Serigne

Meaning of Serigne

Serigne, pronounced seh-REEN in Wolof (/sɛˈriːn/), derives from the Arabic sayyid (“lord” or “master”) as adapted into the Senegambian lexicon to denote a venerated religious guide or sheikh within Sufi brotherhoods such as the Mouride and Tijānī orders. Laden with social and spiritual gravitas, it evokes an ancestral tapestry of liderazgo y linaje, weaving Islamic scholarship into West African vernacular traditions. From an onomastic standpoint, Serigne exemplifies cultural diffusion: its occurrence among American newborns has risen from single digits in the early 2000s to 25 in 2024—achieving a rank of 899—signalling a gradual but steady ascent in popularity. Analytically, the name functions as a nexus between diasporic identity and academic inquiry, illuminating the matiz by which personal names encapsulate historical resonance across continents.