Yorubaname.com
Yoruba Name Documentation Project is an online database of Yoruba names, located at www.YorubaName.com. It was launched on February 19, 2016.[1]
Origin
The project was first conceived in 2005 as an undergraduate thesis in the Department of Linguistics and African Language, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. At the time, the database only curated about 1000 names on a compact disk, with meaning and pronunciation. In January, 2015, over $5000 was raised via a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign[2] to support some infrastructural elements, and the project was retooled as a crowdsourcing effort to document all the names of Yoruba people in Nigeria and all over the world.
Aims
The project is proposed as a crowdsourced database gathering information about Yoruba names everywhere (in Nigeria and elsewhere on the globe). Individuals and users will be able to submit their name on the website or use the current database to search for meanings of other specific names.
It also aims at bringing together a community of interested linguists and other culture enthusiasts to document the African cultural and linguistic experience on the web, and to facilitate the use of the Internet as a means of better representing this experience.
Project Advancement
On August 8, 2015, the team released Yorùbá Keyboard layouts for Mac and Windows to allow its users type in Yorùbá in anticipation of the dictionary itself.[3] An update for Igbo language was launched in July 2016.[4][5]
The project was launched online in its beta version on February 19, 2016.[6]
On May 30, 2016, the team made the codebase of the project available online at GitHub as a way to allow other software developers have access to the tools in order to create similar projects for different languages.[7]
In July 2016, the project was publicly presented at the University of Ibadan's Institute of African Studies to students and professors alike, to positive appraisal.[8]
Team
The project is led and curated by writer and linguist Kola Tubosun [9][10][11] and supported by a small team of volunteer web developers, lexicographers, and web designers.[12][13] Other members of the team include Dadepo Aderemi, Laila Le Guen, Koko Godswill, Esther Olatunde, among many others. Much of their work includes the main work on the dictionary itself as well as providing support and guidance for people interested in creating similar versions for other languages in the country or around the continent.
Response
The Yoruba Name project has received positive response and support during its start-up phase, ranging from interviews in prominent publications[14][15][16] to an endorsement from renowned Nigerian film producer Tunde Kelani. The homepage of the dictionary currently features a quote by the current Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.
References
- ↑ Launch of Yoruba Names Dictionary: Kola Tubosun Speaks
- ↑ Indiegogo Funding Page
- ↑ Yorùbá Keyboard Layouts for Mac and Windows
- ↑ "Yorubaname Team Launch Yoruba and Igbo keyboards - Gadget Reviews Nigeria". 2016-07-20. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
- ↑ "Combined Igbo, Yoruba keyboard made available on Yorubaname.com". 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
- ↑ Yorubaname.com goes live, to preserve and document all Yorùbá names
- ↑ "Yorubaname.com has gone opensource, codebase now on GitHub | TechCabal". Retrieved 2016-06-06.
- ↑ "IFRA - Institut de Recherche français en Afrique - Yoruba Name project". www.ifra-nigeria.org. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
- ↑ Kola Tubosun at KTravula.com
- ↑ Nigerian linguist, Túbọ̀sún, emerges first African to win Premio Ostana Award for Scriptures
- ↑ SIUE Alum First African to Win International Award
- ↑ Kola Tubosun, the man behind YorubaName.com shows us the future
- ↑ YorubaName.com Team Members
- ↑ Global Press Journal Interview of Yorubaname, GlobalPressJournal
- ↑ This day culture Export, Thisdaylive
- ↑ Online Dictionary Helps Nigerians Decode Their Names, Voice of America