So I know that Ghana was Kwame Nkrumah's preferred name for the new country, and through his influence was the name that ultimately prevailed when the Gold Coast colony became an independent state in 1957. However, my understanding is that the traditional heartland of the Empire of Ghana was well to the north, in the territory of modern day Mauritania and Mali. Thus, it's always seemed like a bit of a strange name to me.

What exactly motivated Nkrumah to settle on "Ghana" as the name for the new state? Is there an actual tangible link between the old empire and the modern state, much in the same way that "Saxony" has maintained a sort of continuity despite wandering from one end of Germany to the other? Or was it more of an aspirational choice, hoping to build solidarity (and possibly a political union) with the other largely-French dominated former colonies that bordered it? Were there other proposed names that competed with Ghana in a substantial way, or did it manage to build an early consensus that went unchallenged?