Kenya is home to many trading centers and towns some with very interesting names, but have you ever thought of how the name of your town or village came about? Some of the names came about by what we can term as sheer coincidence and twists which are funny.
Dagoretti Corner: The place was originally known as “The Great Corner” and the Africans could not pronounce it correctly and the corrupted version became Dagoretti Corner which was directly from The Great Corner which has stuck to this day. The Great Corner was the site of the first airfield in Kenya; a patchy grass runway around the present Meteorological Department.
Rumuruti: Rumuruti is a town in Laikipia County about 40km north of Nyahururu. How did it get its’ name? The town was on the route from Nyahururu to Mararal which was commonly used by white settlers. They referred to the trail between the two settlements as a “Remote route”. The corrupted version of this then became Rumuruti, the town name as we know it today. Rumuruti was the site of a huge meteor shower in 1934 and some of them are on sale on e-bay http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xrumuruti&_nkw=rumuruti&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Thogoto: The Church of Scotland Mission was the first mission to settle in the now little town near Kikuyu in Kiambu County. The local Kikuyu Community could not pronounce the name Scotland easily and they would pronounce it as “Thigoto” and thus the name Thogoto was born. Today the town has maintained the name Thogoto and that PCEA Church of the Torch one of the oldest mission churches still stands.
Kapropita: This is a town in the former Rift Valley in Baringo County. A settler known as Corporal Peter lived in the area during the pre-independence period. His name was a tough one for the locals to pronounce and the area soon was referred as Kapropita which is a corrupted version of Corporal Peter.
Kabarnet: It’s believed that the town is named after a French man known as Barnet who settled in the area and made it his home. The local Tugen people then started to refer to the place as Ka- Barnet. The word “Ka” means “the homestead of” and therefore the name Ka-Barnet means the place/home of Barnet.
Rod-Kopany: Is a busy town in Homa-Bay County. During the construction of a road in the area the Mehta Singh Road Company the residents would refer to it as Rodi Kopany. This name quickly stuck and the town was known as Rod-Kopany which is a corruption of the name Road Company.
Kirigiti: There was a popular cricket field in Kiambu and it was popular with settlers who would frequent the place from surrounding farms. The local Kikuyu community could not pronounce the name Cricket and they pronounced it as Kirigiti. Today the stadium is referred to as Kirigiti which is just a version of Cricket but with a Kikuyu corruption to it. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta held his last rally at Kirigiti stadium before the declaration of emergency in 1952.
Roysambu: Roysambu is a suburb along the Thika superhighway in Nairobi City County. The place was known as “Royal Suburbs” during the colonial times. However the Africans in Nairobi pronounced it as Roy-Sabu and thus it got the name “Roysambu”.
Kariakor: During the First World War a contingent of Africans were in the British army as carrying luggage. The Carrier Corps, as they were known, carried everything the soldiers needed to survive during the East African Campaign of the First World War. Their base in Nairobi was around the present day Kariakor area. The locals simply called the place Carrier corps which with a local dialect influence sounded like “Kariako” and it’s today still called by that name.
Tenwek: Is a shopping centre located in Bomet County and location of one of the oldest hospitals in the region which was built in 1936. The name Tenwek is believed to have come about because it took ten weeks to travel from the Mombasa to the area by foot.
Matayos: In the county of Busia there is a trading called Matayos. According to the residents of Busia a European by the name Mathew moved to the area during the colonial times. The residents referred to him as “Mathayo” which is the Kiswahili version of Mathew. However, in Luhya dialect the name was pronounced as “Matayo”. Today Matayos is one of the new constituencies in Busia.
While many of these were English names corrupted into local dialects, there are a number of places in Kenya where local names were Anglicized by the European settlers.
Msongari: The name was Muthangari and an area in Lavington still maintains that name. The name was a bit tuff for the settlers and they pronounced it as “Msongari”.
Now that is Kenyan history in a bit.
doctorgabryl said:
Tumetoka mbali
Mandy N (@Evahinc) said:
mmmh.. I believe is is spelt tough..not tuff..just saying. Interesting article.
Ralph said:
Here is another one
LUKENYA: There is a white settler that lived there and a local Kamba servant and one day when hicking they got to the highest point and the view was just breath taking. He sighed and said “look at kenya” the local had “Lukenya” and it’s been known like that ever since
Rovin Maa said:
This is not true. Lukenya means “Erukenya”- It comes from the mist/smog that covers Ukambani and Kajiado plains. The Maasai people name the hills after the mist.
Mr Wolf (@cgitosh) said:
Not forgetting ‘Gigiri’ which in Kikuyu was ‘Ngi ngiri’ from the many house flies that were in that place which by then was an Army barracks used by Kings African rifles. The barracks was very dirty and inhabited by flies hence ‘Ngi ngiri’ of course the white folks could not pronounce that and thus we ended up with ‘Gigiri’ which is fancier if you ask me
boss said:
hey don’t forget ‘Gilgil’ during the colonial period the british soldiers shouted during the fighting with the locals kalenjins ‘kill’ ‘kill’ but to the locals it rather sounded Gilgil leading to the present Gilgil
Niz Nixx said:
Really?
I thought it is a maa word?
Mnyika-sokwemtu said:
Gilgil is actually a Somali word.
John said:
A Masai friend years ago told me Gilgil is named after the little river there, which is an anomatopaeic word, after the sound of the stream trickling down over the rocks. ‘Kill-kill’ does not seem right to me.
John said:
A Masai friend told me the name Gilgil is Maa, onomatopoeic, from the sound of the water in the stream trickling over the rocks. True?
Linda Brown said:
And I always thought ‘Gilgil’ came from ‘Girigiri’,the whirlwinds that are so common there. I do not buy in to the kill kill story.
Njuguna Muigai said:
Perhaps from this army barracks the word gichagi which in kikuyu means a village was coined. It said a white man went to a military camp and found it very dirty and said this camp is very shaggy. So the locals said he called it chagi and so they assumed anywhere with many houses is called shaggy
hillary said:
thanks very much
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
to wander in kyuk is guchanga, place where wanderers camp is called gichangi with a silent n. not everything was named by settlers even today
Rajen said:
Kenya was a shorter version of Kirinyaga, as I have heard.
Katumbi said:
It’s actually Kikamba for the Mountain of Ostriches – [kiima] kinyaa
John said:
That is what many Wakamba people have told me.
chris said:
Not kirinyaga but kiinyaa – From the Kamba language
Joseph Kamwara Githae said:
The term “kirima kiri nyaga”, meaning the mountain with ostriches is what the people in central referred to Mt. Kenya. The Britons found the word hard and hence corrupted it to “Kenya”
Wairati Sam (@WairatiSam) said:
You are right Joseph Kamwara.. But Not Mountain with Ostriches but ‘White patches’ referring to snow patches at the top.. Nyaga or Manyaga means patches in Agikuyu language. Also Nyaga is ostrich in Gikuyu language too..
John said:
The early Wazungu got it from the Wakamba…kii nyaa or ki’ima kii nyaa, the mountain of the male ostrich (black and white patches, like the mountain). Machakos was the inland centre of the Wazungu well before the birth of the city of Nairobi and the Wazungu-Wakamba contact was earlier than that with the Wakikuyu.
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
it is the kamba version of the same word, so the r and the g are silent.
Njũkĩ Mate said:
In Kikamba black and white patches are called nyaa. In calling the mountain kĩĩnyaa the reference is to black and white patches not ostriches. Kĩĩma kĩĩnyaa.
@nashontado said:
Karen: Linked to Karen Blixen’s residential location
Mtito Andei: evolved from something to do with Mr. Anderson
Limuru: evolved from ‘Limoru’ Kikuyu name not sure what it means
And in South Sudan: Jonglei State – name evolved from John Clay a Briton who died in the said location and was buried there
waithaka said:
limuru is a maadai eord. not kikuyu. i do not know what it means
kiambu came from kia mbu. a place for war silens. iy was a transition zone/ boarder between kikuyu and maasai. once they clashed, kikuyus eouuld sound war silens
t
Samuel said:
Limuru is a corruption from a Maasai word ilmur…(hope the spelling is correct) which means donkey droppings (shit)…
oletoe said:
oletoe says: Limuru is another corruption of the Maa name of a fruit tree, which to this day, is found in parts of Limuru. The name is “ilmorog” hence the colonial distortion to “Limuru”. I have inquired and as far as I know the name has no meaning in Gikuyu!
Many corrupted names have no meaning in many languages.
Let’s try the following:
Uthiru
Loongonot
Aberdares
Nairobi
Ngong’
Nanyuki
Narok
Kipipiri
Kitisuru
Lumbwa
there are many more
We are all enjoying these exchanges, but more seriously, this is all important? I think we need to be concerned about both history and the loss of meaning – Kenya’s heritage!
Naserian said:
Yes limuru is corrupted maa word ilmur meaning a place full of donkey droppings. There are many donkeys in this area todate and many times the maasai on the move with their herds would name any place they passed according to whst they observed first on arrival. Most Kenyan towns derive their names from the maa dialect.
gourdarrow said:
Mtito Andei is not from anderson. ndei are eaters and mean lion. thus Mtito andei means the forest of eaters
John said:
I’ve heard Mtito Andei means forest of eagles. True? What does Ndi mean?
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
I think ur right, that anderson thing sounds a bit far fetched
maikiv said:
Kikuyu language has no ‘L’ sound therefore it cannot be a Kikuyu word.
Edward Mungai said:
I would think Mtito wa Ndei would be kikuyu for Mutitu wa Ndii meaning forest of vultures . However I doubt kikuyu language would have any influence in that part of the country. Kikamba in my opinion qualifies as having more influence.
What about Kimani for Mutitu wa Ndii for forest of eaters either the eaters being vultures or wild animals and lions leading in that pack.
mankalela said:
Mtito Andei is Kamba for Msitu wa tai (a forest for vultures); maybe back then there were way more vultures than now
Jackin Nanua said:
Remember Mt. Kenya was the Kamba fashion of Kirinyaga ‘Kee nyaa’ If the mzungu had asked a Kikuyu, our country would have been Kirinyaga today
Jackin Nanua said:
What about Meru? The British asked who the people were and he was told they were the miiriga mieru (new clans). He therefore called them Meru to this day the name remains.
Mr Wolf (@cgitosh) said:
hehehe that’s interesting
amutuera@gmail.com said:
kunaeza kuwa mtu nguyas
Gikariangi said:
Meru means ripe in kikuyu from ripe bananas so AMERU are people who comes from an area with so many bananas
Rovin Maa said:
This is disappointing. Someone is trying to give us the wrong history here:
1. Dagoreti is not the “”Great Corner.” It means Entakuleti”in Maasai and I can’t remember the original name from the Kikuyu people.
2. Rumuti is NOT the “Remoute Route “but “Ölomuruti”in Maasai and Samburu languages. The name was just slightly corrupted but has remained the same.
3. Roysambu is not some surburb but means “Soit Sambu”in Maasai – meaning grey rocks.
4. Gilgil means Ënkilgirri”in Maasai and not “Ngiri ngiri”
5. Limuru was an original name for “Lormurr”in Maasai which means place of donkeys or some places with lots of donkey shit.
6. Naivasha = Enaiposha – meaning the lake.
7. Nakuru = Nakurro – meaning a dust bowl – dusty place
8. Nyahururu – Enaiwurruwurr – meaning windy or place of storms. Also means some plant.
@joshngangi said:
Rovin Maa i like your findings. They make more sense! all of them.
kikwai said:
in as much as i appreciate your suggestions..my Questions is are you trying to tell us that the maasai were the only people who named the rest of the country??
Edward Mungai said:
In my opinion I would support the idea that Masai language would have a notable impact in names of quite a large area in Kenya especially in areas that had remained uninhabited by other tribes. Masai with their claim of ownership of all cattle in the world were known to claim large swathes of grazing land covering Nairobi , Rift Valley , part of Eastern including areas of central specifically lands between aberdares and Mt Kenya.
In my opinion it is logical to relate quite a number of names of places with the nation of Masai.
amoe said:
Rovin i like yourtake…others are mere creations
amwkpaulo@yahoo.com said:
These inputs by R. Maa are closer to the truth than anything else said elsewhere before.
George said:
Nice read!
esoit sambu looks more appropriate for Soy sambu near Gilgil than Roysambu
Wonder what my town Molo was named after
George said:
and ngi ngiri was refering to Gigiri not Gilgil.
smartnewskenya said:
It makes sense Soy Sambu
Keinya (Kenya) said:
I love learning about my namesake the country Kenya. Im American I am from a mixture of African Irish and West Native American people. I was born during the celebration of Kenya’s deliverance from British rule and my parents always wanted me to know and live my life with a proud respect for Kenya…and I do! I plan to visit Kenya on my 50th birthday (Im 45 now).
Can anyone give me the origin of the word Kenya? Is it Kiswahili? What does it mean?
Please educate me more as I continue to teach other much younger women in my country about the name and true history of Kenya.
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
the name is from the Kamba community in central Kenya, There is a snow capped mountain there and they likened the white spots on the dark mass of rock to the plume of a male ostrich, the name literally means “has an ostrich” with reference to the hill.
Ole Pertet said:
The meaning of Kenya is explained above both Kamba and Kikuyu seem to each claim its origin so take your pick lol
wanyeki2015 said:
Good to here from you Ms Kenya asking about your name origin. The name came from the term “kirima kiri nyaga” meaning the “mountain with ostriches” this is in kikuyu language from this populous community in Kenya for they referred to the peak of the mountain which has ice as the Ostrich. Remember ostriches have white patches. . The Britons found the word hard and hence corrupted it to “Kenya”. To know more about the Kikuyu community, follow this link, mukuyu.wordpress.com
Finally l note you talk about being born during the Kenya’s independence celebrations but your age does not add up. Kenya celebrated independence in 1963. I welcome you to our great country.
Nurdin Jamal said:
We have to appreciate that before the coming of the whites, we had a lifestyle, a culture and very rich history.
njuguna muigai said:
Nyahururu also means falls or cliff. The other place is Kabete .It said it got it name after the wife of Dr Leakey lost her ring then people were mobilized to find the ring, so when passers along that route found people combing everywhere they asked them what they are looking they are looking they answered ni kabete so the Leakeys to assumed that it was name of the place
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
your findings are more sensible, I also think it would be harder for a whole few thousand people to start calling a place a name like this article suggests just because a settler screamed some mumbo jumbo one day. It is more likely they just recorded what they heard.
AKSENT said:
Ha ha, The Great Corner – not much about it is great today, but, I could be wrong.
oletoe said:
Actually Dagoretti is a corruption of the Maa word for a cactus-like tree that produces a white latex which if applied to the skin, induces itchiness and swelling. In Maa it is spelled ol-dogorett
John said:
That’s more like it
njuguna muigai said:
Dagoretti is said that a white man named Lugard built fort smith the people said the land which he built that fort has not bought, so they said ndaguriti and so Lugard assumed that was the name of the place
Gideon said:
Mariakani on your way to Mombasa derived its name from the Kambas who were trades men and used to carry bows and arrows,the small container that carries arrows in kikamba is called ‘Thiaka’ so when travelling to Mombasa the kambas would leave there thiakas somewhere & coz they were so many so they called the place ‘MATHIAKANI’ so the coasterians called it MARIAKANI.
mankalela said:
The quiver the Kambas carried are known as riaka in Kiswahili and Mijikenda; hao waRabai wa hapo ndo wakapaita pa mariaka, au mariakani.
All coastal toponyms with a -ni at the end, suggest that the place had something in plenty.
Mikanjuni—mikanju (cashewnut)
Kilindini-kilindi- deep hole/ natural port (which means Malindi is full of lindis, harbor)
Na mambo ka hayo
Historian said:
Dagoretti is not great corner. Its ” ndagurite” ( not bought) the land was not legally bought. This was a protest by kikuyu squaters after Karen blixen had grabbed land displaced them internally from Karen to dagorettI area.
oletoe said:
Read my previous note on Dagoretti… means a cactus-like tree in the Maa language that has white latex that if applied to the skin will cause itching, swelling and pain.
Gikariangi said:
I concur about Dagoreti Corner which was kikuyu dialect meaning Corner was not part of the land Karen Blixen bought
choob said:
Er, The Kikuyu lived on Blixen’s farm with her and were only displaced when she went bankrupt and the bank took the farm. She negotiated their settlement in Dagoretti with the then governor.
Lisa said:
I totally agree and confirm thats the true history
oletoe said:
As I indicated earlier: Actually Dagoretti is a corruption of the Maa word for a cactus-like tree that produces a white latex which if applied to the skin, induces itchiness and swelling. In Maa it is spelled ol-dogorett
History said:
Dagoretti is not great corner. Its ” ndagurite” ( not bought) the land was not legally bought. This was a protest by kikuyu squaters after Karen blixen had grabbed land displaced them internally from Karen to dagorettI area.
noni mugo said:
Reblogged this on aesthetic asymmetry.
raj said:
Waswahili originated from Wa siwa hili meaning the people who lived around the sea (siwa).
Samuel said:
Correction, Siwa cannot stand for sea…rather for island from the word Kisiwa…thus siwa may be used to mean a large island rather than sea…
Naomi Mutua (@AKenyanGirl) said:
Island sounds more plausible… considering Mombasa is (was) an island
abrahamwangila said:
“kisiwa hiki” would have been more it; I think the theory of “Sawahil” an arabic word meaning coastal dwellers is still much more plausible to me.
Niz Nixx said:
Wikipedia talks about the arabic sawahil meaning coastal dwellers
mankalela said:
Waswahili imetoka kwa hiyo sawahil, ambapo pia neno Sahel, that semi arid bridge between the true Sahara Desert and fertile tropical Africa
Navigator said:
Reblogged this on A Camel's Memoir.
Lucy karau said:
Interesting -there is also banana in kiambu county named after the bananas which used to grow there in plenty
John said:
It was/is ‘Banana Hill’, it was full of banans.
Hontaz said:
Ikolomani – Gold mine
Edward Hough said:
http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/heritage/sikhhert%20EAfrica/nostalgic%20EAfrica%20nAIROBI.html
anonymous said:
I’d heard that Roysambu was named Roy Swamp after a muzungu called Roy. The swamp where Zimmermann actually sits.
Naomi Mutua (@AKenyanGirl) said:
And Zimmerman was named after a German taxidermist: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Zimmermanns-From-a-world-famous-taxidermy-factory/-/539444/1357350/-/b7pyo/-/index.html
Jim Keya said:
Sounds more plausible because there are no remains or signs of any Royal dwellings around the larger Kiambu,Thome, Thika, Roysambu area. If there were any royal suburbs we would have seen good examples of planning, remnants of castles, manors and abbots and so on. Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe that most areas in Nairobi were Masai and therefore Loisambu or Oloisambu would make sense
oletoe said:
Hello, Roysambu is a corruption of Esoitsambu in Maa, meaning striped boulder.
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
I feel u jim. royal suburbs is hard to believe
sam said:
Isikuti- the luhya traditional dance, coming from the phrase, ‘It is good’ the luhya couldnt pronounce properly hence Isikuti
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
So are you saying the luhya had a name for each of the dancers and their roles and the drums but they had no name for the dance until a settler in silent attendance, who happened to be the first foreign person to observe it exclaimed, It is good? be serious
Tabitha Mwangi said:
I live in Kikuyu near a swamp called Undiri which was called Old Lake by the settlers,kikuyus found it hard to pronounce so they opted for Undiri with the “n” silent. A lady called Rose Gate owned a large farm nearby and people started calling the area “Ruthigiti” as it was easier to pronounce.My grandmother lives in Dagoretti near Karen; the area is known as ” Karinde”meaning Karen end.Tabitha Mwangi.
Njuguna Muigai said:
There is a place at kabete called N but it end because the Kenya bus reached there from nairobi
Wahome Karengo said:
No way man. N was the beginning of the ‘Native Reserve,” shortened to N. It stuck
bonoko said:
N is derived from the technical school nearby…
stephen said:
tell the meaning and origin of Mang’u. it is a village in gatundu north
1022p said:
I hear KINOO originated from a very large sign that read “NO THROUGH WAY”. The Kikuyu living in the area would refer to the area as “haria hee Ki-no, Hence…,
maikiv said:
Hilarious!!!!!
Cyrus said:
Best thing I’ve read all year.
njuguna muigai said:
Kinoo got it name from kenol petrol station which had been built there and people would ask bus conductors to be dropped at kenol
Pingback: Hilarious Origin of Names of Towns and Locations in Kenya | Space in Between
Kagotho said:
The comments are killing me… Kinoo, Karinde, Miiriga mieru….hahaha
danga said:
carrier corps would load at a place where they’d be told to ‘carry your bags’ hence Kariobangi….
oletoe said:
This is the best one!
mikeandliz2003 said:
Reblogged this on My Master Key Blog and commented:
Always interesting finding out the origins …
gongs said:
mombasa came about from the giriama word mwambazee, the white settlers on arrival asked the locals “what is the name of this place?” the giriama in returned said ” mwambazee” meaning mwasemajee ( say what?)
jasmine said:
Apparently Mombasa came from the answer a local gave to an early settler. The settler asked the local “What do you call this place?” as he pointed to the ground with his walking stick. Assuming that the settler was asking about the rocks that were on the ground he replied “Mwamba, sir!” Hence…
mankalela said:
Mombasa either came from hiyo mwaambadze (KiGiryama), or manbasa (Arabic), the former is a greeting, and the latter is an acknowledgement of Mombasa’s violent history, which is why it is alternatively called Mvita.
amwkpaulo@yahoo.com said:
Jasmine that’s a white lie.
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
lol jasmine, was thatsettler Jesus or something? He was told Mwamba sir and he said “very well that shall be the name” and all the dwellers who had other names for the island unanimously went with his accord that sunny day and changed the name of their home at once.
Lorna said:
I read elsewhere that Kabarnet is named as the “place of Barnett”. Barnett was a missionary with AIM who worked in that area. He also officiated former President’s Moi marriage to Lena.
kresearcher said:
Any link,that would be a great story to document as well
jakegc said:
More details on the Barnett family. The first family member came to Kenya from Australia in 1907 as a missionary:
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/The-First-Lady-Kenya-never-had/-/957860/2076766/-/7k1x1iz/-/index.html
Marion said:
Iten came from Hill ten
Karinde in Karen was originally Karen end
Alexander said:
-Thimbigua (a sub-village between Banana Hill and Muchatha in Kiambu County): There was a big water tank built here during the construction of Limuru Road. The story goes that European settlers referred to it as ‘The Big One’…the locals? ‘Thimbigua’….
-Ndumberi (Town located to the northwest of Kiambu Town): There was a prominent settler in the area by the name Lord Dunberry…
maikiv said:
That is where I come from, I have never known what the name means. Thank you sir!
Ogre said:
Eldoret was is originally called Sisibo, corrupted by Nandis from 64, it being 64 km from the railway head at Kibigori. 64 stadium still exists. And another Mzungu insulted some folks at a place saying ‘you are so thick!’. That place is called Sotik!
amwkpaulo@yahoo.com said:
It’s 64 miles from Elbourgon, not km from kibigori.
christine said:
Kawangware…… There were many ngwares (bird like hen) so peiple called ja_ngare
oletoe said:
kawangware is a corruption of the Maa term ewa engare meaning flood plain – the river there used to flood
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
There was a story about the man who owned a large shop there whose name was wangware in the daily nation a while ago, I believe he’s still alive. The place was called kwa wangware because of his shop and that name was actually used for years but the w was lost with time. he was even interviewed by the Daily nation if i remember well.
Nani Njoroge said:
How about KAKAMEGA????????????
Tony Kleefe said:
It is said when the Colonialists arrived at Kakamega, they were invited to eat ugali and while at it, the locals milled around watching them eat with their hands. When they picked a lump of ugali, the locals would shout “khakhameka” in Luhya. The Colonialists would echo back Kakamega instead, since they were unable to pronounce khakhameka. Thus the place came to be known as Kakamega.
Mumias was named after Nabongo Mumia, the ruler of the Wanga tribe during the Colonial time.
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
so where did Luhyas get maize from before the settlers came and yet they are the ones who came with corn from the americas?
Odenyo James said:
MASENO: a town in between Luanda and Kisumu City. This town was a favorite of the missionaries who set up schools and hospitals. The town had better infrastructure during the colonial times and disciplinary centres were also set up there- used by the paramount chiefs. Because locals could not pronounce the word missionaries, they corrupted it to maseno hence the name today. This town remains a gateway to the lake region and Busia border and also has good schools, hospital, university and organized farmlands
Kondele said:
Maseno is actually a corruption of a tree Luseno (Lyhya) that was common in the area.
GEOFFREY WERU (@WERUz) said:
a road sign KEEP OFF THE GOAT gave birth to kibiingoti on the way t o karatina which was a quarantine
mbuthia said:
that’s my village town.. haha nice one!
felly said:
really hilarious..ki- noo,; ..kibiingoti
Wahome Karengo said:
Why would a road sign read “Keep off the goat”? I seriously doubt this one
Kiptoo said:
Ruaraka….women would do their laundry and bathe in a nearby river. The river was then named “River of women” in kikuyu: rui rwa aka
simon said:
the name is actually Ruaka, a short distance from the bypass off Kiambu road…was originally Ruui rwa aka…meaning a river for women.
Edith said:
Malindi…….Mali ndi meaning full of riches
ole said:
lumuruti…
is a masai name…olomuruti–a short cut(path) used to avoid a hill, river and other natural obstacles!
oletoe said:
this is correct
John said:
Sounds like the truth to me… Not the route story
Nyakio said:
How did i not know the meaning of where i come from? mmh Rumuruti kumbe all along it has been olomuruti. hahaha
ole said:
mahi mahiu ..is masai for Ne’meimayu–meaning:pasipo pititika
Nanyuki-maasai nanyokie(place of red soil)
nakuru–maasai:-nakurro
lang’ata-maasai:-elang’ata (bridge/ crossing point(river)
embakasi–maasai:-impakasi
buru buru –em’bol bol
ngong-Enkong’u enkare(source of the river)
lari–Olare (swamp)
Nyahururu-naiurruurr(kwenye mgurumo)
magadi–emakat (soda ash)
the list is endless
oletoe said:
Mahi mahiu in English means a place which is not passable
Nakuru – dust bowl
Embakasi – large open savannah
Buru Buru – em bur bul, small pond
Nyahururu – referring to the waterfall, place of thunder
Kahiga said:
Mai Mahiu is spring of hot water
david said:
funny stuff
George said:
End Base a little trading center on the foot of mount Elgon which was the last administrative base before crossing the border to Uganda. Another version of how Endebess was baptized is that a white guy arrived at a local leader’s homestead, and with a swing of his hand stopping at a point where his chair was, the Muzungu guy asked the old bukusu mzee; “what’s the name of this place? Since his hand was still pointing at the chair, the mzee answered “Endebhe yase” in Bukusu meaning “my chair”. The name endebess was born 😉
John said:
I think Endebess came from the Uaso Ngishu Maasai ‘oltepesi’, a type of acacia tree.
victoria wahu said:
Nairobi..Maasai meaning a cold place I hear
Wairati Sam (@WairatiSam) said:
Kawangware was named after the Man called Ngware. He opened the 1st shop there in 60s and Kikuyus would say (ndathii gatuka-ini KA+WA+NGWARE) I have gone to shop at Ngware’s shop.. The man died 13yrs ago.. I know him personally for he was my rural home neighbor
Sunny said:
strungi – Strong tea
David said:
Jaluo “orungi”
Martin Nyanjom said:
And a place in Kisumu that if you live in cannot tell your mother-in-law if she asks you…pand pieri ( literary-hide you ass)…from pied pipers…that locals could not promuonce…and Free Area in Nakuru…from Prairies..which similarly was a tongue twister
nscnairobi said:
Reblogged this on:http://nairobisafariclub.blogspot.com/
Simon said:
Shella, the small village on the island of Lamu was named after a Captain Sheller of the British Royal Navy who retired there and built a home outside Lamu town with views to the sea. This was back in the late eighteen hundreds and his homestead grew to become the present day village, ironically still owned in many parts by Europeans to this day!
amirfaisal said:
beautiful kenya.i miss mombasa
Agunda said:
My home town, Sio Port, is on River Suo, which the mzungu couldn’t wrap his tongue around and it became River Sio.
Ben said:
Please confirm Tenwek town naming whether its the ten week was from Mombasa or England by ship to the mission
chris said:
fantastic site,to add on bureti,meant pure tea wrongly spelt by mzungu worker.jst lke belgut,very good! highlands.
Ashley Kunyasad said:
Not corrupted, adapted!
Eric said:
Also heard that Kilifi came from the word “Great Cliffs”. The White man saw the cliffs and liked them only for the local to hear “kliff”. Hence Kilifi…
John said:
It is said to have been known in the early days as Cliff Creek.
John said:
It is not from ‘Cliff Creek’, ‘Kilifi’ village, not creek, is named on a Royal Navy chart of 1886, before any mzungu would have named the creek.
Odeny said:
In Nairobi, there is an estate called Kunguni. This estate was built for africans. The africans used wooden beds which harboured bedbugs (kunguni). When the double-storey houses were built next to kunguni, the tenants of these houses were proud (Maringo), hence the name maringo. The original name if ofafa Maringo.
Kalanda said:
Good to know.
peter said:
chaka leri near nyahururu for check the railway
Michael mwangi macharia said:
Fascinating…menengai crater…place of god?
anonymous said:
Giakanja town on the outskirts of Nyeri town used to be a women’s prison hence ‘Gia-aka-a nja’ meaning a place for ‘foreign’ women
J Gichuki said:
Not correct. If you read Godfrey Muriuki’s history of the Kikuyu, you will find that Kanja was one of the early mbari founders in Nyeri and gave his name to that place. Another one close by was Magana who gave his name to Wamagana. (Magana eventually ended up in Othaya)
Moses said:
it’s a bit of a shame, that most places in kenya are named after or through the interferance of the white settlers. or did the natives have actuall names for the places, but were then negleted..?. Take kabarnet for instance(where the samors subgroup of the tugen come from, home to the second president), the tugen people who have long settled in the place must have had a name for it (not trying to be racist or anything, just thiking outside the box)
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
This article i’m sorry to say is not factual, do not believe anything in it. I believe the maasai names, makes more sense
Curious said:
I heard the Barnett family still live in Kabarnet. And Eldoret is El Dore, the place of gold, named by the Boers who mined gold there.
mululu said:
Nyanza is the luhya word for ocean, or large mass of water
Helen Wallis said:
I once heard that Kilimanjaro meant anthill, but have never found out if that is true.
I lived in Nairobi for 3 years when my husband was with the RAF there at Eastleigh. I cried when I went back to UK as I loved living there so much.
John said:
I had many RAF friends at Muthaiga School in the 50s. Kililmanjaro, they say, has mysterious meanings, the two most mentioned are ‘Mountain of greatness’ and ‘Mountain of caravans’ , as many foot safaris of yore used to pass close to the mountain, Taveta being an important caravan/safari stop. ‘Kibo’ is said to mean ‘snow’ in the Chagga language, but I think it meant the ‘white stuff on top of the mountain’, as the Chagga dared not to climb up it due to the fear of evil spirits, so they did not really know what the white stuff was.
Ann Barbara Usher said:
I recently read another version of the origin of the name ‘Dagoretti’, which predates even Karen Blixen’s venture into Africa and which, to me, sounds to be authentic. Author, Neera Kapur-Dromson, wrote in the December 2013-January 2014 edition of Old Africa that the name ‘Ndagurite’, a Kikuyu word indeed meaning, ‘he has not bought it’, originated in1890 from the unhappy relationship between the Kikuyu and the IBEAC, which had established its first station in Kikuyuland, without buying the land it had acquired on which to build it.
alex said:
when the wazungu’s arrived in Ukambani and thought it was the best place to establish their administration post ,they asked for the traditional leader and where told his name was Masaku .They hence begun to refer to the place as Masaku’s place(possessive) later corrupted to “machakos”.
doreenmutheu said:
lol, this reminds me of a story my dad used to tell me about this place called Masii in Ukambani. The locals enjoyed eating some bird, can’t recall it’s name. So one day a huge group of those birds were seen fleeing the town, and they sound they all made sounded like they were saying mercy. So the kaos translated it to Masii and maintained that name as memory. I believed him till I was 11.
chris said:
Ok. If Kenya is “kiinya” from kamba meaning kirima or rather kirima kirinyaga, from where could the Kamba people even see Mt Kenya, You can not even see it from Mwea. #just asking.
Georgina Goodwin - Photojournalist said:
Iten!
Iten is a town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County of Kenya. It is located along the road between Eldoret and Kabarnet. Elgeyo escarpment and Kerio River are located east of Iten. The name of the town is a corruption of Hill Ten, a local rock formation named by Joseph Thomson in 1883. The hill is located 800 meters outside the village, on the road toward Kessup. It can be best viewed from the Iten Viewpoint.
Georgina Goodwin - Photojournalist said:
He inscribed the words Hill Ten on a rock while exploring the Kerio Valley to mark the number of hills he had conquered.
kresearcher said:
Are those inscriptions still visible?
John Maryvonne Rose said:
Georgina, ki’ma kiinya, the mountain of the male ostrich can be seen from Ukambani hills and it is recorded that Krapf saw it from Kitui and was told it it’s ‘ki’ma kiinya’, in about 1865 or so.
Sent from my iPad
>
Georgina Goodwin - Photojournalist said:
You can see Mt Kenya on a very clear day from Ulu….. 🙂
Lydia said:
On a clear day you can see both Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya from Emali.
Sagana said:
take a picture 🙂
Hillary Kosgey said:
was wondering what wonderfull names like kapsabet..how they came to being…what really fascinated me was like e.g kariokor. hahahahaaa carrier corps. interesting so plis someone look up for me kapsabet
Kondele said:
Ka Ondele (Luo for Ondele’s Homestead) = Todays Kondele, Wamvaza (Or something like that in Giriama corrupted by settlers into Mombasa).
eric kinyua said:
Mufuteti in nyeri is a fence.The british surveyors would mark a beacon and told the africans to “move straight!” then mufuteti.
There arealso cows called the metikae in nyeri from the english word “meatcow”
Sagana said:
You will find that ‘Mfuteti’ means rural road…….
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
matikae in kikuyu means they should not dare, I think I would believe it more if you suggested it was some kind of battlefront or border with another clan but anyway, most of those names around Nyeri were maasai, it was largely unoccupied in those days
notesofanitinerant said:
Reblogged this on notes of an itinerant and commented:
Fascinating.
amwkpaulo@yahoo.com said:
Very enriching
tom said:
it’s serengeti that means ‘a large, endless plain’ in maasai.
Kalpna Christian Sharma said:
The great corner and market I believe were “The great corner” the great became “The greati” and eventually, “Dagoretti” anyways, i love the name Dagoretti as its my ushago! every bit of it!
Brian said:
This is very interesting and I really learned a great deal about Kenya. Three newer place names that I wonder about:
1. Fryover on the way to Naivasha
2. Soko Njinga (sp?) near Fryover
3. Nyama Choma near Gilgil
Melody Harrell said:
Kabarnet: An early missionary (Barnett) with the African Inland Mission (not French) is the source of “place of Barnett.”
zurukenya said:
Reblogged this on Zuru Kenya.
funtravelkenya said:
Reblogged this on funtravelkenya's Blog.
Waswa said:
What about “Ochot Odong?”
hillary said:
wooow someone answer me…what of iten??
mosherii said:
Read more about Kenya http://www.highwaytokenya.com
joseph munene said:
its great to get that knowledge about the origin of towns in our country. what about sagana…?
stanley kimani (@StanoKimani) said:
sagana is named after river sagana which is one of the tributaries of Tana river
bloggersudden said:
Karatina is said to be a corruption of the word ‘quarantine’ which was what the area was (for livestock)
Ikuwa said:
isikuti and kinoo made my day.
most rift valley names of places originate from the maasai language. ….even Nyeri!!!!!!
Nairobi is place of cool waters- kimaasai What about elburgon, njoro, kajiado,Kula mawe .isabenia, Wajir, lodwar
Ikuwa said:
kulamawe molo timboroa kitale elburgon bayete kijabe garisa kaloleni shabab london (in nakuru) thoge forest and many more will need elaboration
Pingback: Hilarious Origin of Names of Towns and Locations in Kenya | bonfacewitaba
Alfie said:
The name Kapsabet was derived from a English lady by the name Sabeth – short for Elizabeth.
So the the locals who say ‘kap’ (homestead) of sabeth, the ‘h’ is silent in Nandi.
Alfie said:
Kakamega is a Nandi name, there was a fight between the Nandi people and Luhyas. The Nandi were driven away from Kakamega. The name Kakamega in Nandi means ‘ home is dead’ (Ka kome gaa), it was corrupted to Kakamega.
MKenya mwenyewe said:
Hahahah absolutely hilarious! Could we at least refer to ourselves as ‘Kenyans’ instead of Africans though – just helping the people out there who still think of Africa as a country. I am Kenyan first after all 😉
waridi said:
I guess every tribes especially those who came to much contact with the white colonists wants a part of history but I think we all named places differently Kikuyu , Kamba each saw mt Kenya named it after the ostrich. so guess who won… I don’t know. we can share on this since our forefathers never documented this.
J.K said:
JUJA (JUJA TOWN)
Private records from McMillan’s estate indicate that sometimes in 1900 when the colonialist arrived in Nairobi he was carrying two statues he had bought in West Africa. He had been told that one was Ju and the other was Ja and had been asked to preserve them – otherwise he would perish at sea. (He actually died at sea!)
McMillan then settled on Thika Road where he bought some 19,000 acres, at a time when nobody was allowed to own more than 5,000 acres. Privately, he attributed it to the powers of Ju and Ja idols and as a result he named the large expanse Ju-Ja Farm.
Because of the numerous superstition that surrounded Juja Farm, it became a no-go zone and locals used to fear entry into a land they always heard had been jinxed. As a result, McMillan’s wife took the two idols from the house and buried them in Ndarugu valley, near Thika Town. As a result, the name Juja started entering into annals of colonial history in Kenya and interestingly refused to give way to its former name ‘Weru wa Ndarugu’, the Ndarugu plains.
THIKA
Thika was a border region of the Agikuyu from Murang’a, Akamba from Machakos and Maasai from Empakasi. As you would expect from any other border region those days, there was a lot of infighting particularly pitting the Kikuyu Vs The Masais. As such there were many deaths. And since Thika was an open plain, the Kikuyu’s temporarily used it as a burial ground for their deceased soldiers. Hence the name “Guthika” which means to “Bury”. Thika is a verb of burying in Kikuyu e.g. Wee Kamau, Thika marigu mau haha” meaning “You Kamau bury those bananas here.”
jesusmyrest said:
kutus is named after someone called gutu,hences kutus is a corrupt for gutu’s (land
belonging to gutu).
steven said:
GilGil was as a result of the sound produced by the train and when the maasai named the town the place of tge kil kil. hence the name
Rutto H said:
Kapsabet predates the advent of the Wazungus, n means the place of the porcupine.
Sapit = Porcupine.
hillary said:
OOoh really, thats interesting, never thought of that for many years i was growing up there…thanks so much ronoh
calvin said:
ikolomani in kakamega is derived from the phrase ‘gold mine’
bonoko said:
I wonder whether Embakasi name came from the English word embarks, considering the airport terminal was built in this area.
JKK said:
Kitisuru estate in Nairobi borrows its name from the neighboring Getathuru River.
JKK said:
Kitisuru comes from Getathuru river one of Nairobi River’s tributaries that passes between present day Lower Kabete and Kitisuru areas via Wangige town.
Emmanuel. off K,P, said:
Karendi in Karen, at three ever of Karen towards Kikuyu is a local adaptation of Karen end.
sokoti said:
KAPROPITA………local residents claim that karl Peters during one of his voyage set up a resting camp for about a month. local residents were unable to say ‘kap karl peter’ and ended up saying kapropita
muhoro wa githinji said:
A region’s name can mean anything depending on how you look at it and your ethnic perspective. Point is, no tribe has the monopoly of naming the towns of Kenya like some of you are deducing. You will be surprised to find out most places were named after shops, some have no meaning just some words coined by our grandfathers to make their shops unique.