Mtenje Surname Definition:
Mtenje is a surname of the Ngoni tribe, meaning: a member of the Ngoni that fled the Mfecane of Shaka Zulu.
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The original meaning for this surname is:
“Month when there is much Dust” (About June) in Zulu.
Radebe means “Ancestor of the Amahlubi” in Zulu.
Cwele is a surname found commonly among the Xhosa, Zulu and South Sotho people’s of South Africa. Like many other lineages in the south and south western regions of South Africa, the Cwele surname may have influences from the San and Khoi peoples, who historically inhabited these regions.
Ndlovu Surname Meaning:
Ndlovu is a Zulu clan name, meaning ‘elephant.’ It has a connection with the Afrikaans, ‘Oliphant,’ which has the same meaning. It appears a number of South Africans have adopted the Afrikaans name. There is more than one Ndlovu clan. Zulu clans were named after their founders.
Tshabalala means ‘to disappear’, ‘banish’, ‘decay’ and a ‘shooting star’. The surname originated in Swaziland, but also has ties to kwaZulu, Mpumalanga, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Botswana.
The surname is rumoured to stem from the Nkosi tribe, due to internal conflict caused by the refusal of Mshengu’s (The last born child of Shaka Zulu’s father between, him and the princess of the Nksosi tribe) right to the Nkosi throne.
Mshengu was banished, but when he left some of the Nkosi tribe left with him. Mshengu’s followers where then called Tshabalala. The Tshabalala tribe later became one of the biggest tribes, that even rivalled the Zulu and Nkosi tribes.
The Tshabalala tribe was then nickednamed ‘donga lama vuso’, loosely translated as ‘from the ground a great unshakeable nation rose’.
Ntshembeni Surname Meaning
The Khumalo clan was divided into three sub clans. Chief Donda governed the Southern Khumalo, his cousin Chief Beje governed the Central Khumalo and his uncle Chief Matshobana (also known as Mashobane), governed the Northern Khumalo.
Matshobana was the son of Mangethe and his mother was MaNxumalo. Matshobane ruled a people, in line with the trend at the time, who were tillers, pastoralists, and hunters. In comparison to most of the Zululand tribes, the Khumalo clan was but a small clan of people.
The Ntshembeni clan originated from the kingdom of Matshobane. The leader of Khumalo clan, father of Mzilikazi who ended as the leader of Matebele after the death of his father and is now in Zimbambwe. The Ntshembeni are an African clan that originated in northern KwaZulu, South Africa. They are the Nguni and are commonly in small towns of Jozini and some are in Mozambique in Maputo and they inhabited the land after escaping the wars of Zulu-Ndwandwe wars which ended in 1879. At the end of the Anglo Zuluwar of 1879 the British government decided to divide the Zulu Kingdom into thirteen regions and to govern each of them they placed Zulu Chiefs (amakhosi) who had shown some form of loyalty to them during the Anglo-Zulu War. The Ntshembeni escaped to Mozambique. They then lived under the rulership of Cam Phumo, a Shangaan chief who lived in the area before the arrival of Lourenço Marques). The Ntshembeni are part of a group of Zulus and Ngunis known as the Mtungwa though during the Shaka Zulu wars (1872) some tribe split and when they returned to claim their land the Ntshembeni changed their surname to Nxumalo (mother of Matshobane) but some were brave to use Ntshembeni. The Khumalo clan had been forced to join the Ndwandwe state due to the power of Zwide rule. Zwide was determined to be the most powerful ruler in Zululand. This resulted in a collision course with Dingiswayo of the Mthethwa, who by now had recruited Tshaka into his army regiments. Zwide was not a great warrior, but he was cunning. Dingiswayo decided to personally lead his army into Zwide territory, he sent command to Tshaka to organise the Zulu army regiments and meet at the present Nongoma.
The name, Mshanga, originates from South Africa. The actual Zulu name is Mhlanga which simply means ‘reed’. The name was brought to the north by freeing Ngonis and Ndebeles. Because on their way North Ngonis integrated other groups, the Zulu pronunciation disappeared and instead Mshanga, or Mushanga replaced Mhlanga.
Mhlanga is a very common surname among the Zulu in the south and the Ndebele including the Swatis in Zwaziland. Umhlang’a simple meaning is the reed found. Zulus and the Zwazi people attach great importance to reed. They occasionally hold a ceremony where young maids carry reeds and dance before the king.