Swahili name
Umoja
means "Unity"
Umoja is a Swahili name meaning "Unity". It comes from Swahili's own Bantu (African) roots.
Umoja means unity and is the first of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, celebrated by many African American families.
How to say it
oo-MO-jah
The part in capitals is stressed. In Swahili, every vowel is its own sound, and the stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable.
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Questions parents ask about Umoja
- What does the name Umoja mean?
- Umoja is a Swahili name meaning "Unity". Umoja means unity and is the first of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, celebrated by many African American families.
- How do you pronounce Umoja?
- Say it oo-MO-jah. The part in capitals is stressed.
- Where does the name Umoja come from?
- Umoja is a Bantu-Swahili name. It comes from Swahili's own Bantu (African) roots.
- Is Umoja a girl's or a boy's name?
- Umoja is given to both girls and boys.
What do the origin labels mean?
- Bantu-Swahili
- Swahili is a Bantu language, part of a large family of African languages. Bantu-Swahili names come from that original African core of the language.
- Arabic-origin
- Centuries of trade and contact along the East African coast brought many Arabic words and names into Swahili. They are now fully at home in Swahili-speaking families.
- Borrowed (trade-route)
- Swahili also borrowed words from other languages its speakers met through trade across the Indian Ocean.