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Diarra

{{other uses|Diarra (disambiguation)}}

Diarra is a French translation of the clan name Jara used in West Africa, as a hangover from the French colonial empire in that region. It originates from the Bambara language word jara, meaning lion,{{cite book | last1=Larkan | first1=F. | last2=Murphy | first2=F. | title=Memory and Recovery in Times of Crisis | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Memory Studies: Global Constellations | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-317-02037-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o789DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT138 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=138}} synonymous with waraba.{{cite web | title=Bambara–French dictionary | website=Bambara | url=http://bambara.org/lexique/lexicon/main.htm | access-date=2 December 2022}} The Kingdom of Diarra existed from the 7th Century until the 19th Century. The name is also frequently used with reference to the 18th to early 19th-century Bambara Empire in Ségou, Mali, which was ruled successively by Ngolo Diarra, his son Mansong (or Monzon) Diarra, and then his son Da Diarra.{{cite book | last1=Bickford-Smith | first1=V. | last2=Mendelsohn | first2=R. | title=Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen | publisher=James Currey | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-84701-522-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0ETe-o1WukC&pg=PA36 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=36}}{{cite book | last=Ajayi | first=J.F.A. | title=Africa in the Nineteenth Century Until the 1880s | publisher=UNESCO | series=General history of Africa | year=1989 | isbn=978-92-3-101712-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mw1n9-3ZvcQC&pg=PA683 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=683}}

The clan name (or patronym{{cite book | last=Frank | first=B.E. | title=Griot Potters of the Folona: The History of an African Ceramic Tradition | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=2022 | isbn=978-0-253-05897-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zn1REAAAQBAJ&pg=PP78 | access-date=3 December 2022 | page=78}}) Jara/Diarra is related to another clan name, Koné, and is heard in many of the chronicles that have been handed down orally.{{cite book | last=Austen | first=R.A. | title=In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Oral Epic as History, Literature, and Performance | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-253-21248-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxQBOyEiL8MC&pg=PA103 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=103}} Both are frequently praised together in song, signifying bravery and fearlessness.{{cite book | last=Belcher | first=S. | title=Epic Traditions of Africa | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-253-21281-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pxwg6XX1GaMC&pg=PA213 | access-date=2 December 2022 | page=213}}

The name Diarra, now a surname, is traditionally found mostly in Mali, but also Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Senegal. Today, it has also spread around the world, notably in France and Spain.{{cite web | title=Diarra Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History | website=Forebears | url=https://forebears.io/surnames/diarra | access-date=2 December 2022}} Today, it is also used as a given name.

Diarra may refer to:

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Surname

Given name

References

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