Few weeks ago, the Internet was set agog with different stories and explanation about the origin of the word Yoruba and as a Yoruba man, i did some little search and deep thinking about the origin of the name of my tribe.
So according to my little research, the Yorubas is an ethnic group that traded with the Arabians, the Berbers of North Africa even down to Timbuktu and the area now known as Mali traded alot with the Yorubas especially with the Oyo's who stay at the Northern part of the Yoruba land and through this there was a mosque in Oyo empire as at 15 century.

The Yoruba name has been in existence for as long as the 15th century if not more. Ahmed Baba is one of the earliest documented black scholar and publisher. He published a book in 1615 in Timbuktu in the old Songai empire where he referred to the people currently occupying south west Nigeria as “Yoruba”.
Also Bishop Crowther is a learned yoruba man that love his tribe so much and wouldn't give his tribe a name that means deceit or betrayal and the same goes for Reverend Samuel Johnson that wrote lot of history and chronicles about the tribe called Yoruba.
These two great sons of Oduduwa will never allow their tribe be called a name of disrespect and according to some other sources the Yoruba name seems to be a word of North Africa/songhai descent that means the remnants of the Canaanites.
Thank you for reading, ideas and comments are welcome.