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Igbo names and their meanings

Search names across all cultures

The Igbo live primarily in southeastern Nigeria and are traditionally organized as a large number of autonomous, village-based communities rather than a single centralized kingdom. One notable exception was the Kingdom of Nri, whose priest-kings left behind the remarkable bronze artifacts unearthed at Igbo-Ukwu, dated to the 9th and 10th centuries.

First names (22)

descriptive name

From ada ("first-born daughter" — a standing every eldest Igbo daughter holds) + eze ("king"): "the king's first daughter" / "princess." Shortened to Ada.

Igbo for "blessing." Can be short for Ngozichukwu, "God's blessing."

From nne ("mother") + ka ("is greater, surpasses"): "mother is supreme." A statement of a mother's standing in the family.

From ugo ("eagle," and by extension honour, distinction, a crown) + Chukwu ("God"): literally "God's eagle," understood as "the crown / glory of God." Shortened to Ugo.

sentence name

From Chi ("God") + a-ma-ka ("is more beautiful / splendid"): "God is beautiful / God is splendid." Shortened to Amaka.

A sentence name meaning "God is king" (Chi, God + bu eze, is king).

From Chi + dị ("is") + ebere ("mercy, compassion"): "God is merciful." Shortened to Ebere.

A sentence name meaning "God is good" (Chi, God + di nma, is good). Also spelled Chidimma.

From Chi (one's personal god) + na-edu ("leads, guides"): "God leads / God is the guide." Shortened to Nedu.

A sentence name meaning "God is present" or "God is near" (Chi, God + no nso, is near), used for both boys and girls.

From Chukwu (the supreme God) + dị ("exists, is"): "God exists / God is." Shortened to Chidi.

A sentence name meaning "God has done exceedingly well" (Chukwu, God + emeka, has done well/greatly). Commonly shortened to Emeka.

From ife ("thing") + ọma ("good"): "a good thing." Also used for boys in some areas.

A sentence name meaning "father has done well" (nna, father + emeka, has done well/greatly).

From obi ("heart, mind") + ọ̀hà / ọ̀rà ("the community, the people"): "the heart of the people" — one the community holds dear. Shortened to Obi.

From uche ("mind, will, thought") + Chukwu ("God"): "God's will" / "what God intends." Shortened to Uche.

day name

From mgbe ("time, day") + Eke: "on Eke day" — the female counterpart of Nweke, a girl born on Eke.

From nwa ("child") + Eke (the first of the four Igbo market days): "child of Eke" — a boy born on Eke day.

From oko ("young man, boy") + Afọ (the third Igbo market day): "a boy born on Afọ." Also Nwafor. One of the most common Igbo surnames today, from this naming.

From oko ("young man, boy") + Nkwọ (the last of the four Igbo market days): "a boy born on Nkwọ." The name of the protagonist of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

birth circumstance

From nna m ("my father") + dị ("lives, is alive"): "my father lives." Traditionally given to a boy born after the death of his father, grandfather or great-grandfather, believed to be that man returned. Borne by Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's first president.

From nne ("mother") + nna ("father"): "father's mother." Given to a girl born after the death of her paternal grandmother, held to be that grandmother returned — the Igbo counterpart to Nnamdi.

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