Ethiopian Name Generator

How the Ethiopian Name Generator works

Ethiopian name generator: choosing a name that fits

Ethiopia and Eritrea have no surnames. A person's full name is their own given name, then their father's given name, and on official papers the grandfather's as well, so Dawit Haile Gebre is Dawit, son of Haile, son of Gebre, and his children will be Something Dawit. Nobody is Mr Haile; Dawit is addressed as Ato Dawit, and a woman keeps her own name at marriage because there is nothing to change. The generator builds names by this rule from a stock of male names for the father's position, and adds the grandfather's name in one pattern in three. It follows that every name in the surname position is a man's given name, and that the commonest Ethiopian names, Tesfaye, Abebe, Haile, Bekele, Girma, are found in both positions.

Amharic, the language of the highlands and the capital, gives names that are often whole sentences or wishes: Tesfaye my hope, Abebe he flourished, Haile power, Bekele he grew, Girma majesty, Getachew their master, Alemu his world, Mulugeta complete master, Tewodros the royal name, Hiwot life, Selam peace, Tigist patience, Genet paradise, Almaz diamond, Meskerem the first month, born in September, Tsion Zion. Biblical names are used in the Ge'ez form, Dawit David, Yohannes John, Yonas Jonah, Henok Enoch, Eyob Job, Rahel Rachel, Hanna, Marta, Sara. Tigrinya, spoken in Tigray and Eritrea, shares the system and much of the stock with its own forms, Tesfay, Kidane the covenant, Berhane my light, Yemane my right hand, Gebre servant, often as Gebremichael and Gebremariam, Tekle plant, Fitsum perfect, Semhar, Winta, Freweini, Rahwa, Luwam. The Oromo, the largest people in the country, name in Afaan Oromo, Gemechu happiness, Tolera he succeeded, Chaltu she became better, Ayantu lucky, Hawi wish, Bontu proud, Sena history, Obse patience, Waaqo God, and Muslim Oromo use Arabic names, Mohammed, Abdi, Jemal, all with the same father's-name rule.

A baptismal name in Amhara and Tigrayan families is separate and secret, used at church, and the everyday name is the one here. Ethiopians abroad often fix the father's name as a surname and pass it to their children, which is how Haile and Tesfaye become family names in London and Washington. For the Arabic stock Muslim Ethiopians draw on, the Arabic page; for the neighbours, the Kenyan page.

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