# Why do so many African leaders have english/western first names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546 "2015-10-23T15:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/21 "2015-10-24T03:02:26Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Since a Christian background for some of these first names is assumed, I have to check my Bible where Macky is mentioned. Could be one of the lesser known prophets. Could be from Macabee, which I’ve encountered as a name. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/22 "2015-10-24T03:15:33Z")
Many of them probably came from upper-class families, spoke English all their life, and have been given English first names by very westernized families. In China, people who are studying English assume an English first name, which they go by in their English lessons, and continue to call themselves that for the rest of their lives when speaking English. I think all the people i knew in Hong Kong went only by their English name, and most of them, I didn’t even know their Chinese name. Americans studying Spanish in Latin America also assume a Hispanic first hame, one that is usually similar to if not the equivalent of theif real name. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/23 "2015-10-24T04:51:39Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > So these are their real names? They are the names by which they are known and live and work, and got graduated from school and elected to office or proclaimed glorious leader, how much more real does it get? As mentioned a person may have a varied set of tribal/ritual/public/legal names that are used according to the circumstance; while European and Christian presence in many parts of subSaharan Africa date back for centuries. So for many of them it probably IS a family name or at least perfectly legit in their cultural environment. Goodluck Jonathan is a slightly different variant because it’s taking into ou time something that was done throughout history. WE don’t view Isaac or Frederick or Abdullah or Tomiko as significant-phrase names because they come to us from a different language so we don’t hear “HeLaughs” or “PeaceRuler” or “ServantOfAllah” or “ChildOfAbundance”, but why should ‘Goodluck’ be any different from “Hope” or “Felicity”. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/24 "2015-10-24T05:39:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Amadou is actually an Islamic name, a version of Ahmad. Really? I would have thought it a form of the Christian name _Amadeus/Amadeo_. Google says you’re right, though. > [@md2000](#): > > So these are their real names? > > I know a lot of Chinese who come over here to North America adopt a euro-Christian given name (Charles Cheung, Vincent Lee, Tom Lo were acquaintances). I suspect this was because their Asian given names were difficult to spell or say, or confusing. (Yiu Wing Leung also was sometimes addressed as Leung Yiu Wing, so given names came last) I worked with the son of Vietnamese immigrants. His parents had given him a traditional Vietnamese name, but when they brought him to America as a baby, they gave him an “American” name: Charlie. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/25 "2015-10-24T06:15:27Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Really? I would have thought it a form of the Christian name _Amadeus/Amadeo_. Google says you’re right, though. It’s an extremely common name, as are Hamadou, Mamidou, Mohammadou, Bachirou, Adamou and Alimou. For women you’ll hear Aminatou, Rashidatou, Aissatou, etc. The “-ou” ending (which in some places shifts to “-a” for women) is common in Muslim names in West Africa. My understanding is that it’s related to an Arabic character used at the end of words (names?) which is voiced in names in the region. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/26 "2015-10-24T09:03:32Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Could be from Macabee, which I’ve encountered as a name. In the muslim Senegalese family context not really. > [@even\_sven](#): > > The “-ou” ending (which in some places shifts to “-a” for women) is common in Muslim names in West Africa. My understanding is that it’s related to an Arabic character used at the end of words (names?) which is voiced in names in the region. It is freezing the nominative case ending of nouns, the مرفوع marfou3 - in ordinary Arabic we don’t normally say these, it is more typical for the Quranic recitation, the poetry, and of course for the religious texts, to have clearest meaning. They freezing comes from the style that the names and Arabic were or are learned, in a full vowel form. You can see this effect in the way the compound names like Abd-Allah are sometimes transliterated from oral pronunciation - Abdullah or Abdoullahi etc are showing the marfou3 - this in spoken normal Arabic you only hear in liaison Also like Salahuddin (Salah el Dine) shows the oral pronunciation with the liason in marfou3 - in the nominative. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/27 "2015-10-24T12:47:40Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Many of them probably came from upper-class families, spoke English all their life, and have been given English first names by very westernized families. Are you saying this from knowledge about African societies? Because in India, while upper-class, westernized families might often use westernized nicknames with their close friends and family, in public/professional life they will go by their “good name” which for upper-class Indians is _usually_ not a western-sounding name (unless they are Christian). Western-sounding names are highly associated with Christianity, as I said before, not with being upper-class or westernized, and it seems like Ramira, at least, confirms that this is the case in many African countries. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/28 "2015-10-24T14:48:52Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > It is freezing the nominative case ending of nouns, the marfou3 - in ordinary Arabic we don’t normally say these, it is more typical for the Quranic recitation, the poetry, and of course for the religious texts, to have clearest meaning. They freezing comes from the style that the names and Arabic were or are learned, in a full vowel form. Thank you. I’ve always wondered about this. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/29 "2015-10-24T16:19:07Z")
In French colonies at least, Christian names were forcibly assigned when the baby was registered - typically just by looking at the calendar. Which led to the joke that Africans born on the 14th of July would, perforce, be christened “Fetenat” (short for “Fête Nationale”, since that’s how Bastille Day is indicated on administration calendars). So you have entire generations of people officially stuck with “hybrid” names like Jean-Baptiste Bouakémadoua or Napoléon Senghor. Typically they’d also have a “real” name, chosen by their own parents and which they use among friends and family, but it doesn’t show up on any official ID. Why they stuck with it now that we’ve buggered off, I couldn’t tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/30 "2015-10-24T17:36:19Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I worked with the son of Vietnamese immigrants. His parents had given him a traditional Vietnamese name, but when they brought him to America as a baby, they gave him an “American” name: > > Charlie. At least it wasn’t Victor Charlie. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/31 "2015-10-24T17:46:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > At least it wasn’t Victor Charlie. I know, right? I never asked him, but I wondered if his parents had heard the name “Charlie” in reference to the war, and just thought it was a typical American name. Or maybe they just had a wicked sense of irony. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/32 "2015-10-24T18:51:18Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Why they stuck with it now that we’ve buggered off, I couldn’t tell you. Probably the same reason people who aren’t particularly religious still name their kids “Christina” and “Paul”. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/33 "2015-10-24T19:38:27Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Are you saying this from knowledge about African societies? Because in India, while upper-class, westernized families might often use westernized nicknames with their close friends and family, in public/professional life they will go by their “good name” which for upper-class Indians is _usually_ not a western-sounding name (unless they are Christian). > > Western-sounding names are highly associated with Christianity, as I said before, not with being upper-class or westernized, and it seems like Ramira, at least, confirms that this is the case in many African countries. Yes, this is exactly the same. It is highly associated with the Christian practice - although to be upper-class and westernized is almost the same thing in much of the West Africa at least. > [@even\_sven](#): > > Thank you. I’ve always wondered about this. welcome > [@Kobal2](#): > > Why they stuck with it now that we’ve buggered off, I couldn’t tell you. Becuase many more people have used the names not becuase of any colonial registry practice - mostly urban that was - but because of the religious association. Without the religious path, it might look more like the non-christian indian or the non-christian east-asian pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/34 "2015-10-25T23:09:16Z")
One example is Gerry Rawlings, president of Ghana from 1981-2001. There have been good explanations for this by many here, which I did not really know. By the way Goodluck Jonathan is no longer the president of Nigeria, he was succeeded by Muhammadu Buhari this past May. The only one I would have given an explanation to would be the case of Liberia, and I may be wrong. Considering it was founded by freed slaves and Americo-Liberians made up the political class of the country, it is not surprising that most of them have “English” names or to put it “American names”. Therefore their first and last names of presidents of Liberia: Joseph Jenkins Roberts Stephen Allen Benson Daniel Bashiel Warner James Spriggs Payne ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/35 "2015-10-26T19:14:22Z")
Africans, too, are familiar with dealing with multiple cultures and sensibilities and what’s important to them. I remember reading a commentary about a political rally in central Africa (I think it was Kenyatta). He started off by making the usual speech in English for everyone, about brotherhood and peace and building the nation. Then he switches to the tribal language of his tribe and says “…and I have 10 wives and 50 children…!” After that he switches to his local regional dialect and says “…and I’m 80 but I can still get it up!” ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/36 "2015-10-26T19:31:40Z")
Mr Kenyatta was not in or from the central africa… but just so tales are so much fun to tell about africa. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/37 "2015-10-26T21:13:29Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > Mr Kenyatta was not in or from the central africa… but just so tales are so much fun to tell about africa. What definition of “central Africa” are you using? In some definitions, Kenya would certainly be part of central Africa or east central Africa. Other definitions limit the term to the basin of the Congo River; the Central African Republic lies mostly within the Congo’s basin, while the vast majority of the former Central African Federation did not. Every country from Chad to Botswana and from Cameroon to Kenya has been within somebody’s definition of central Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/38 "2015-10-26T21:17:42Z")
Of coruse it is the Africa, so what difference? No standard term uses [the Central Africa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Africa)to refer to Kenya, which is a solid and core part of the East Africa. But Africa, one does not need any geography to tell tall tales of the African and his weird tribal ways… ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/39 "2015-10-27T01:34:02Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > What definition of “central Africa” are you using? In some definitions, Kenya would certainly be part of central Africa or east central Africa. Other definitions limit the term to the basin of the Congo River; the Central African Republic lies mostly within the Congo’s basin, while the vast majority of the former Central African Federation did not. Every country from Chad to Botswana and from Cameroon to Kenya has been within somebody’s definition of central Africa. I have never, in any context, heard Kenya described as Central Africa. . ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546/40 "2015-10-27T16:30:03Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > One example is Gerry Rawlings, president of Ghana from 1981-2001. There have been good explanations for this by many here, which I did not really know. By the way Goodluck Jonathan is no longer the president of Nigeria, he was succeeded by Muhammadu Buhari this past May. > > The only one I would have given an explanation to would be the case of Liberia, and I may be wrong. Considering it was founded by freed slaves and Americo-Liberians made up the political class of the country, it is not surprising that most of them have “English” names or to put it “American names”. > > Therefore their first and last names of presidents of Liberia: > Joseph Jenkins Roberts > Stephen Allen Benson > Daniel Bashiel Warner > James Spriggs Payne Jerry Rawlings’ father was English, so it’s unsurprising he had an English last name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-african-leaders-have-english-western-first-names/735546.md?page=3)