African Unification Front
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February 5, 2006 - Updated February 22, 2007
THE MEANING OF THE NAME AFRICA
By Dan Kashagama
"Africa" means "Land of Perfection". The name Africa is derived from the ancient African word that means "good", "beautiful", "perfect", "clean", or "noble".
The word is easy to trace in many African languages, because it has mutated very little over several millenia.
 The root wood is also found in ancient Egyptian, in which it is written without vowels and is spelled "n-fr". In fact it is pronounced very much the way it is written, without the need for vowels.
In many other African languages as well, it appears as a variant of the Egyptian root. Examples include: nfura, mphura, ifra, furo, fura, fur, ophir, afar, ofre, etc.
The "ca" suffix in "Africa" is merely a Roman suffix denoting "country" or "land".
The same word is found in the names of ancient Egyptians and Kushites, most famously Nefertiti.
Other names in which the root N'fra appears includes such names as such as Snefru, Banafrit (beautiful soul), Nafre (goodness), Nafrini (she brings beauty), Nafrit, Nafretiri (beautiful creation), Tanafriti (she of the beautiful land).
Many names similar to the names listed above are still found all across Africa. Many communities in Africa today retain the ancient versions of the name, including "Afar" (Danakil), as well as Darfur.
Related words:
Furaha [Happiness]
Ubu'Fra [Virtue]
GuFra [To clean or wash]
Ifuro [The process of purification]
Enfura [A virtuous person, a beautiful person]
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