How Kenya got its name

Kenya is a country in the eastern part of Africa and it has over 42 native tribes. This country has a variety of natural features among them mountains and ranges that are named according to either the name of the place they are found, or wild animals found. One of the famous mountains in this country is Mount Kenya abbreviated as Mt. Kenya. This is a mountain that was believed to be a home of ostrich that are also known as ‘’nyaga’’ by one of the tribes in Kenya, the Akirinyaga.



During the period of missionary migration to Africa or what was by then known as the black continent, the first British missionary group arrived in Kenya. On the process of adventuring and trying to find a place where they could settle and begin their ministerial work, they saw a big mountain that looked wonderful and instantly they had to alright from their land rover to first have a look at this wonderful feature. They took video and photos of this mountain, may be to show their relative back in Britain.

Just before they got back into the vehicle an elderly woman from Akirinyaga tribe was passing by. One of them called her and they asked her about the name of the mountain. The elderly woman responded ‘’Ke nyaga mountain’’ the white men easily framed the word to sound more of English, KENYA. They called the country Kenya, when talking to their relative back in Britain, they said they are in Kenya, and they invited other missionaries to Kenya. The country from then became Kenya from a simple local word that was used by Akirinyaga to refer to that mountain.