Thanksgiving A Boy's Name in Zulu

Question: What’s your name?

Answer: Thanksgiving.

Question: Thank you eh? Never heard such an English name before.

Answer: It’s a Zulu name.

My name is Siyabonga. What does it mean, exactly?  It means thank you in Zulu, a language spoken in South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

Kids will be born on 23 November, which is Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s what kids do. They get tired of hanging out in women’s bodies for nine months and decide to make a grand entrance into a world ruled by the question: How much?

Their names will be Siyabonga if parents speak isi-Zulu, or like African names.  Africa, just like any other collection of cultures, has naming traditions and one of them is giving kids names that reflect what was happening when they were born.

After a wedding or any other celebration, it is not unusual for drunk folks to say to the host:  Ave sesibonga (we say a big thanks).

Bo-nga, give thanks. The first part of the verb is pronounced like bobo the clown and the second like linger. 

ZULU	ENGLISH
Sibongile.	A girl’s name meaning we are thankful.
Siyabonga.	A boy’s name meaning we are thankful.
Bongani.	A boy’s name meaning, say thank you.  One family had six daughters.  They named the 7th child, a boy Bongani.  The name Siyabonga would also have been appropriate.
Bongiwe.	A girl’s name meaning it has been thanked.
Babongile.	A girl’s name meaning, yes, they said thank you.
Bongumusa.	A boy’s name meaning we thank the kindness.
Bonginkosi	A boy’s name meaning we thank the king or God.

Please Note:  Names are actually long sentences that explain circumstances of the child’s birth, or parents’ wishes for his or her future. 

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger