Borana is a variety of Oromo

Oromo language

Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...

 spoken in Southern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 and northern Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 by the Borana people. Günther Schlee also notes that it is the native language of a number of related peoples, such as the Sakuye

Sakuye

The Sakuye or Saguye are a semi-nomadic people living in Marsabit and Isiolo districts, Eastern Province, Kenya. The 1979 Kenyan census reported this group had 1,824 persons, but Günther Schlee believes this number "is definitely too low. The 1969 census gave 4,369 as their number, and the...

.

Dialects are Borana proper (Boran, Borena), Arsi (Arussi, Arusi), and Guji (Gujji, Jemjem) in Ethiopia, and in Kenya Karayu, Salale (Selale), and Gabra (Gabbra, Gebra).
The language is locally and commonly known as "afaan borana" i.e the "borana language".