section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The name Nigeria derives from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined on 8 January 1897, by the British journalist Flora Shaw. The neighboring Republic of Niger takes its name from the same river. The origin of the name Niger, which originally applied to only the middle reaches of the Niger River, is uncertain. The word is likely an alteration of the Tuareg name egerew n-iger ewen used by inhabitants along the middle reaches of the river around Timbuktu before 19th- century European colonialism. Before Flora Shaw suggested the name Nigeria, other proposed names included Royal Niger Company Territories, Central Sudan, Niger Empire, Niger Sudan, and Hausa Territories.