‹ NandeFrançais

Nande names and their meanings

Search names across all cultures

The Nande, also called Yira, are a Bantu people of eastern DR Congo’s North Kivu province, where they make up more than 60% of the population of the Beni and Lubero territories. Oral history traces their migration across the Semuliki River from present-day Uganda, and they remain organized into some fourteen clans, each led by its own chief.

First names (4)

birth order name
Kambale
Given to the second-born son, in the same Nande/Bakonzo birth-rank naming system as Mumbere.
Kasereka
Given to the third-born son, in the same Nande/Bakonzo birth-rank naming system.
Masika
Given to a first-born daughter, in the same Nande/Bakonzo birth-rank naming tradition (the female-line names follow their own, separate sequence from the male-line ones above).
Mumbere
Given to the first-born son. Nande (and the closely related Bakonzo of Uganda) name children directly for their birth rank among their siblings. The name itself states the order of birth.
Open in the app →