The name Kenya is derived from Mount Kenya, the highest mountain in the country. The origin of the name itself is believed to stem from the Kikuyu,Embu, and Kamba communities.
Jason Kottke in his blog kottke.org has come up with a map of the world with the name of countries and their literal meanings.
He used a number of sources such as Oxford Dictionaries and Online Etymology Dictionary to get the meaning for Kenya.
“Kenya is a shortened version of the Kikuyu name, Kirinyaga, a corruption of the Swahili kere nyaga, “Mountain of Whiteness.“
You can find what the names of other countries mean on this spreadsheet .
Meaning of names of selected African countries:
Somalia – land of Soma
Eritrea– land of the red sea
Sudan – country of blacks
Uganda– Land of the Ganda people
Zimbabwe – Stone enclosure
Benin – Land of argument
Nigeria – land of Niger river
Ghana – The King’s land
Chad – land of the large lake
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