Tag: Olifant

Let me first address a brief history behind this surname.
In our Nguni culture, we originally did not have such surnames as Olifant.
What happened is that when the colonizers came to South Africa, they changed some of our surnames such as Ndlovu to Olifant and Mthimkhulu to Grootboom. ‘Groot’ is Afrikaans for ‘Great/ Big’ and ‘Boom’ simply means ‘tree’.

In conclusion, Olifant is an Afrikaans surname which is an exact translation of Ndlovu, so people who’s surnames are Olifant are originally Ndlovu.

Olifant / Ndlovu clan names:

Gatsheni,
Boya benyathi, obusonga busombuluka,
Mpongo kaZingelwayo,
Nina bakwaNdlovuzidl’ekhaya, ngokweswel’abelusi,
Zaze zeluswa intombi uDemazane,
Nina bakwaKhumbul’amagwala,
Nina bakwaDemazane Ntombazana,
Nina bakwaS’hlangu sihle,
Mthiyane,
Ngokuthiy’amadoda emazibukweni,
Nina bakwaMdubusi!