Wednesday 14 September 2011

Some Ghanain Names and Meanings.

Hello wonderful People,

I am exceptionally happy today. I cant really place my finger on the reason, but I am guessing today being a Wednesday which also happens to be the day I was born in the week could be enough reason for the excitement, my local name therefore, is Akua. Here in Ghana, our names are the first things that describe us, as they depict which day of the week a person is born.

I want to take my Non- Ghanian readers through some of our local names, so you get to know the reason behind some of these names when you hear them. Happy reading.......!

A male born on a Monday, is called Kojo and Adjoa for ladies; A Tuesday born is Kwabena for the men and Abena for the the ladies. I trust your interest in this tour is building up by now! 

Furthermore into the week, a person born on a Wednesday is Kweku for the men and Akua( which is my name) for the ladies. Thursday borns are named Yaw and Yaa for the men and ladies respectively, while a person born on friday is named Kofi for the men and Afia/Afua for the ladies.

For a Saturday born, the girl is named Ama (I know Nigerians have Ama too. Is it the short form of a name?) while the boy is named Kwame, and finally the Sunday born girls are called Akosua and Kwesi is given to the boys. Basically everybody in Ghana has a name based on the day of the week he/she was born. 

Muslims or people from the north have different names like, Salamatu, Memunatu, Ishetu,(which happens to be one of my favorite) I personally do not know why the addition of the "Tu" to most of the female name's but I am sure there is a reason for that and I would really love to know. 

The Ewe's (people from the Volta Region of the country where my Mum comes from) give the same names as mentioned above but with the addition of "Vi" to each one, So my name for instance reads Akuvi in Ewe. "Vi" means "small" in the Ewe language and the male counterpart becomes Kokuvi. It's that simple, yes?

So my dear readers, check and tell us how you would have been called if you were a Ghanian :-) as for me, anyhow you choose to call me, whether Akua or Akuvi, I will wholeheartedly respond to you. Hope you enjoyed yourselves.

I really appreciate all my followers and readers, God richly bless your hearts, thank you for all the comments and for the love being shown me on blogville.  I love you all to the Max....Xoxo

Peace... I'm out

16 comments:

  1. nice piece, then I guess I would have been called Abena if I were a Ghanian, or maybe Abenavi......hmmm, Lol sounds nice to me. I am officially Abenavi then

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  2. Hi Akua, thanks for this. I have heard almost all the names you mentioned here, especially the male ones. Never knew you were ghanian. Thanks for the education

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  3. My grandmum grew up in Ghana and gave me Nyamiche..(I am not even sure what that means...:))

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  4. @Anonymous, that is good to know. Abenavi, is a nice name.

    @ilola you didn't tell me how you would have been called if you were a Ghanaian oo! Lol.

    @HoneyDame, wow, that is a nice name you know, it means God's gift. its actually (Nyamekye) hope you still using it! Lol. thanks for following I appreciate.

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  5. that means my name would have been akosua. never heard that name before o.lol

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  6. I should add Akua to my names...lol so we can be namesakes. I love the name Abena.

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  7. @Amaka, Akosua is a beautiful name, maybe you should start thinking of using it.lol

    @Love.live.learn awww namesake, Abena is a nice name too but since you are a Wednesday born, you should like Akua more. lol, thanks a lot for the comments

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