- Origin: Amharic / Geʽez: ማክዳ
- Meaning: debated
- Gender: Feminine
- Pronunciation (muh-KAY-dah)
Makeda (also rendered Makda or Mäkēda) is a female name of Ethiopian origin, best known as the traditional name of the Queen of Sheba in Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Geʽez sources.
In the Kebra Nagast (“The Glory of Kings”), Ethiopia’s national epic written in Geʽez, Makeda is portrayed as the Queen of Sheba who visits King Solomon in Jerusalem — a story paralleling the biblical and Qurʾānic accounts. Through her union with Solomon, she becomes the ancestress of the Solomonic dynasty, which ruled Ethiopia for centuries.
While the precise etymology of the name in Geʽez or Amharic is debated, some Ethiopian scholars interpret it as meaning “greatness, prominence, power,” and according to the original legend, it means “not thus,” from when she proclaimed it was thus not right to worship the sun but the God of the Hebrew Bible. Other sources relate it to the same root as the name Magdala (tower), and others have suggested it is a corruption of Candace.
In modern Ethiopia, Makda is a variation.
This name was given to Bob Marley’s daughter in 1981, which set off a trend of use in the African-American community.
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