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Datasets:
nomi-stories
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nomi-names

Tasks:
Text Classification
Modalities:
Text
Formats:
parquet
Languages:
Yoruba
Igbo
Hausa
Size:
1K - 10K
Libraries:
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Dataset Card for Nomi

The NOMI African Names Dataset was created to address a critical gap in digitally accessible, culturally accurate African name data. While African names carry deep spiritual, philosophical, and linguistic significance, they are underrepresented in structured datasets used for AI, natural language processing, and cultural preservation.

Our goal is to:

  • Preserve cultural meaning: Ensure that names are not just transliterated but accompanied by accurate, culturally grounded meanings.
  • Support AI tools: Enable search, translation, and semantic understanding of African names across multiple languages and dialects.
  • Bridge linguistic diversity: Provide a multilingual dataset that reflects the richness of African naming systems from communities across West Africa.
  • Empower communities: Create a dataset informed by and useful to African linguists, researchers, storytellers, and developers.

This dataset is a foundational part of Project NOMI, an initiative to amplify African voices and identities through language and AI-powered storytelling.

Dataset Description

This dataset provides structured metadata on African names — including Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Urhobo, Ibibio, and more — to enable tools that explore cultural, emotional, and thematic meaning across languages.

Each row includes:

  • Name: The full name as traditionally written

  • NameStrip: A simplified version for easier matching

  • Meaning: A short description or interpretation

  • Language: The name's primary language of origin

  • Phonetic Pronunciation: The audio pronunciation for a given name

  • Curated by: Folasade Ajayi

  • Language(s) (NLP): Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Urhobo, Ibibio, Hausa (Localized, Islamic variations)

Curation & Validation

While the dataset draws from a number of publicly available linguistic and cultural sources, all entries have been cleaned, standardized, and validated by contributors from the NOMI community — including African linguists, native speakers, and cultural researchers.

Key validation and curation steps include:

  • Rewriting or clarifying meanings for greater semantic clarity
  • Removing duplicate or inaccurate entries
  • Standardizing orthographic variations across dialects
  • Incorporating community feedback through manual review
  • Adding metadata for language tags and dialectal context

Original Reference Sources

  • Yoruba Names
    YorubaNames.com — a digital lexicon curated by Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún and contributors.

  • Hausa Names
    1001 Traditional Hausa Names by Abdulrazzaq Ahmed Muhammad-Oumar.
    Edited by Abdalla Uba Adamu. Revised March 2023.
    (Distributed for public access under academic fair use.)

  • Ibibio Names
    The Morphological and Semantic Analysis of Ibibio Personal Names
    by Eno-Abasi Urua and Uduak Urua, published in Names: A Journal of Onomastics.

  • Igbo Names
    Compiled by Onyinye Favour Chibueze — Igbo Linguist, Translator, and Data Annotator.
    Source: Igbo Names & Meanings (LinkedIn article)

  • Urhobo Names
    Derived from open-source cultural archives and linguistic repositories on Urhobo heritage.

⚠️ Note: Final meanings in this dataset may differ slightly from the original sources due to scraping, cleaning, disambiguation, and linguistic validation by NOMI collaborators.

Intended Use Cases

  • Semantic search and cultural name exploration
  • AI model training for multilingual embeddings
  • Linguistic/cultural research
  • Storytelling and oral heritage preservation tools

Attribution & Contact

If you are the original author of any referenced material and would like to request updated attribution or removal, please reach out to us at projnomi@gmail.com.

Curation Rationale

The NOMI African Names Dataset was developed to fill a critical gap in culturally rich, machine-readable African name data. Despite the spiritual, philosophical, and linguistic depth embedded in African names, these meanings are often excluded from structured datasets used in AI, NLP, and digital cultural archives.

Our goals in curating this dataset were to:

  • Preserve Cultural Meaning
    Ensure each name includes not just a transliteration, but an accurate and culturally grounded meaning.

  • Support AI and Language Technologies
    Enable more inclusive AI systems that can search, translate, and semantically interpret African names across diverse languages and dialects.

  • Bridge Linguistic Diversity
    Reflect the depth and breadth of West African naming systems, including Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Urhobo, and Ibibio.

  • Empower Communities
    Provide a practical, accessible dataset for African linguists, developers, educators, and storytellers.

This dataset forms the foundation of Project NOMI, a broader initiative to amplify African voices and preserve cultural identity through language, community knowledge, and AI-powered storytelling.

Dataset Card Authors

  • Folasade Ajayi — Co-creator of Nomi
  • Sa’ad Bashir — Hausa linguist and translator contributing to Hausa dataset
  • Habib Galadima — Hausa linguist and translator contributing to Hausa dataset

Dataset Card Contact

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