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Amharic names and their meanings

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The Amhara are one of Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, tracing their language and much of their heritage to Semitic-speaking migrants who settled the Ethiopian highlands roughly 3,000 years ago. From 1270 to 1974, nearly every Ethiopian emperor was Amhara, and Amharic served as the country’s official language for most of that time.

First names (23)

sentence name

"He has bloomed", related to abeba ("flower"). Borne by the marathon runner Abebe Bikila, the first Black African Olympic gold medallist.

From alem ("world") + -u ("his"): "his world" — the child is the parents' whole world.

"He has flourished" or "grown, germinated".

From berhan ("light") + -u ("his"): "his light".

"(He is) their master, their lord" — the honorific plural, used as a mark of respect toward the child.

"He has grown weighty" — from a verb for becoming heavy, understood figuratively: the child has come to be honoured and respected.

"He has been renewed" or "reborn" — carrying a Christian sense of spiritual renewal.

From tesfa ("hope") + -ye ("my"): "my hope". So widely used one generation up that it was recorded as the single most common surname in Ethiopia in 2019.

descriptive name

From "alem" (the world) and "ayehu" (I have seen): in use, understood to mean "I have enjoyed life".

Amharic for "diamond".

Amharic for "orange" (the fruit). Borne by the opposition leader and judge Birtukan Mideksa.

Amharic for "joy, happiness".

Amharic for "paradise, garden", from Ge'ez ganat.

Amharic for "majesty, dignity, honour".

From Ge'ez hayl, "power, might, strength". Used chiefly in compounds — Haile Selassie ("power of the Trinity"), Haile Mariam ("power of Mary").

Amharic for "life".

From qonjo ("beautiful"): "the beautiful one".

Amharic for "nobleman" or "aristocrat".

Amharic for "foundation" or "cornerstone", given with the hope the child will be a stable, reliable support to their family. Borne by Olympic gold medalist Meseret Defar.

Amharic for "freedom", a name resonant with Ethiopia's history of resisting colonization.

Amharic for "peace" (Ge'ez selam, cognate with Hebrew shalom and Arabic salaam).

Amharic for "patience".

Amharic for "the crown", from Ge'ez. Borne by Empress Zewditu, who ruled Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930 — the first woman to be head of an internationally recognised state in modern Africa.

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