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Wolof names and their meanings

Search names across all cultures

The Wolof make up around 40% of Senegal’s population, though their language is spoken far more widely, serving as the country’s common tongue across ethnic lines. From the mid-14th to the mid-16th century, the Wolof (Jolof) Empire controlled the trade routes of the Senegal and Gambia river region before fragmenting into smaller successor kingdoms.

First names (6)

descriptive name
Aminata
Wolof for "trustworthy" or "faithful", one of the most common women's given names across Senegal and the wider Wolof-speaking region.
Awa
The Wolof form of "Eve"/"Hawa", which symbolizes life, femininity, and motherhood, as it does across several West African cultures that share this Abrahamic-tradition name.
Gor
Wolof for "man".
Ndeye
An honorific meaning "mother" — used as a respectful term or name-prefix for women.
Sokhna
An honorific title for a woman of religious standing or a notable family — roughly "lady, madame". Naturalised into Wolof and wider Senegalese social life as its own title.
birth circumstance
Ken Bugul
"No one wants (him/her)" — a protective name historically given to a child born after earlier siblings died, meant to make the child seem unwanted to the spirits believed to take infants. Chosen as a pen name by the Senegalese novelist Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma for exactly this traditional meaning.
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