Alternate Names for Africa

[HillbillyJake]

Howdy all,

I’m writing this thread because I need help coming up with alternate names for the continent of Africa. I’m doing an alternate history where there is a nation named Africa, and I don’t want it to share a name with its continent.

Assuming all languages and colonization patterns went the same as OTL, what are some potential plausible names for the continent as a whole?

(Currently I have it as Ilia, a romanization of Yoruba ile, which is what Google Translate said meant “home.” Clearly, this translation has a good potential to be incredibly jank, so this thread is a place to share other names if anyone has any suggestions.)

 

[Whiteshore]

The Ancient Greeks called Africa "Libya", so there's that.

 

[Crazy Boris]

Azania, maybe. It was used as a term for parts of Subsaharan Africa since Pliny’s time.

 

[HillbillyJake]

Azania, maybe. It was used as a term for parts of Subsaharan Africa since Pliny’s time.

I like this one, is it Greek in origin?

 

[Crazy Boris]

I like this one, is it Greek in origin?

I think so, Greek or Latin.

 

[AtreusHashim]

Without knowing more about your timeline it's hard to give suggestions. Who is doing the naming, and when are they doing it?

Zanj was the Arabic word for the Swahili coast and it's Bantu inhabitants. They also used Africa (a transliteration thereof, technically) for the whole continent, but I think Zanjistan became the Persian word for Africa and some transliteration of Zanj also became the Chinese word for Africa in the Song Dynasty and the Ming.

I think Ethiopia could be a term for the whole of Africa but it is super unlikely to replace the term Africa, at any date past antiquity.

 

[HillbillyJake]

Without knowing more about your timeline it's hard to give suggestions. Who is doing the naming, and when are they doing it?

Zanj was the Arabic word for the Swahili coast and it's Bantu inhabitants. They also used Africa (a transliteration thereof, technically) for the whole continent, but I think Zanjistan became the Persian word for Africa and some transliteration of Zanj also became the Chinese word for Africa in the Song Dynasty and the Ming.

I think Ethiopia could be a term for the whole of Africa but it is super unlikely to replace the term Africa, at any date past antiquity.

Well, my TL isn’t very rigorous, so there’s no single POD. If a name change had to happen in antiquity in order to work, that would be fine by me.

 

[Flashman]

Libya, Ethiopia, and Azania are the classic possibility. Another interesting possibility is Sudan, which in Arabic originally just meant any land inhabited by black peoples south of the Sahara, and historically was used by Europeans (or at least the French) to refer to the whole of the Sahel. It could also be conflated by Germanic or French peoples with the words for "South"

 

[Lalli]

You probably need very early POD that you would get some another name for the continent. Probably so early that everything what we know are butterflied away. So you would have very different linguistic stiuation and colonisation if then you are not willingful commit really horrible butterfly genocide.

Ancient Greeks and I think that Romans too until Third Punic War called that as Libya. But not sure when exactly Africa sticked as name of the continent.

Or one way would be that you get such pan-African movement which demand Africa being called as another name since they think that being name of colonial opression. But not sure how this would happen.

Perhaps just give yours nation another name. You could add just North-, West-, East-Africa or something else such thing for making clear difference with the contonent. United States of Africa would be one but not really workable since it would be easily confused with another USA.

 

[HillbillyJake]

You probably need very early POD that you would get some another name for the continent. Probably so early that everything what we know are butterflied away. So you would have very different linguistic stiuation and colonisation if then you are not willingful commit really horrible butterfly genocide.

Ancient Greeks and I think that Romans too until Third Punic War called that as Libya. But not sure when exactly Africa sticked as name of the continent.

Or one way would be that you get such pan-African movement which demand Africa being called as another name since they think that being name of colonial opression. But not sure how this would happen.

Perhaps just give yours nation another name. You could add just North-, West-, East-Africa or something else such thing for making clear difference with the contonent. United States of Africa would be one but not really workable since it would be easily confused with another USA.

Like I said earlier, the TL isn’t really rigorous, I’m intentionally not taking the full butterfly effect into account here. I’m unwilling to change the name of the nation due to it being one of the few currently-canonized parts of the TL. Libya could work as a name for the continent, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[HillbillyJake]

Libya, Ethiopia, and Azania are the classic possibility. Another interesting possibility is Sudan, which in Arabic originally just meant any land inhabited by black peoples south of the Sahara, and historically was used by Europeans (or at least the French) to refer to the whole of the Sahel. It could also be conflated by Germanic or French peoples with the words for "South"

Oh, Sudan is an interesting option, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Simreeve]

Kush?

 

[Vinization]

Maybe the bits north of the Sahara are still called Africa, while the ones south of it are called Ethiopia?

 

[Nivek]

Howdy all,

I’m writing this thread because I need help coming up with alternate names for the continent of Africa. I’m doing an alternate history where there is a nation named Africa, and I don’t want it to share a name with its continent.

Assuming all languages and colonization patterns went the same as OTL, what are some potential plausible names for the continent as a whole?

(Currently I have it as Ilia, a romanization of Yoruba ile, which is what Google Translate said meant “home.” Clearly, this translation has a good potential to be incredibly jank, so this thread is a place to share other names if anyone has any suggestions.)

We could see the continent divided in regions by name, as Muslim called África q very small region or the whole North of Sahara, we could have Africa, zanj, Sudan and the whole landmass named lybia or something else

 

[Denliner]

Alkebulan....nah I'm just joking. 🤣

In all seriousness, I think Azania could work as an alternative for Africa, since the etymology does not refer to a specific people group, unlike Africa, Sudan, or Libya but rather a location located within the continent. Not to mention it just sounds pleasing to say out loud, but that's my personal opinion.

 

[MrHappy]

I gather Wakanda isn't even in the running?

 

[FriendlyGhost]

Africa seems to have become used for the whole continent after the Romans appropriated it as a name for their province after the third Punic War. If instead they adopted another name for the province, that name could plausibly become the name whose meaning expands to mean the continent. Many suggestions above (Libya, Azania, Sudan, Ethiopia) could work for this, as could Numidia, perhaps.

 

[Nivek]

I gather Wakanda isn't even in the running?

Fictional invented in 1950's so...

Alkebulan....nah I'm just joking. 🤣

That wasn't a french meme?

 

[ordinarylittleme]

I believe it was nicknamed "kingdom in the sky"? That could be used

 

[erictom333]

As it happens, I've been asking a similar question: what names should Africa's subcontinents take? My contenders, in Psuedo-Latin:
North Africa: Africa, Libya, Numidia, Mauretania, Magribia (Maghreb)
West Africa: Guinea, Sudan
East/South Africa: Ethiopia. Azania, Zengia (Zanj)