Femi

[familyfortunes]

what are your thoughts...looking for 2 dd names.

We have been liking Naomi and Phoebe.

Femi is Egyptian for love. DH really likes it and would swap for Phoebe...I'm not totally sure.

I thought it was Fela Kuti?

But yes, I know a male Femi.

Femi was the father of Fela. Or was it the other way around?

Femi is a really popular name in West Africa. It can be either but I'd say it's so strongly associated with people of that region for me it sounds strange. I can only see it working if you have some link to this area. Am surprised you haven't heard of it before, do you live in a very white area?

Also, aside from the cultural associations, I always thought it was a name that didn't transport well in that it does sound like either Feminax or Femidom and that these products must not have such names over there.

Ah, I didn't know that Ehric!

Definitely an African man's name ime.

I've known one. A 26 year old Nigerian male prostitute my friend lived with at uni.

Really.

I have a female second cousin called Femi, in her early 20s. She is of Scandinavian origin. We all called her Dom. I would avoid.

Femidom

I know a Famy, full name Uphemia. Femi makes me think of feminine hygiene I'm afraid!

Femi is usually short for Oluwafemi and is a very popular Nigerian name. I have taught a lot, all boys.

I know two Femis, both women.

It's a Yoruba name meaning "love me." I read a paper on Yoruba names for work once (and now know way more about how to name Yoruba twins than I ever thought I needed to) and you can get composite names e.g. Olufemi means "God loves me."

There's also a Yoruba actor called Femi Ogudengbe who has just called his twins Hollywood and Nollywood.

Thanks for all your comments.

We are in Scotland with no strong links to Africa, although dh did live in Zambia for a few years.

I'm well and truly convinced Femi will not be the name of one of my DTDs.

It certainly made me chuckle...

Posy interesting! Aren't Yoruba twins usually named Taiwo and Kehinde?

Yep! The first one out (Taiwo) is the "younger" child (whereas in the UK we say the first one out is the older one), the "older" sister / brother (Kehinde) pushes the little one out first to check it's safe. I quite like that :)

There's more about it here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibeji

I know it as a Nigerian name, but I'm sure I've only come across girls with this name, think there was a Femi at my [girls'] school.

I think unless there you have a real connection with Nigeria I wouldn't.