The exact origin of the name The Gambia is unknown. It was first recorded in writing by Europeans explorers who began arriving here 500 years ago. As the Europeans expanded into West Africa, they were fixated with producing accurate maps for future travelers and they fussed over keeping a written record of place names to mark down on those maps. The names of rivers in the Senegambia region were therefore of great importance to them and it was talking to people living by the River Gambia that they first got hold of its name.

Alvise de Cadamosto, reporting on his voyages to the River Gambia in 1455 and 1456, refers to the river and the country as ‘Gambra’ or ‘Cambra’. In the early 16th century, Duarte Paccehao Pereirea talks of the river forming the boundary between the kingdom of Jollof in the north, ‘and that of Guambea, which in the language of the Mandinka is also called Guabu’. Jao de barros in 1552 distinguished between two names for the river, ‘the people that live along the river refer to it as ‘Gambu’, while the Portuguese call it ‘Gambea’. In 1632, Richard Jobson stated that ‘ this river is by some called, by the name of ‘Gambia’, by others ‘gamba’, and by another sort set downe ‘Gambra’. From a linguistic point of view , there was some confusion as to whether the words ‘Cambra’, ‘Gambra’, Gambu’, ‘Guabu’ and Guambea’ refrerred to the river or to the Mandinka empire of Kaabu, or jointly to both river and empire. Both share the name root ‘Ka’ or ‘Ga’ (‘Kam/Gam’). The stems, ‘bra’ ‘bu’ and ‘bea’ appear to have different me
anings. ‘Bu’ refers specifically to the land of Kabu, whereas ‘Bra’ and ‘Bea’ appear to identify with the river. The ‘r’ in the Cadamosto stem ‘bra’ may imply  that the stem is a derivative of a Wolof word ‘Bur’ meaning ‘king’. This might serve to explain ‘Gambia’ as originating from ‘Gambura’ meaning ‘place of the king’. The proximity of the Jolof territories, on the northern boundaries of Kabu, might explain how a Wollof stem might occur in the Mandinka language.

Another origin for the name Gambia comes from the oral tradition. An account, in Mandinka, recounted by the griot Fabala Kanuteh, states that when the Portuguese came to James Island, the King of Niumi, Seneke Jamme, sent messengers to meet the visitors. The Portuguese asked one of the messengers, whose name was Kambi Manneh, ‘what is the name of this place? To which he replied  ‘My name is Kambi’. This was what he recorded. This story was recounted by another griot Fode Musa Suso, but who gave the messengers name as Kambi Sonko.