Uniqueness in the Zulu Anthroponymic System

Uniqueness in the Zulu anthroponymic system

Adrian KOOPMAN

Introduction: The Zulu anthroponymic system1 The Zulu people live predominately in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the nine provinces of South Africa. This provinces lies between the Drak- ensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean. To the north are Swaziland and Mozambique, to the south the Eastern Cape Province where the main language is the closely-related Xhosa. The ethnonym ‘Zulu’ is derived from uZulu, the name of the founder of the royal line in the 16th Century, and this name is in turn derived from the noun izulu (‘sky, weather’). The Zulu people refer to themselves as amaZulu, and to their language as isiZulu. The Zulu language is a tonal language, and belongs to the widely- spread group of Bantu languages in Africa. Of the nine Bantu lan- guages which have official status in South Africa, Zulu is spoken by the greatest number of people, just under 11 million according to the 2003 census. It is the home language of over 80% of the residents of KwaZulu-Natal, and is also widely used in Johannesburg and the sur- rounding areas. In Zulu culture, many different types of anthroponyms are used, three of them ‘official’ in the sense that they are found in official docu- ments such as identity books, driver’s licenses, school certificates, etc. These are the igama lasekhaya (‘home name’), igama lesilungu (‘colo- nial name’), and isibongo (‘clan name’, ‘surname’). Other anthrop- onyms, just as much part of the identity of the individual Zulu, but not found in official documents are the teknonym (use of the child’s name to address a parent), the clan praise, the patronym, and the nickname. For the purposes of this article on uniqueness in Zulu naming, I divide the different types of Zulu anthroponyms into “Individual Names” and “Shared Names”.

1 For an extended summary (10 pages) of the Zulu anthroponymic system, see Koopman 2008; for a full view, see Koopman 2002.

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Individual names Under the heading ‘individual names’ we can consider the following: – the igama lasekhaya (‘home name’, ‘birth name’) – the igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’) – the nickname and, as a form of address rather than a name: – the teknonym

The igama lasekhaya is the Zulu name given to every Zulu child by either or both parents shortly after birth. It is semantically transparent, and may relate to any one of the following: – the position of the child in the family, and the relative number of boys and girls (for example: uNtombifuthi2 ‘another girl’, uMfanufikile ‘a boy has arrived at last!’); – the circumstance of the birth: the birth itself; family happen- ings; national events and disasters (for example: uThandazile (girl) ‘having prayed’ for a successful birth after a difficult pregnancy, uMuziwenhlanhla (boy) ‘family of luck’ if the father or anyone in the family has been fortunate); – the appearance of the child (for example: uNtombenhle ‘beautiful girl’, uBhodwe (girl) ‘cooking pot’, i.e. fat, round and black); – an injunction to the child (for example, uTholimfundo (boy) ‘get education’, uBhekumuzi (boy) ‘look after the family’); – the perceived role of God in the birth (for example, uMandlen- kosi (boy) ‘the strength of the Lord’, uSibusisiwe (girl) ‘we have been blessed’) (For further examples of all of these, see the references in footnote one.) The igama lasekhaya is regarded as the ‘true name’ or the ‘real name” (cf igama lesilungu below). In the more traditional, rural parts of Zululand it is still believed that witchcraft can be practiced on a person through possession of his or her name.

2 As in any language, personal names are nouns, and as in any Bantu language, nouns belong to a noun class with an identifying prefix. In such languages, the noun class for personal names is Class 1(a). for which the prefix in Zulu is u-. This falls off when the name is used in address, or in an English context, hence the capital is on the initial consonant of the name.

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The igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’, ‘European name’) is found in all parts of Africa where a country or a region has been colonised by a European power (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Por- tugal, etc.), and where the local anthroponymic system has been ‘invaded’ by colonial names. Thus in Nigeria, in addition to ‘home names’ in Hausa, Yoruba, Akan, Ewe or Ibo, Nigerians also carry a French name; in Angola and Mozambique, the indigenous home name is paired with a typical Portuguese personal name. Among the Zulu people, the igama lesilungu comes from British stock. These may be typical English names: John, Michael, David, Timothy, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, Elsie. Some might strike us as a little old-fashioned today: Cuthbert, Wilberforce, Prudence, Charity. Occasionally, this name is a translation of the igama lasekhaya: Lucky < uNhlanhla (‘luck’), Prettygirl < uNtombenhle (‘pretty girl’). Biblical names are common, frequently the more obscure names from the bible: Caiphas, Almon, Abednego. And, finally, occasionally European surnames are used, especially of the famous: Lincoln, Churchill, Wordsworth. These names are characteristically not given by parents, but by teachers, preachers, a nurse from the hospital where the child was born, and other such ‘outsiders’. It is not considered a ‘real’ name, and it cannot be a target of witchcraft. There are many signs that this cat- egory is disappearing from the Zulu anthroponymic system.

The nickname: There is no generally accepted Zulu term for the nickname. As in all societies, the nickname is not an official name, and does not appear on official documents, but may well be the name by which an individual is known by all and sundry for all of his or her life. It might be a ‘baby name’ given by parents at birth in addition to the igama lasekhaya, it might be a name given by siblings when the child is young, it could be given by school mates later in life, or by work and sports colleagues and friends even later. In Zulu society it can well be self-given. Zulu nicknames may be a single word, or a short phrase, or even a line or two. When this happens the name starts overlapping with oral poetry, an extremely common form of self-expression in Zulu soci- ety3.

3 See Gunner and Gwala 1994, Koopman 1987, 2000, and 2002 (especially chapter 19 “The onomastic – oral literature continuum”, 305-310).

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The teknonym: this is perhaps the most common form of address among adults in the whole of Africa. In teknonymous usage a person is addressed via the name of a child, prefixed with the local equiva- lent of ‘mother of’ or ‘father of’. In Zulu either ubaba (‘my father’) or uyise (‘her, his father’) and either umame (‘my mother’) or unina (his, her mother’) may be used. However, uyihlo (‘your father’) is derogatory and unyoko (‘your mother’) is highly insulting. In some societies the name of the eldest child is invariably used; in others the father uses the name of the eldest son, while the mother uses the name of the eldest daughter. Thus, in Zulu society, parents of the boy Jabulani and the girl Thokozile may address each other as “ We nina ka Thokozile!” (‘Say, mother of Thokozile!’ – husband to wife) answered with “Yebo, baba kaJabulani?” (‘Yes, father of Jabulani?’).

Shared Names The term ‘shared names’ is perhaps a little ambiguous in this context. Writers like Saarelma-Maunumaa (1999, 2003, and Bloothooft, Van Nifterik and Gerritzen (2004:16ff) 4 use the term to refers to the sys- tem of ‘namesakes’, whereby a child is named after (‘for’?) a grand- parent or other relative, a phenomenon which occurs so rarely in Zulu society as to be virtually non-existent5. On the other hand, I am using the term here in the sense of ‘names shared by a group of people at a particular time’. The most obvious example here is the ‘family name’ or ‘surname’ shared (in Zulu society and in most European families6) by a husband, his wife, their children, and the husband’s brothers and their wives and children. Other group names could include ethnonyms, regimental names and names of sporting, cultural, historical, political and other named groups.

4 In Dutch, this phenomenon is referred to as ‘vernoeming’. 5 In some 35 years of ongoing research into Zulu naming, I am yet to come across someone who says “We named this child after ~”. Zulu-speaking colleagues, how- ever assure me that it does happen, very occasionally. 6 I am personally aware of a number of European-background married women who choose to use their maiden surnames after marriage, some all the time, others only in a professional context. In Zulu society, married women take their husband’s sur- name, but are commonly addressed by their maiden surname, prefixed by –Ma- to show that although originally of this surname (or of this clan) she is now married.

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In the Zulu anthroponymic system, we can consider the follow- ing: – izibongo (‘clan names’) – izithakazelo (‘clan praises’) and, as a form of address: – patronyms Izibongo, (sing. isibongo ‘clan name’) are often perceived as sur- names in contemporary South African society. There is, however, a distinct difference between ‘surnames’ and ‘clan names’.7 If I, with the surname Smith, meet another Smith whom I know not to be a brother, cousin or other close kin, I assume that he and I both hap- pened to have an ancestor sometime in our individual pasts who was a smith by trade. If on the other hand I am a Zulu with the clan name Maphumulo, or a Scot with the clan name Douglas, and if I should meet any ‘stranger’ with the same name, I would automatically assume that both of us claim descent from the same original ancestor, that we share allegiance to a chief in some distant clan ‘stronghold’, and that we both carry some sort of overt or covert clan identification8. Zulu clan names, like European surnames today, continue through the male line, which makes them suitable as surnames, and indeed, Zulu clan names have functioned as surnames since these were required by Brit- ish colonial administration in the late 1800s.

Izithakazelo9 (sing. isithakazelo ‘clan praise’) are used in a number of ways in Zulu society. As single names, they are used interchange- ably with clan names as forms of address. When more than one clan praise name is used, this could be for flattery, giving thanks, showing appreciation, and so on. The full forms of clan praises, often constitut- ing an oral poem of several lines, are recited at ceremonial occasions, such as the ritual slaughter of an animal in honour of the ancestral spirits, at weddings, funerals and similar rites of passage. The last section of this article gives the clan praises of the related clans Qwabe, Makhanya, Gumede and Khuzwayo.

7 See Koopman 2002, 76-81. 8 For example, the same clan praise or motto, markings such as scarification (Zulu) or particular tartan (Scottish). 9 For an extensive summary on the form and function of clan praises, see Koopman 1999, 2002, 81-85.

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Patronyms are those forms of address which give the name of a per- son followed by ‘son of ~” or “daughter of ~”. They may be used together with personal names and surname, as in the following exam- ples of Russian usage: Pavel Petrovitch (‘son of Peter’) Borisov and Yevgeni Sergeivitch (’son of Sergei’) Karpov (formal use, or at the beginning of a conversation), or simply with personal names, as in Pavel Petrovitch and Yevgeni Sergeivitch, (informal use, or once the conversation is under way).10 Patronyms can be considered to be shared in the sense that all the sons of a man may be addressed by the same patronym. In Zulu soci- ety, any of a man’s sons may use his name in this way, but if more than one son is present, only the elder or oldest will be so addressed. There is much evidence that patronyms were regularly used in Zulu society before the British colonial insistence on surnames brought clan names in as surname substitutes. They have continued to be used with the names of the Zulu royal kings, and there are signs that the patronym is making a comeback in modern Zulu culture.11

Uniqueness in Naming Anthroponymic systems, but particularly that category of anthrop- onyms known as personal names (and, less accurately, as ‘first names’ and ‘Christian names’), are often divided into the two groups ‘open’ and ‘closed’. In an open system, name–givers, particularly the parents of a newborn child, may coin any name so long as it obeys certain linguistic rules. They are not bound to an established list of names. They may well coin a name which they themselves have never heard of before, but which may well exist for some other name-bearers in that society, or the name that they coin may be unique, borne by no other person, living or dead, in that society. In a closed system, the names of children are chosen from an existing list, an onomasticon, and either by social convention, or by the law of their particular coun- try, the parents choose a name from that list. In the earlier, ‘traditional’ Zulu society, names tended to be unique. Any repetition of names was likely to be unwitting. In con- temporary Zulu society, I would say we are half way between an open

10 Examples from Forsyth 1984, 271. 11 See Koopman 2003.

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and a closed naming system as regards personal names. While there is neither law nor social convention to restrict Zulu parents to an established onomasticon, and theoretically parents are completely free to coin a unique name for their child (again, so long as it conforms to linguistic norms), in fact a number of Zulu parents, particularly those in urban environments, are choosing to give their children names from a list of commonly given names. To illustrate this, I refer to a study I did for the Italian onomastics journal RION in 2002 (Vol VIII, 2: 703-705). I compared two lists of Zulu personal names, one reflecting names given between 1950 and 1980, the other of names given in the early 1990s. In each case I was looking for the twenty most popular boys and girls names.

In the earlier data, the twenty most common names for boys, in order of popularity and with the number of occurrences in a data base of 320 names, was as follows: 1. uSibusiso (22) “blessing” 2. uSipho (18) “gift” 3. uDumisani (14) “rejoice loudly” 4. uBongani (14) “give thanks”, “be grateful” 5. uBonginkosi (9) “praise the Lord” 6. uThembinkosi (9) “trust the Lord” 7. uVusumuzi (8) “revive the family” (a name for a first-born son, who starts the new generation) 8. uMsawenkosi (7) “the grace of the Lord” 9. uThokozani (6) “be happy” 10. uSifiso (6) “wish”, “desire” 11. uMandla (6) “strength” 12. uSiyabonga (5) “we are grateful” 13. uJabulani (5) “be joyful” 14. uNhlanhla (5) “luck” 15. uMduduzi (5) “the comforter” 16. uBhekinkosi (5) “look up to the Lord” 17. uBhekuyise (5) “look up to the Father”, “respect your father” 18. uThulani (4) “be quiet” 19. uSandile (4) “we have increased” 20. uMandlenkosi (4) “the strength of the Lord”

As can be seen, they range from 22 occurrences out of 320 (Sibusiso) to 4 out of 320 (Thulani, Sandile and Mandlenkosi). All of these names

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will be instantly recognisable to any Zulu or any person familiar with Zulu names. Equally recognisable are the top twenty female names: 1. uNomusa (26) “Miss Grace” (the prefix no- is a feminising pre- fix in Zulu personal names, translated here as “Miss”. This name is the female equivalent of uMsawenkosi, no. 8 on the male list.) 2. uSibongile (22) “we are grateful” (equivalent of uSiyabonga, no. 12 on male list) 3. uNonhlanhla (19) “Miss Luck” (equivalent of uNhlanhla, no. 14 on male list) 4. uBusisiwe (18) “having been blessed” (equivalent of uSibusiso, no. 1 on male list) 5. uThembelihle (14) “lovely hope” 6. uLindiwe (13) “the awaited one” 7. uThokozile (12) “being happy” (equivalent of uThokozani, no. 9 on male list) 8. uNozipho (11) “Miss Gifts” (equivalent of uSipho, no. 2 on male list) 9. uNokuthula (11) “Miss Peace/Quiet” 10. uZanele (11) “they [girls] are enough” 11. uSamukelisiwe (10) “she has been made welcome” 12. uDuduzile (10) “having comforted” (equivalent of uMduduzi, no 15 on male list) 13. uFikile (10) “having arrived” 14. uThandiwe (10) “the loved one” 15. uJabulile (9) “being happy” (equivalent of uJabulani, no 13 on male list) 16. uLungile (8) “being alright”, “being okay” 17. uNompumelelo (8) “Miss Success” 18. uBongekile (8) “showing gratitude” 19. uThabile (8) “being delighted” 20. uSiphiwe (8) “we have been given” (this is also a popular male name)

It is interesting to note that in my 1976 Honours research essay on the grammatical structure of Zulu personal names, I identified uSibongile as the most common female name in Zulu, with uNomusa the runner up. Note also that the top twenty girls’ name account for 246 of the data base of 320 (77%), while the boys’ names account for 159 out of 320, ie. 49%.

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There is no space in this article to give the second set of figures, but a few statistics may be interesting: Firstly, in the second list of boys’ names only four names have survived from the top twenty of an earlier period, and only two of the girls’ names have survived. It is remarkable how much naming fash- ions have changed in what is effectively a generation. Secondly, in the earlier list, the top twenty boys’ names account for 49% of the data; in the later list this drops slightly to 46% (148 names), and the top twenty girls names, while accounting for 77% in the earlier list, account for 65% in the later list. Both the earlier and the later list suggest that while the names of boys are strongly reliant on an onomasticon, this is far more the case the girls’ names. Thirdly, in each list the top boy has scored 22 ‘hits’, with uSibu- sisiso of the earlier list being replaced with uSiyabonga. In the girls’ lists, however, the 26 ‘hits’ scored by the top girl in the earlier list (uNomusa) is nearly doubled by uAyanda of the later list, who scores 50. The study mentioned above gives us a good idea about a different type of name-sharing, and an idea of the extent to which Zulu personal naming depends on a common onomasticon. But to what extent can we still find ‘uniqueness’ in Zulu personal names?

Contemporary Uniqueness An analysis was made of Zulu personal names as recorded in the results of the National Matriculation Examination, published in the Pietermaritzburg newspaper The Witness. Students writing ‘Matric’ in 2008 would have been roughly 18 years old at the time, so they were born around 1990. An analysis was made of the first 500 names, both male and female. Names that I thought ‘unique’ (in that I was sure I had never come across them before) were isolated and then checked with a number of mother- tongue Zulu speakers. The initials results produced 22 names. Of these, uZothile (‘being calm’) and uThelamusa (mis-spelling of Thelumusa ‘pour out grace’), were found repeated on the same data page, so had to be removed by default. uMzibeni (‘deceive him’), uZamanquhe (‘daughter of the Madondo clan’; Nquhe is a Madondo praise-name), uNkazimulo (‘brightness, shine, sparkle’), and

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uFalakhe (‘his inheritance’) had likewise to be removed, as colleagues recognized these names. This left 16 names which can be considered ‘unique’: uMgculisi (m) ‘the one who satisfies’ uMyiyizelwa (m) ‘the one sobbed for’ uBusakusa (m) ‘reign as it dawns, rule at daybreak’ uSmangani (m) ‘what kind of amazing happening?’ uMphokuhle (m) ‘give him the good things’ uGezekile (f) ‘having been cleansed, purified’ uHlalephi (f) ‘having lived where?’ – a longed-for child uCingile (f) ‘having searched’ – a longed-for child uSobahle (m) ‘we beautiful ones’ uMasobotha (m) ‘let us cool down’ uMalozi - untranslatable uSimikahle (m) ‘we are positioned well’ uPhilasande (m) ‘live that we might increase’ uMacoyisa (f) - a phrase from the children’s game Masigcozi uZisolile (f) ‘they have suspected’ uKhanyeni (f) ‘having shone what?’

16 names out of a data base of 500 is 3,2%. Given that in a bigger data body of say, 10 000, some of the names above may be repeated, it is safe to say that this brief analysis indicates a uniqueness percent- age of <3%. Note that in the sample above, only one name is seman- tically opaque. All others have a clear surface meaning, and the under- lying reason for giving the name is also clear to one with a knowledge of Zulu personal name aetiology. For example, both uHlalephi and uCingile are names given by parents who have long been awaiting a child. Now compare the results of research done among the names of Zulu people given during the first half of the 19th Century. The data was taken from Volume I of the 5-volume series The James Stuart Archives, a series recording oral history collected by fluent Zulu- speaking magistrate James Stuart in Zululand towards the end of the 19th Century. He interviewed old men and women born in the early 1800s about anything that had to do with Zulu history and culture. I took the first 200 names I could find in the first pages of Vol- ume I and subjected them to the same analysis that I had done with

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the 2008 Matric results, only this time I did not have to remove all the names with which I was already familiar. This time names were only familiar to me as historical characters, and NOT ONE was recogniz- able as a name used by the namers of today. When the list was shown to mother-tongue Zulu speakers, one name (uMsuthu12) was recog- nized as “that is the name one of my cousins gave to his son”. Oth- erwise names were only recognized as historically-known individuals. Now of course I cannot say that those 200 names were unique at the time of their existence. For every “Dabulamanzi”13 recorded in the pages of The James Stuart Archive, there may have been ten or a hun- dred others such in Zululand at that time. But what I can say is this: 1) Only one out of the 200 names collected was recognizable as a name used today, which tells us that the Zulu personal name onomasticon of the first half of the 19th Century bears no resemblance whatsoever to that of the late 20th Century. How, when, and why this happened, has, to the best of my knowl- edge, never been researched by southern African onomasti- cians. I see here a vast potential research project. 2) There are no repetitions in the earlier data. If I had taken 200 names at random from Zulu children today, many names would have been repeated several times. As we noted above, among a list of 500 girls names given to children in the years 1989 to 1991, 50 (10%!) were the name uAyanda.

Is the English personal name onomasticon the basis of Zulu ‘colonial names’? It has been many years since I last did research among the European- origin names given to Zulu children throughout the Twentieth Cen- tury. So for data I need to go back to research I did in the mid 1970s. The onomastic profile presented here could be regarded as typical of a 20thC naming pattern among Zulu people. For reasons of space, I analyse only the female data. Out of 300 names, the following are the most popular:

12 uMsuthu can either mean a member of the baSotho nation of southern Africa, or a member of a political faction loyal to the Zulu monarchy, or (by extension) a sup- porter of the football team Zulu Royals. 13 A historically famous Zulu name.

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Gertrude (7) + Gertie (3) (10 entries altogether) Eunice (10) Margaret (7) Doris (6) Evelyn (5) Florence (5) Agnes (5) Joyce (5) Beatrice (4) Anna (3) + Annie (1) (4) Gladys (4) Rose (4) Theresa (4) Constance (3) Grace (3) Hilda (3) Mabel (3) Mildred (3) Mirriam (3) Tryphina (3) Winifred + Winnie (3) [97 entries of 300]

All of these are recognizable as common in the English female per- sonal names onomasticon, although Tryphina might give rise to some puzzlement. From the ‘other-rans’, that only scored 2 or 1 out of 300, we can point out a few ‘unusual’ names: Adeldreda, Alzinah (x 2), Annacleta, Apholonaris, Baby, Berlina, Callina, Ceressarah, Elphina, Emmalina, Engelberta, Euphemia, Faustinah, Gallina, Geslinah, Glo- ries, Happiness14, Ignatia, Jubilee, Levinah, Mumsy, Octavia (x 2), Pinky, Queeney, Reginah (x 2), Rosinath, Saviour, Siegfrieda, Vari- ety, and Witness. It is this last set (Adeldreda, Alzinah, Annacleta, etc.) which might suggest that that there is a small factor of uniqueness in the Zulu igama lesilungu, even though clearly the majority are from an already- established limited onomasticon. We note that a mere 22 names account for a total of 97 out of 300, i.e. 32% of the whole.

14 Very likely a translation of the Zulu name uNtokozo (‘happiness’).

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Curiously enough, it is another ethnic group on South Africa which is characterized by a great deal of uniqueness in personal nam- ing. The coloured population15, particularly in the Cape Town area, shows much inventiveness in naming, according to recent research by Neethling (2009). Some of his examples are: Girls Boys Berladine Cheslyn Chanique Chesray Charnessa Curnell Cheriece Danzil Elistene Devin Jomanic Gershwill Kharnita Grantham Lathme Granwill Marshay Jolin Ronicia Juull Seronda Magin Tarnay Orenthal

It is interesting to speculate on the language of these names. Can names be said to be “in a specific language”? Some scholars might identify names like Joshua, Benjamin, Daphne, Margaret, David, Nicholas, Gertrude, Robert and Bernard as “English” names on the grounds that they are commonly used as personal names among Eng- lish-speakers (whether or not they live in England). And yet their etymology shows them to be Hebrew, Greek and Germanic names. Then again, what English-speaker and what Afrikaans-speaker would identify the names given above by Neethling as “English” names or “Afrikaans” names? And yet the home language of the owners of the above names will be either English or Afrikaans.

A common stock of Zulu clan names? Although AT Bryant’s 1929 Olden Times in Zululand and Natal is increasingly regarded with suspicion by modern historians, this is

15 In South Africa, the term “coloured” refers to persons of mixed blood, in par- ticular, in the Western Cape, the descendants of the offspring of white settlers and Malay slaves.

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mainly on account of his conclusions about such things as the origin of the Nguni people, and the relative importance of King Shaka ka- Senzangakhona in shaping the Zulu nation in the 1820s. When it comes to details about the various and individual clans at the time of Shaka’s expansions in the 1820s, he can generally be relied upon. Bryant quite definitely gives a limited number of clans. But he is at pains to point out that new clans were being born all the time out of splits in original clans, and his appendix lists no less than 907 clans which are “sub-clans” of earlier ones. Two of his stories will suffice to show how a new clan may split off from an earlier/older one, and so create a new (and unique) clan name. On page 39 of Olden Times we learn that King Ndaba of the Zulu clan (great-grandfather of Shaka Zulu) gave the name eMqekwini to the homestead of his principal wife, and the name eMgazini to the homestead of his second wife. The eldest son of this second wife was Xoko by name. Ndaba’s grandson by the first wife was the Zulu king Senzangakhona and he fell in love with Xoko’s granddaughter Meh- lana, his cousin. Zulu cultural rules are very strict indeed about cous- ins not marrying, so in order to be able to take Mehlana as wife, Senzangakhona had to declare that this branch of the Zulu clan were to known henceforth as the Mgazini clan, using the name of the home- stead of his great-uncle Xoko. A royal ukase is, and was, a royal ukase, and from that time the newly-formed and newly named Mgazini clan was regarded as separate and different from the Zulu clan. The patriarch Xoko, however, was still alive at this stage and although he could do nothing about the king marrying his grand-daughter, he could stop other Zulu men from marrying his younger female kin by general prohibition. Let Bryant (1929, 40) take up the story: “…[when] Zulu swains openly courted the Mgazini girls … Xoko resented this unprincipled trespass, and set up a fence of general prohibition around his portion of the family. Which, when his clans- men learned, they laughed to scorn and said “ A! Kanti umuzi wakho u-ya-wu-biyela?”. (Oh! So you are putting (for us) a hedge around your family?); and henceforth they jocularly referred to these people as aba-kwa-Biyela (Z. uku-biyela, to put a hedge or barrier around).” Today the Mgazini and the Biyela clans are regarded as different, but related clans. One of Xoko’s descendants, known as Ntshangase,

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gave his name to a further breakaway clan, and today one of his descendants, a Mr Ndela Ntshangase, lecturer in the School of Zulu Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, tells me that his daugh- ters may under no circumstances marry within the Ntshangase, Biyela or Mgazini clans, on the ground that they are all related, but they may marry within the Zulu clan, because the split of the Mgazini from the Zulu clan was the result of an official royal decree. My second story, also from Bryant (1929, 479) concerns the rise of the Shangase clan (totally unrelated to the Ntshangase clan men- tioned above, despite the obvious similarity of the surnames). A cer- tain Ngcobo, who gave his name to one of the largest clans in KwaZ- zulu-Natal today, had a younger brother named Mkeshane. Ngcobo suspected his younger brother of plotting against him, so arranged to have him killed. Mkeshane got wind of the plot and fled for his life. After some years of wandering about, “regret filled the heart” of the elder Ngcobo and he sent messages for his younger brother to return home: “The fugitive duly returned, the chief Ngcobo thus addressed him. “Mkeshane,” he said, “and, prithee, where hast thou been these years?” “Sire,” quoth he16, “I have but been roaming.” “Verily,” rejoined Ngcobo, “you have been roaming, you rover [impela wawu-shanga, Shangase17].” Whereupon he sent men to build for his brother a kraal, and from that time on it was no longer said, this is Mkeshane, but this is Shangase (the Rover). And so till this very day.” [1929, 480] Today Shangase and Ngcobo are regarded as separate but related clans, who may not inter-marry. It would be of great onomastic interest to see to what extent today clans have proliferated from Bryant’s original list. There is a general perception that Zulu clan names today are part of a ‘closed’ set, but I am sure that new clan names are being formed in much the same way as Bryant describes above. Again, I see another major research project here.

16 This archaic style is a feature of Bryant’s writing in Olden Times. 17 -se is an archaic name-forming suffix, which may be added to almost any part of speech.

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Sharing clan praises The term “sharing” takes on quite a different meaning when it comes to Zulu clan praises (izithakazelo). Clan names may be said to be shared in that all the male descendants from the supposed original founder of the clan have the same clan name. As was pointed out ear- lier, clan praises are linked to specific clan names, so it would seem obvious that clan praises must be shared in the same way, i.e., by all members of a clan, all claiming descent from the original progenitor. But in fact it is not as neat and tidy as that. Clan praises are accumu- lated in the life of a clan: as the generations go by, more and more chiefs’ names are added to the clan praises, as are the name of other notables such as famous warriors. Also added are the short narrative and descriptive phrases that constitute a large proportion of clan praises. Should a split in a clan occur, in the manner described above, so that sub-clans A1 and A2 form from clan A, then both will inherit the praises of clan A up to the time of the split, but thereafter will develop their own praises. Should such a split occur again in any one or more of the sub-clans, the pattern will be repeated. It is exactly this sharing of clan praises between what appear on the surface to be different clans, that allows Zulu people to see who their distant kin are. This is important, because in terms of Zulu cus- tomary law, one is not only not permitted to marry within ones own clan, but also between related clans, even if the ‘split’ occurred several generations or hundreds of years ago. In this way members of the Gumede clan know that they may not only not marry in the fairly closely related Khuzwayo clan, but may also not marry within the Makhanya and Qwabe clans. Consider the izithakazelo of the four clans (translations in Appendix One):

Khuzwayo Gumede Qwabe Makhanya Qwabe! Mnguni! Khuzwayo Duze Gumede! Qwabe! Mlamlankunzi Mnguni kaYeyeye Nina bakwaMfum- Mnguni kaYeyeye Ungaziyeka Wen’ odl’ abant’ bathi zibulalane wemvula. KaKhondlo Mathathathu ubayenga kaPhakathwayo! kaGumede ngendaba Mnguni! Abadl’ umuntu Nina eniguvuzela. Mpangazitha! bebhuyabhuya Hlelile!

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Malandela! Ngendaba, bethi umuntu ngehemu Osadla behlezi. “Dluya lakhe. Nina bak- Kuyabeyethwa”. Isigogo esisind’ Phakathwayo waNodiya! abetshathi kaKhondlo! Nina bakwaYey- Abalw’ impi Donga olulala’ Nembuka! eye! noShaka Nina bakaMthan- Wath’ uShaka Nina bas’ Khuzwayo! tatho! makusik’ ugebhazi Ongoye! Lwekhand’ Qwabe! aphuzele kulona Mgwaqo! Khuzwayo! Wena kaMalandela ngokuland’ izinkomo zamadoda! Amazala-nkosi lana! Mpangazitha! Makhanya!

There is much sharing of names and descriptive phrases here. Let us first take the four clan names themselves: Khuzwayo, Gumede, Qwabe and Makhanya. Although each is a fully-fledged and independent clan name in its own right, each also serves as clan praise for the others. ‘Khuzwayo’, the first clan name, serves as a praise name for each of the three other clan names. The clan name ‘Gumede’ is a praise name for Khuzwayo and Qwabe (but not Makhanya), and the clan name ‘Qwabe’ is a praise-name for all three of the others. ‘Yeyeye’ is a clan praise for Khuzwayo, Gumede and Mkhanya (but not Qwabe). ‘Mnguni’ is a praise name shared by Khuzwayo, Gumede and Makhanya. Each of Gumede, Qwabe and Makhanya share a praise sentence which has the basic shape “you who conquered the person/people through trickery”. Many more examples can be given of this particular kind of “name-sharing”.

Sharing among nicknames There can be few people who do not know that the majority of today’s European surnames started as nicknames (or ‘bynames’ as they are often called). See for example Saarelma-Maunumaa 2003:42ff under the heading “From Bynames to Hereditary Surnames”. It should be noted here, however, before we continue with the concept of name sharing among nicknames, that Zulu nicknames have not and do not, provide modern clan names.

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A close study of the various research works on Zulu and Nguni18 nicknames (Neethling 1990, 1994, Molefe 2000, Turner 1997, 2004, Khuboni 2005, Koopman 1987, 2002, De Klerk 1998, 2002, De Klerk and Bosch 1997), gives the impression that Zulu nicknames are unique. But most writers do not note in their collections that “I came across five of these nicknames” or “four out of the hundred respon- dents had the same nickname”, and it is only by comparing lists of nicknames from various scholars that the same nicknames start turn- ing up. They are often based on phrases coined generations ago by royal izimbongi (‘bards’) and certain phrases, images and lines are found repeated among both kings and commoners generations later. (See Koopman 2001). When I collected Zulu nicknames and their extended versions (praise phrases) in the 1980s, I noticed that there were several phrases which occurred a number of times. I mention just three here: Unogwaja ozikhundlakhundla (‘rabbit with many holes’ – a man with many girlfriends) Incwinci ephuza kwezokude iziziba (‘honey-sucker bird that drinks from many distant holes’ – a man with many girlfriends) uMthunzi wokuphumula amatshitshi (‘shade where young maidens rest’ – tall youth attractive to girls).

Later I was to discover that the praise phrase Unogwaja ozikhund- lakhundla can be found in a number of the praises of commoners (Gunner and Gwala 1991, Koopman 2001, 147), and also occurs in the praises of the current Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu. Incwinci ephuza kwezokude iziziba can be found among the praises of commoners, and also in the praises of Zulu king Dinuzulu kaCet- shwayo. Not part of my own collection, but common among the praises of commoners is the line Izintombi zimcel’ ukhis’ engafuni (‘girls ask him for a kiss, but he doesn’t want to’ – a young man attractive to girls, but fussy about whom he accepts). More research needs to be done on the sharing of nicknames in Zulu and other naming communities in southern Africa.

18 The term “Nguni” includes the four closely-related official South African lan- guages Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele.

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Conclusions As regards personal names, there is no doubt that the Zulu anthrop- onymic system does allow for uniqueness and creativity, but the research reflected in this article shows that this was far more preva- lent several generations ago, and that today the tendency is more and more to draw from a common onomasticon of popular personal names. As regards the ‘colonial’ name, although we have not gone into much detail on this issue, it is clear that this is a genre of naming among the Zulu (and very likely among all African people who were once colonized by Europeans) which is fading fast as a means of iden- tification. Although many names in this category are still found which do not belong to a typical English-based onomasticon, there is very little uniqueness and creativity. Uniqueness and creativity are not really aspects of clan names and clan praises, and under these headings this article has mainly con- centrated on how clan names are formed from earlier names, and the very specific way in which clan praises are shared among clans. Nicknames still show a great deal of uniqueness and creativity, but even in this anthroponymic genre there is a core pool of praises which one finds repeated through the generations. Major research still needs to be done in Zulu anthroponymy, especially in the question of when the shift from uniqueness to com- mon onomasticon took place in Zulu personal naming.

References Bloothooft, Gerrit, Van Nifterick, Emma and Gerritzen, Doreen. 2004. Over voornamen: Hoe Nederland aan z’n voornamen komt. Utrecht: Het Spectrum. De Klerk, Vivian. 1998. Nicknaming Across Cultures: Borrowing and Other Linguistic Tricks. Nomina Africana 12 (1), 1-14. De Klerk, Vivian. 2002. Xhosa Nicknames for Whites: A Double- edged Sword. Nomina Africana 15 (1 & 2), 146-163. De Klerk, Vivian & Bosch, Barbara. 1997. Nicknaming among Xhosa- speaking children and adolescents. South African Journal of Afri- can languages 17 (3), 95-99. Forsyth, F. 1984. The Fourth Protocol. London: Corgi Books.

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Gunner and Gwala. 1994. Musho! Zulu Popular Praises. Johannes- burg: Witswatersrand University Press. Khuboni, Fikile. 2005. Nicknaming and Social Bonding among isiZulu- speaking Factory Workers. Nomina Africana 19 (1), 121-140. Koopman, A. 1976. A Study of Zulu Names, with special reference to the structural aspect. Unpublished Honours research essay. Dept of Bantu Languages. University of Natal, Durban. Koopman, A. 1979a. The Linguistic Difference between Nouns and Names in Zulu. African Studies 38 (1), 67-80. Koopman, A. 1979b. Male and Female Names in Zulu. African Stud- ies 38 (2), 153-166. Koopman, A. 1987. The Praises of Young Zulu Men. Theoria 70, October 1987, 41-54. Koopman, A. 1992. Cross-cultural references in Zulu ox- and dog- names. Nomina Africana 6 (1). Koopman, A. 1999. Bongesihle SabeNguni: Beautiful Clan Name of the Nguni People. Postface to W.D. Kamera: Tinanatelo: Swazi Family praises. Oral Documentation and Research Centre, Uni- versity of Natal (Durban), 272-300. Koopman, A. 2000. The Power of Names in Zulu Oral Poetry. Nomina Africana 14 (2), 1-20. Koopman, A. 2001. Yebo Goggo: ‘Formula’ or ‘Catch-Phrase? In: R. Kaschula (ed.) African Oral Literature: Functions in Contempo- rary Contexts, 142-155. Cape Town: New Africa Educational Publishing. Koopman, A. 2002. Zulu Names. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press. Koopman, A. 2003. Patronyms and Possessives: Towards a new Zulu identity. Unpublished paper presented at the 2003 conference of the African Languages Association of Southern Africa in Stellenbosch. Koopman, A. 2004. Dutch First Names. Nomina Africana 18 (1 & 2), 61-92. Koopman, A. 2008. Zulu Names. In: Benedict Carton, John Laband, and Jabulani Sithole (Eds). Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, 439-448. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu- Natal Press. Molefe, L. 2002. Onomastic Aspects of Zulu Nicknames with Special Reference to their Source and Functionality. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of South Africa, Pretoria.

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Neethling, S.J. 1990. Izitheketiso in Xhosa. Nomina Africana 4 (1), 11-34. Neethling, S.J. 1994. Xhosa Nicknames. SA Journal of African Lan- guages 14 (2), 88-92. Neethling, S.J. 2009. Perceptions around Ethnicity, Naming and Iden- tity: Coloured Students at the University of the Western Cape. Nomina Africana 23 (1) 51-90. Saarelma-Maunumaa, M. 1999. Name-sharing in the Naming System of the Ovambos in Namibia. Nomina Africana 13 (1 & 2), 35-45. Saarelma-Maunumaa, M. 2003. Edhina Ekogidho – Names as Links. Helsinki: Studia Fennica Linguistics. Turner, Noleen. 1997. Onomastic caricatures: Names given to Employ- ers and Co-workers by black employees. Nomina Africana 11 (1), 50-66. Turner, Noleen. 2004. Female Nicknaming Practices among the Zulu. Nomina Africana 18 (1 & 2), 1-17.

Adrian Koopman School of isiZulu Studies University of KwaZulu-Natal Private Bag X01 Scottsville 3209 South Africa [email protected]

APPENDIX 1. Translations of clan-praises Khuzwayo Gumede Qwabe! Mnguni! Gumede! Qwabe! You of the house of Mnguni son of Yeyeye Mr-Possesser-of-much-rain. son of Khondlo son of Phakathwayo. Malandela (Mr Follower) They who conquered the person by ‘beating Ye of the house of Nondiya! about’19 the matter, saying “Pass on by, some- one Ye of the house of Yeyeye! is giving birth.”

19 To bhula is to beat the ground in response to the questions of a diviner; the verb is in the ‘Thefuya’ dialect, where [l] is replaced by [y]. The verb stem has been repeated.

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Ye of the house of Those who fought with the army of Shaka Mthantatho! They said as for Shaka let his skull be cut off so that they might drink from it. Mgwaqo! Khuzwayo! You of Malandela (‘The Follower’) through following the cattle of the men. These who give birth to kings. Mpangazitha! Makhanya!

Qwabe Makhanya Khuzwayo! Duze! Mlamlankunzi! Mnguni son of Yeyeye! Leave them to kill one another You who conquered the person by tricking Mthathathu son of Gumede him about the matter. You who ‘guvuzela’20 the person Mpangazitha! Hlelile! By means of his ‘ihemu’21 Who still conquers while they sit. The skin bag weighs heavily on those Phakathwayo son of Khondlo! shouldering it. Nembuka! Wall where the wild dogs sleep. Khuzwayo! Ye from Ongoye! Qwabe!

Summary: Uniqueness in the Zulu anthroponymic system In many anthroponymic systems around the world, personal names are chosen from a limited onomasticon. In many countries, parents are obliged to choose children’s names from a limited Government-approved onomasticon. In other countries and in other cultures, parents are free to coin names in any manner whatsoever, and a high proportion of personal and other names are unique to the individual. Again, in many anthroponymic systems, “name-sharing” is an important feature, with children being named after parents, grandparents and other kin. In other societies, name-sharing of this kind does not feature. This article looks briefly at the Zulu onomastic system as a whole, and then focuses on five categories of anthroponyms to see to what extent uniqueness is a feature, and whether or not name-sharing of any kind takes place. The five categories are: igama lasekhaya (‘home name’), igama lesilungu (‘colonial name’), isi- bongo (‘clan name’), isithakazelo (clan praise), and the nickname.

20 Meaning untraceable. 21 Meaning untraceable

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Zusammenfassung: Einzigartigkeit im anthroponymischen System der Zulu In viele anthroponymischen Systemen in der Welt werden Personennamen aus einem beschränkten Onomastikon ausgewählt. In viele Ländern sind Eltern verpflichtet, die Namen für ihre Kinder aus einem limitierten, von der Regie- rung anerkannten Onomastikon auszuwählen. In anderen Ländern und Kultu- ren haben Eltern die Freiheit, Namen jeglicher Art ins Leben zu rufen, und ein hoher Anteil von Personen- und anderen Namen sind einmalig. Zudem ist das “Teilen von Namen”, z.B. wenn Kinder nach den Eltern, Großeltern und anderen Verwandten benannt werden, ein wichtiges Merkmal vieler anthronponymischer Systeme. Andere Gesellschaften hingegen weisen keine solche Art der gemeinsamen Benennung auf. Dieser Artikel betrachtet kurz das onomastische System der Zulu als Ganzes und konzentriert sich dann auf fünf Kategorien von Anthroponymen, um zu untersuchen, inwiefern das Teilen von Namen deren Merkmal ist, oder ob nicht das Teilen von Namen jeglicher Art stattfindet. Diese fünf Kategorien sind: igama lasekhaya (‚Hausnamen’), igama lesilungu (‚Kolonialnamen’), isibongo (‚Clannamen’), isithakazelo (‚Clanlobpreiseung’) und der Spitzname.

Rèsumè: L’unicité dans le système anthroponymique zoulou Dans beaucoup de systèmes anthroponymiques de par le monde, les noms personnels sont choisis à partir d’un onomasticon limité. Dans beaucoup de pays, les parents sont obligés de choisir les noms des enfants dans un onomas- ticon limité approuvé par le gouvernement. Dans d’autres pays et d’autres cultures, les parents sont libres de forger des noms de n’importe quelle manière et une forte proportion de noms de personnes et d’autres noms sont propres à chaque individu. Encore une fois, dans beaucoup de systèmes anthroponymiques, le “nom en partage” est une caractéristique importante, les enfants étant appelés comme les parents, les grands-parents et d’autres membres de la famille. Dans d’autres sociétés, le fait de partager le nom de cette sorte est absent. Cet article examine brièvement le système onomastique zoulou dans son ensemble et se concentre ensuite sur cinq catégories d’anthroponymes pour voir dans quelle mesure l’unicité est une caractéristique et si, oui ou non, le “nom en partage”, quel qu’il soit, est usité. Les cinq catégories sont: igama lasekhaya (“nom de maison”), igama lesilungu (“nom colonial”), isibongo (“nom de clan”), isithakazelo (“louange du clan”) et le surnom.

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