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.
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(Photo by Francesca Noemi Marconi on Unsplash)
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?