Sandy's Say: Relative Meaning
...The naming of Zulu newborns is sometimes used as a lifelong rebuke to the poor, exhausted mother immediately after birth. Ntombizanele means "enough girls", which is fairly explicit. Simangele ("surprise") might be a name given to a daughter by her alleged father when, by his calculations, he had been away from the village working on the gold mines nine months previously...
Sandy James, the possessor of two Zulu names, recalls some of the unlikely lifetime "tags'' which parents have attached to their offspring.
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What does your English name mean?" asked my Zulu friend, Lindiwe
Well, I had to dust off the baby name book and look it up for her. "Sandy, a short form of Alexandra (Greek) meaning helper of mankind." That's a pretty tall order and one I'm not sure that I'm entirely living up to. Yes, I did help a frail, elderly lady when she dropped her shopping today but the WHOLE of mankind? I'd better sharpen up and get a move on. I've already had forty-seven years on this planet.
"Ah," she explained, "this makes your Zulu name Nosizo."Siza" means to help and the "No" prefix shows the name to be female.
"But I already have a Zulu name given to me by the man who taught me to speak Zulu," I replied.
Professor James Mzilikazi Khumalo had named me Sibongile (which means "we have said thank you") and to be given a flattering name by such an illustrious man was indeed an honour. James Khumalo is not only a professor of African languages but is also the well known composer of the Zulu opera "uShaka ka Senzangakhona" and the conductor and director of the Soweto Songsters choir.
"It's okay," Lindiwe assured me. "In Zulu each person has many names and we must answer to them all." I knew this to be true. In Zulu culture a person can be given different names by several members of the extended family.
These names can be derived from circumstances at the time of the child's birth. In 1976, for example, at the time of the Soweto Riots there were many new babies named uRiot. During the Second World War plenty of children were named Mkhize, the Zulu name for Adolf Hitler and there were even a fair few called uSpitfire. You are more likely to find traditional names such as Nomvula which means "mother of rain" for a girl born on a rainy day or Langalibalele for a boy which translates as "the sun was shining."I wouldn't be at all surprised if, in current times, there were a few uTwintowers and uRecessions running around.
Names can also be used to show a family's expectations of a child. This is all very well if your name is Nhlanhla which means "luck" and you go on to win the lottery but what if your name is Thanduxolo (which means" lover of peace") and you are an internationally renowned terrorist or your name is Lwazi ("knowledge") and you turn out to be the village idiot?
There are two names which I would not want to have if I were a boy. Zenzele means "do it yourself" which comes across as a bit harsh and perhaps indicative of a real hands off kind of father. Then there is Wandile which means "you are extra", although I suppose that this is no different to "the heir and the spare" phrase attached to Prince Harry by the English tabloids. If my experience is anything to go on, every teenage boy should be named Mondli which translates as "feeder". This though would inevitably result in the same confusion found in Arabic schools where the majority of boys are called Muhammad , Mohammed, Mohammad, Muhammed and, just for variety, Mohamed, Mohamad and Muhamed. Believe me. I once worked in the names department of a school photographer.
The naming of Zulu newborns is sometimes used as a lifelong rebuke to the poor, exhausted mother immediately after birth. Ntombizanele means "enough girls", which is fairly explicit. Simangele ("surprise") might be a name given to a daughter by her alleged father when, by his calculations, he had been away from the village working on the gold mines nine months previously.
On top of all this, Zulu children usually need a school name or English name because so many non-Zulus find traditional names impossible to pronounce. In times long past, the majority of Zulus spoke little or no English and their only exposure to the language was through the bible. It is no wonder then that there are so many Zulu men with English names such as Hezekiah, Obeid, Sampson, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zechariah, Isaiah, Simeon, Elijah and even Jesus.
When I was a girl, back in racially segregated, apartheid South Africa most White families had a Black gardener. Our neighbour's gardener's name was Thando. His family had omitted to give him an English name at birth so he had translated his Zulu name literally and was known as Love.
It caused widespread amusement in the street when the lady of the house could be heard calling out down the garden to her servant.
"Your lunch is ready, Love."
