Ghana.

Borrowed from English Ghana, the name adopted by the former Gullkysten (“Gold Coast”) when it became independent from the United Kingdom in 1957. The modern country was named after Ghanariket (“Ghana Empire”), a medieval West African state situated considerably farther northwest than present-day Ghana, principally in areas of what are now Mauritania, Mali and Senegal. The Soninke name of the medieval polity is commonly given as Wagadu. Medieval Arabic sources record غانا (Ḡānā) as the name of a ruler and, by extension, of the city or country he ruled. The proposal to use Ghana as the name of the former Gold Coast is associated particularly with the Ghanaian scholar and politician J. B. Danquah. The name was adopted at independence on 6 March 1957 under Kwame Nkrumah. Ultimate origin of the medieval name uncertain. A traditional explanation, also mentioned by Store norske leksikon, interprets ghana as a royal title meaning “war chief” or “warrior king”. A proposed linguistic explanation connects the title with Soninke gajanŋa (“to fight”). The medieval evidence securely establishes Ghāna as a ruler's title and as a geographical name, but the precise linguistic derivation of the title itself is not certain. Parallel international adaptations include Danish Ghana, Swedish Ghana, German Ghana, Dutch Ghana, French Ghana and English Ghana.