Senegalese (Pulaar) and Korean Baby Girl Names We Love
The time has come when we finally need to decide on a name for our baby girl. Choosing a baby name can be very exciting but also very difficult at the same time since it will identify your little bundle of joy for the rest of its life.
Since my husband is Korean and I am half Senegalese we decided that both of us will make a list and write down some of our favorites, and then choose from that list together. The main reason why I decided to look for Senegalese names instead of Italian or German names (I am half Italian but German native speaker) is that first of all, my own name is Senegalese (my real name is Ayssata) and second, I decided that I will speak to my child in German since that’s the language that my biggest part of the family and friends are speaking. But I don’t want for my baby to forget about its origin and therefore I would wish for it to have a Senegalese name (or middle name). There is one more thing that I would like to explain before I’m going to show you our names list. In Senegal (as well as in many other African countries) there are many different ethnicities, thus many different languages. My father’s ethnicity is Fula and the language that we speak is Pulaar. So to be exact the names that I chose are Pulaar names and since there are Fula people in many other West-African countries as well, the names that you will see on my list are not used in Senegal only.
Also, a very short explanation about my name and why I mostly use Aisha instead of Ayssata. Actually, it’s very simple, Ayssata is just the Pulaar name version of the Arabic name Aisha (or Aicha, how it’s usually written). It’s basically the same as you would say Michael in English and German, while it’s Michele in Italian or French.
As for Korean names, it is common for people to have two-syllable names. Almost all Korean last names have only one syllable, for example, Kim (김), Park (박), Lee (이), Kwon (권), … however, in Korean the last name is always written and said in front of the first name and they are always written together with no space in between. For example, my husband’s full name is KimJungu (김준구), the last name Kim (one syllable), and the first name Jungu (two syllables). However, there are also some people who have only one syllable or three syllables names but is kind of rare.
Therefore I made sure to only choose two-syllable names in Pulaar as well, as it can get confusing sometimes. I did that experience myself with my own name. Aisha in English (or other western languages) has two syllables however if your write it in Korean there are three syllables. The reason is because of the Korean writing rules "a" (아) and "i" (이) cannot be written as one syllable "ai" (아-이). This results in three syllables for Aisha (아이샤) and sometimes (rarely) it happened to me that people think that my last name is "A" and my first name is "isha".
With that said, take a look at the different Senegalese (Pulaar) and Korean baby girl names, and let me know which ones you like best in the comments below.
Senegalese Names
Sira: Among Fula people, it is common that the firstborn daughter is called Sira. Of course not all first-born daughters are called Sira, however, it is very uncommon for a second-born daughter to be named Sira.
Wuuri: My daddy’s grandmother’s name was Wuuri and I really like it because of its meaning. It means life or to live. In Pulaar we use this word a lot for example to wish someone a happy birthday or in general when we wish someone to live a healthy life.
Fanta: You might know this name already from the soda brand however it’s a very common Pulaar name. The meaning of the name is “beautiful day” and there are two songs about a woman called Fanta, one from the most popular Pulaar speaking Senegalese singer Baaba Maal and one from the Ivorian singer Alpha Blondy.
Kumba: This name is actually given to the second-born daughter however it is a very special name to me because my doll’s name was also Kumba and I remember playing mom and daughter with her as a child a lot. I even remember sometimes carrying her in the sling on my back as people in Senegal usually do.
Korean Names
오름 (Orum) : It's a name that my husband made up by himself. It has basically two meanings in Korean. The first meaning is 'to go up' and the second meaning is 'to be right', 'correct', or 'proper'. He thinks this are good characteristics for a name.
연 (Yeon): The meaning of this name is ‘to match’ or ‘connection’. But the main reason why my husband chose this name is because Korea’s most famous figure skater name is 연아 (Yeona), which is then basically similar to 연 since he did't wanted to fully copy the name.
리안 (Rian): In Korean when you call a person, you usually add a "a". So basically the main reason why my husband chose 리안 (Rian) is because it becomes 리안아 (Riana) when you call it, and therefore sound very similar to Rihanna. From his list this is actually the name that I like the most.
하연 (Hayeon): This names doesn’t have a proper meaning, yet. In Korean sometimes people choose a name with a sound they like first and then later they check if there are chinese symbols for that name which would give the name the meaning.
하엘 (Hael): Also this name he didn’t chose because of a proper meaning, but because he likes how it looks like when it’s written down.
