Amharic female names come from the Amharic language (an Ethiopian Semitic language) and often show feminine morphology. Common feminine markers include the suffix -t/-it and the adjectival -awit (feminine of -awi), as in Selamawit. Many women’s names also end in -nesh, which reflects the feminine second-person form and creates clearly gendered names such as Tirunesh and Belaynesh. Virtue and religious themes are frequent, for example Selam “peace,” Genet “paradise,” and Mariam.

Modern usage for girls follows the general Ethiopian pattern: a given name plus the father’s given name, rather than a fixed family surname. Latin-script spellings vary. Common examples include Almaz, Makeda, Mariam, Selam, Selamawit, Genet, Tirunesh, Adanech, Belaynesh, and Liya.