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Kikuyu names and their meanings

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The Kikuyu are Kenya’s largest ethnic group, settled in the highlands around Mount Kenya (which they call Kirinyaga) since roughly the 17th to 19th centuries. They led the Mau Mau uprising against British colonial rule beginning in 1952, one of the pivotal movements in Kenya’s path to independence.

First names (12)

descriptive name

Kikuyu for "the reincarnated one", traditionally given when a child is believed to carry the spirit of a deceased relative.

Kikuyu for "the happy one".

"The one who returns" — the male counterpart to Njoki, in the same reincarnation-naming tradition as the existing Kariuki: given when a child is believed to carry back a departed relative's spirit, often a grandfather's name passed to a grandson.

Kikuyu for "she who shapes" or "molder", also the name of the mythic first mother of the Kikuyu people in their origin story (with Gikuyu as the first father).

Kikuyu for "shepherd", from the verb kũrĩĩthia ("to herd").

One of the two alternating generation-set names in traditional Kikuyu political organisation (Mwangi and Irungu, each holding authority for roughly a generation before passing it to the other) — also widely used as an ordinary personal name.

Kikuyu for "the one who has returned" or "the resurrected one".

From mbura ("rain"). One of the nine daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi in the Kikuyu origin story.

Linked to irimũ ("ogre, giant"). One of the nine daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi in the Kikuyu origin story.

Kikuyu for "zebra". One of the nine daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi in the Kikuyu origin story, each the founder of a traditional clan.

From ngarĩ ("leopard"). One of the nine daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi in the Kikuyu origin story. Borne by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.

One of the nine daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi in the Kikuyu origin story — sources disagree on the name's literal meaning, so none is asserted here.

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