Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information about Hausa day names.
The content of this post is presented for linguistic and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and all those who provided information about these day names.
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HAUSA NAMES FOR THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
monday “litinin”
tuesday “talata”
wednesday “laraba”
thursday “alhamis”
friday “jumu’ah”
saturday “assabar”
sunday “lahadi”
-Ahmad Bello Malami, https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-Hausa
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HAUSA DAY NAMES
From https://www.behindthename.com/submit/names/usage/hausa "Hausa names are used by the Hausa people of Niger and
northern Nigeria."
NALADO m Hausa
Means "born on a Sunday" in Hausa.
TANISHA *
Means born on Monday
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TURAI f Hausa
Name given to a girl born on a Tuesday.
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NARAI f Hausa
Means "born on a Wednesday" in Sokoto Hausa.
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BALARABE m Western African, Hausa
Means "born on Wednesday" in Hausa from element laraba "Wednesday".
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BALARABA f Western African, Hausa
Feminine form of BALARABE
Derived from the Arabic رَابِعَة (rābiʿa) meaning "fourth". This name is traditionally given to girls born on Wednesdays.
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LAMINDE f Hausa
Etymology uncertain. Traditionally given to girls born on
Thursdays."...
-snip-
These day names were given in alphabetical order on that website. I reformatted those entries according to the days of the week from Sunday to Saturday.
According to that behindthenames website: "Submitted names are contributed by users of this website. The accuracy of these name definitions cannot be guaranteed."
-snip-
No Hausa names were given on behindthenames website for males or females born on Friday.
The name Tanisha wasn't given in that behindthenames website. However, a number of websites (particularly baby name websites) indicate that Tanisha is a Hausa name meaning "born on Monday". For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanisha_(name) indicates that "Tanisha is a Hausa variant transcription of the name Tani (Hausa and English) and means born on a Monday in Hausa."
-end of quote-
The phrase "a variant transcription of the name "Tani" reads like whoever wrote this thinks that the name "Tani" existed first and the name "Tanisha" was later made up as a form of "Tani". However, some other websites suggest that "Tani" is a shortened form of "Tanisha". Furthermore, some baby name websites indicate that "Tanisha"/ "Tani" are Hausa names for females only. (In the United States the name "Tanisha" - and its many variant spellings - certainly appear to be given only to females, and "Tani" appears to be one of the nicknames for "Tanisha".)
I'd love to hear from some Hausa people. Is Tanisha and/or Tani really Hausa names meaning born on Monday? And, if so, are those names given to females and males?
Additions and corrections are very welcome. I'm interested in knowing the male/female versions for all of the Hausa day names. Thanks in advance.
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