text: Origin Spider tales are found extensively throughout West Africa, but the Anansi tales from Ghana are seen to be the  origin of these stories and are among the best-known, as Anansi's name comes from the word in the Akan language for "spider". They later spread to the West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons) and the Netherlands Antilles; also Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire.
  Anansi is depicted in many different ways and with different names, from "Ananse", "Kwaku Ananse", and "Anancy", to his New World iterations, such as "Ba Anansi", "Kompa Nanzi" and/or "Nanzi", "Nancy", "Aunt Nancy", and "Sis' Nancy", even though he is always depicted as a male in his stories. While often depicted as an animal, Anansi has many representations,  which include an anthropomorphic spider with a human face, or conversely, a human with spider-like features, such as eight legs. Anansi also has a family in several folktales involving him, consisting of his long-suffering wife Okonore Yaa – known in other regions as Aso, Crooky, or Shi Maria; Ntikuma, his firstborn son; Tikelenkelen, his big-headed son; Nankonhwea, his son with a spindly neck and spindly legs; finally, Afudohwedohwe, his pot-bellied son. Anansi also has a beautiful daughter named Anansewa in other tales, like those introduced in the work of Efua Sutherland: in Efua's tale, he embarks on a mission to ensure that Anansewa can have an appropriate suitor.