African names

[Divine79]

Hi All,

My Husband is from the Gambia West Africa and would like to call our baby Jamba (boy) which is traditional to the Gambia, I am not opposed to it since it means something to him but already have had a few funny looks - honest opinions would be great!

Sounds fine to me. Will it go with your surname?

What about a name of his choosing and a name of yours? Perhaps Jamba and a name 'traditional' to your country of origin?

That gives your son a choice when older too.

And ignore the funny looks. Bugger them. Call your son what you and your husband together feel is the name you want.

Although when I read it first, I read it as jambo, and thought, calling your son hello is a bit odd

Lol! It would be Jamba William I think so quite a traditional English name and then when he is older he can choose between the two.

Sounds fine.

Mine have really weird first names and obv my husband's kikuyu surname and I find that we don't get any looks at all.

It's really odd. I can only assume it's because they are mixed race and have a clearly forrign surname. So people assume you're a forrign'r

I find, and this is awful, that white people with odd names get a lot more . I can't make up my mind whether this is bigotry, racism, ignorance, assumptions or whether I have too much time on my hands to consider such things.

I think it is lovely! I think Jamba William sounds great. Ignore them all - 'they' moan no matter what - Finley is too common, John is too plain etc etc!

Jamba is lovely. I think it sounds really strong and masculine! I certainly wouldn't give you any stick over it

It's very close to the spanish word for prawn. And it sounds like jambalaya. So it's a no from me. I think it's awful. Any other options?

What language is that? Mandinka? Wolof? Other?

Go for it, if you like it

To my ears it sounds a little bit like a diminutive, rather than a grown, full name IYSWIM

Would love to hear any other options, though. I live in a very racially-mixed area, and like unusual names

if you aren't keen on that particular name, could you ask him about other family names perhaps? Maybe you will find something you like better.

It's ok but it doesn't really appeal to me all that much tbh

There is probably a website with African boys names if you google too

Jamba is lovely. Though like Hec said being in Kenya makes me automatically think Jambo.

There is sure to be several Jambo's kicking around here.

What is odd here is when a baby is named after a foreigner who has had a significant impact on the family's life. So I recently met a Larry, which did make me stop in my tracks for a moment.

Why on earth would it matter that it sounds a bit like gamba (prawn in Spanish?) Has the OP said she lives in Spain? .

ds is called James. when he was tiny we called him Jambarama, this is now shortened to Jamba. I didn't know it was an African name. I think it's great and you should call your son what makes you happy.

I like it but there's a restaurant or cafe chain in the US called Jamba Juice, so I'd steer clear. Here's a Gambian names site.

Zakaria! (Sherif is pretty cool, too)

Thanks all this is really helpful and great to hear unbiased opinions.
Jamba is actually my Husband's Fathers name so it means a lot to the family and I do really like it - I don't think its a particularly out there name. It comes from the Mandinka language and its really important to me that the name represents the culture. we actually do not know the sex yet just playing around with names at the moment.
I had never heard of Jamba Juice thats quite funny and actually not too worried about it!
Other option at the moment would be Omar but I prefer Jamba.

Ps. This is Divine79 changed my nickname yesterday!

I really love Omar too - I prefer it actually, but as I said, Jamba is lovely so its w win/win situation in my eyes!

I think Jamba is a lovely name and Jam is a really sweet nn! Go for it - as you say he always has the William option if he prefers when he's older.