Naomi Osaka's firm causes stir among Swahili speakers

Many Kenyans online and speakers of the Swahili language elsewhere are expressing their shock and others losing their heads over the name of the Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka’s newly launched company.

Hana Kuma - the name of the media company that Osaka has launched in partnership with four-time NBA champion LeBron James - has caused a stir and has been trending on Twitter.

The term means “flower bear” in Japanese.

But it is not so pleasant in Swahili - it is an explicit phrase referring to an absence of female genitalia.

On Twitter, Victoria Uwonkunda has noted the "whole other spicy meaning [of the company's name] in Swahili".

The Kenyan TV station, Citizen, has written about the topic and why Kenyans are "all losing their heads over it".

The production company has said it will be creating stories that are "culturally specific but universal to all audiences" and aims to “tackle important issues of society”.

It already has multiple projects lined up.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: Twitter/ @Msuwonkunda