Is the name Kenya originated from the name Kenyatta?

[WA-UKENYENGE]

Hi JF members!!!!

I am just curious to know about the relationship between the country name "Kenya" and the name of the first president of this country, Kenyatta. Whoever know the secret behind these two names kindly share with me and probably other members. Nimejiuliza tu baada ya kupata hizi habari za Bwana Uhuru Kenyatta kushinda kiti cha uraisi nchini Kenya.
Muwe na mapumziko mema ya wiki.

 

[Kiranga]

Kenya is from Mount Kenya, further etimologically from Kirinyaga, Nyaga being snow/ holy place in Kikuyu.

Mount Kenya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obviously the Mountain and the language existed long before Jomo Kenyatta (born Kamau wa Ngengi aka John Peter aka Johnstone Kamau).

http://africanhistory.about.com/od/biography/a/bio-Kenyatta01.htm

British East Africa During World War I
In 1912, having completed his mission school education, Kamau became an apprentice carpenter. The following year he underwent initiation ceremonies (including circumcision) and became a member of the kehiomwere age group. In August of 1914 Kamau was baptized at the Church of Scotland mission, initially taking the name John Peter Kamau, but swiftly changing it to Johnson Kamau. Looking to the future, he departed the mission for Nairobi to seek employment.
Initially he worked as an apprentice carpenter on a sisal farm in Thika, under the tutelage of John Cook, who had been in charge of the building program at Thogoto. As World War I progressed, able bodied Kikuyu were forced into work by the British authorities, to avoid this, Kamau moved to Narok, living amongst the Maasai, where he worked as a clerk for an Asian contractor. It was around this time that he took to wearing a traditional beaded belt known as a 'Kenyatta', a Swahili word which means 'light of Kenya'.

 

[ndetichia]

Kenya is from Mount Kenya, further etimologically from Kirinyaga, Nyaga being snow/ holy place in Kikuyu.

Mount Kenya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obviously the Mountain and the language existed long before Jomo Kenyatta (born Kamau wa Ngengi).

thanks mkuu kumbe ndio hivyo maana nilikuwa najua limetoka na kenyatta..

 

[Reginald12]

The name derives from the Kamba word for the mountain - 'Kiinyaa'. Ludwig Krapf or Rebmann. The kikuyu call it Kirinyaga so there is no way it was derived from that.

 

[WA-UKENYENGE]

Kenya is from Mount Kenya, further etimologically from Kirinyaga, Nyaga being snow/ holy place in Kikuyu.

Mount Kenya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obviously the Mountain and the language existed long before Jomo Kenyatta (born Kamau wa Ngengi aka John Peter aka Johnstone Kamau).

Jomo Kenyatta Biography -- The Life of Jomo Kenyatta -- Part 1

Thanks mkuu kwa ufafanuzi. Nimekupata vyema kabisa.

 

[WA-UKENYENGE]

The name derives from the Kamba word for the mountain - 'Kiinyaa'. Ludwig Krapf or Rebmann. The kikuyu call it Kirinyaga so there is no way it was derived from that.

Waooo, thanks for details!!