with 90% certainty the ethnic group of a person from about 5 ethnic groups. The rest (smaller ethnic groups) are a bit tricky.
Muyiwa Saka has already stated the ones for Yoruba.
About half of Igbo names are prefixed/suffixed with "Chi" or "Chukwu", meaning God or Big God.
Other are "Nwa" , meaning "child of", like "el" or "al" in mid east or "Mac" in scottish.
Names from northern Nigeria tend to be corrupted arabic names, and some small local favour"
**
3. Auwal Sany Al-Amin, Answered Sep 30, 2016
"Northern Nigerians mostly Hausa use Arab names becouse of the influence of Islam in the region. Traditional Hausa names were still in use but they are gradually fading. Babangida, baba, baffa all meaning father and inna, Iya, baaba meaning mother are example of Hausa names. There is no specific vowel or consonant sound attached to Islamic name's. Example of namesb for male are Abdullahi, lbrahim, Musa, Isah Suleiman Isma'la, Bashir, Anwaar, Ishaka, Yakub etc and Rahinat, Hajara, Fatima, Rahama Aisha, Zahara'u are example of female names. Other tribes in the north like kanuri use Bukar, Babakura, Bura for male"
**
4. Tunde Ogunjimi, Lives in Lagos, Nigeria
Answered Nov 21, 2017
"I like the answers I have seen already. They have explained the naming convention, so I’ll not repeat that. Instead I’ll just give you a list of first names that I can remember. There are too many of them, so I’ll list 20 of each.
HAUSA/FULANI (I am not from this part of the country. For me, Hausa and Fulani names are just the same)
Male
Babangida
Habubakar
Usman
Adamu
Jidda
Ali
Aminu
Danjuma
Danladi
Faruq
Fuad
Habib
Isa
Ismail
Suleiman
Abdulai
Musa
Mustapha
Umar
Usman
Female
Adija
Aisha
**
Naziru Gelajo, Answered Mar 25, 2018
"Most Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, and other groups that practise Islam tend to have Muslim first names that are slightly altered (e.g. Garba which is actually Abubakar), Ahmadu which is Ahmed/Ahmad, Muhammadu which is Mohammed/Muhammad.
Keep in mind that not every Fulani carries Muslim first names, but the majority does. You will find names like Sambo/Samba, Dembo/Demba, Kumbo/Kumba."
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This concludes Part II of this three part pancocojams series.
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