Popular baby names of MALI, West Africa

Some popular baby names of MALI, West Africa:

Female		Male
FATOUMATA		MOHAMED
MARIAM		MOUSSA
AMINATA		ABDOULAYE
HAWA		OUMAR
FADIMATA		AMADOU
BINTOU		IBRAHIM
AISSATA		OUSMANE
OUMOU		MAHAMADOU
DJENEBA		MAMADOU
KADIDIA		ADAMA
FANTA		SOULEYMANE
MARIAMA		BOUBACAR
AWA		ISSA
FATOUMA		YOUSSOUF
KADIATOU		SEYDOU

In Africa, names generally reflect the complex identities that result from linguistic / ethnic groups, history of migration within the African continent, natural geographic boundaries and other complex historical factors (colonization, independance, …). Onomastics, the science of proper names, is a useful tool for a range of research areas : gender studies, migration studies, sociology.

It can also be a key differentiator in marketing for private companies in specific economic sectors who want to target diasporas : banking (remittances …), telecom (cross-border telecom …), airlines (migration, tourism, visting friends and relatives …)

What’s new with NamSor Origin API v1.2.5?

We’ve deployed new enhancements to recognize a name’s likely West African origin. We currently support some exciting Diaspora engagement projects for economic development in the region, with a special focus on MALI, SENEGAL, BURKINA FASO, TOGO and IVORY COAST.

You can try it online here.

We’ve added a new country to the 140+ already supported by NamSor Origin : LIBERIA. A country with a fascinating history, the first African republic to proclaim its independence, on July 26, 1847 – Liberia is currently at an electoral crossroad. We estimate NamSor accuracy to be above ~80%.

We're adding #Liberia to the list of 129 countries already covered by @NamSor_com Origin API. Interested in a sneak preview? Pls DM #Africa #SocialSciences #DataScience #Gender #Diaspora

— NamSor (@NamSor_com) November 9, 2017

NamSor Regional is not available as an API, why ?

For a number of countries, we support a finer-grain level of classification of names to both a national and a regional level. For example, this is a visualization of how NamSor classifies regional names in MALI, West Africa:

We started to experiment with regional name classification back in 2014 and now, it’s quite mature. We haven’t yet made this module available as an API, but do support projects in Academia. We can give access to vetted researchers (in Geography / Anthropology / Digital Humanities) willing to participate to joint research projects (H2020, etc.) – get in touch if you are interested.

Would you like to virtually travel ? Visit the web site of the National Museum of Mali to discover ethnographic collections (in French).

[this article is partially available in French]

About NamSor

NamSor™ Applied Onomastics is a European vendor of sociolinguistics software (NamSor sorts names). NamSor mission is to help understand international flows of money, ideas and people.
Reach us at: contact@namsor.com