Akkadian, also spelled Accadian, is an extinct ancient Semitic language spoken in central-southern Mesopotamia, or present-day Iraq, existing around ca. 1696 – 1654 B.C. Babylonians spoke and wrote in the Acadian language for official use and retained the Sumerian language for religious purposes. Akkadian used a cuneiform writing system, originally used to write ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate. If you are interested in choosing a Semitic or Mesopotamian name, please also visit our Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic names Popular Baby Names.