Popular names of Senegal, West Africa

Posted by

Can personal names be used to conduct gender studies, or other social research in West Africa ? Personal names convey valuable information about gender, linguistic or cultural background, ethnicity …

Some popular baby names of Senegal (Sénégal) :

Male Female
MAMADOU FATOU
IBRAHIMA AMINATA
ABDOULAYE AWA
OUSMANE KHADY
MOUSSA AISSATOU
AMADOU SEYNABOU
BABACAR MARIAMA
OUMAR MAIMOUNA
CHEIKH ROKHAYA
MOUSTAPHA FATOUMATA
ALIOU COUMBA
ASSANE NDEYE FATOU
ABDOU ADAMA
ADAMA ASTOU
ALIOUNE KHADIDIATOU
SOULEYMANE MARIEME
MBAYE AMY
MALICK DIEYNABA
LAMINE AIDA
SAMBA RAMATOULAYE

Some names like ADAMA, MAGATTE, MAGUETTE are used both as male and female names. Still, the overall precision when using personal names as a proxy for gender in Senegal is ~95%.

Some family names in Senegal (NDIAYE, DIOP, FALL, DIOUF, GUEYE, FAYE, DIALLO, BA, SARR, SOW, SECK, NIANG, DIAGNE, MBAYE, THIAM, SENE, DIENG, CISSE, SY, SALL) can be found in neighbouring countries, in varying proportions. Combining given names and surnames can provide interesting insights about linguistic and cultural background, as well as ethnicity.

African Gender and Diaspora studies

Our free API was used by many researchers from tier-1 Universities to gender-code databases and conduct innovative gender studies. NamSor Origin API can also be used to conduct migration research, or design diaspora engagement strategies for the public and private sector.

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

(Photo by Francesca Noemi Marconi on Unsplash)

One comment

  1. Thank you for this information. I am writing a screenplay and one of my characters is from Senegal. He is well-educated (in France) and from a good family. What given names and surnames would you suggest for such a character?