Ethiopian Names and Meanings

Heritage is very important and traditionally a child grows up to know at least 7 generations of his/her ancestors. For example a child named Abraham Alemayehu Zerihun carries 3 generations of names, his own (Abraham), his father's (Alemayehu) and his grandfather's (Zerihun).

Why are children named like this?

One reason is that many people have the same first name so the father's name identifies them like the English "Robert - son" = Robertson. The grandfather's name adds to this and also shows heritage which is important in determining status - the more names you know the higher your status in the community.

Another reason for naming children this way is that when Ethiopian men plan to marry, traditionally they send a delegation of 6 elders to the girl's family to negotiate the marriage. This negotiation includes determining if the bride and groom are related. Both families must provide the male lines of both sets of parents back 7 generations. Therefore, it is the names that are handed down through the generations that are the evidence of their family line. -From AACASA

The following sites contain lists of Ethiopian male and female names and their meanings:

• AACASA
• Baby Names World
• My Ethiopian Name
• Meaning-of-names

If you know of any other good 'name' resources, please add them in the comments so I can add them to the list above. Thanks!

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Added 4/21/10:

This blog post gives some insight to Ethiopian nicknames.