Bambara names and their meanings

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The Bambara are Mali’s largest ethnic group, numbering more than 6 million and speaking a Mande language that has become the country’s principal lingua franca. From 1712 to 1861, the Bamana Empire, centered at Ségou, was one of the major states of the western Sudan before its conquest by the Toucouleur leader El Hadj Umar Tall.

First names (3)

descriptive name

Djama

Bambara for "the crowd" or "the community".

birth order name

Karamoko

Manding for "cleric-teacher", a title-name reflecting the historical importance of Quranic scholarship among the Bambara and neighboring Manding-speaking peoples.

N'golo

Traditionally given to a third-born son; said to mean roughly "I have procreated abundantly" from the father's perspective.

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