1000 Most Common Last Names in Zimbabwe

French (Dubé): of uncertain origin. It may be a habitational name for someone from any of various places called Le Bec, which are named either from Gaulish becco ‘high ground’ or from Germanic bec ‘stream’ (see Beck). Breton: nickname meaning ‘pigeon’. Eastern German, Sorbian, or other Slavic: from Sorbian or Slavic dub ‘oak’, hence a nickname for a strong or solid man, a topographic name for someone who lived by a prominent oak or in an area where oak trees were abundant, or a habitational name for someone from a place named with this word, for example Dubá or Doubé, both frequent Czech place names. North German: variant of Duwe. Indian (northern states); pronounced as two syllables: Hindu (Brahman) name meaning ‘one who knows (or has studied) two Vedas’, from Sanskrit dvivedi ‘one who knows two Vedas’, from dvi ‘two’ + veda ‘Veda’, ‘knowledge’. This name is a cognate of Gujarati Dave.

Chinese : one of the oldest Chinese surnames, already being the name of the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc), when many current Chinese surnames first came into use. According to legend, Jiang Yuan, a concubine of the legendary emperor Ku in the 25th century bc, accidentally stepped in the imprint of a god’s big toe, which impregnated her. Not wanting such a child, she abandoned the newborn baby, Hou Ji, in the wilderness. The infant was protected from the elements by the wings of eagles and was suckled on the milk of cows and sheep. He learned how to grow grain, and became the minister of agriculture under the legendary emperor Yao. His clan eventually settled in a city named Zhouyuan, in present-day Shaanxi province in western China. Under the influence of the name of the city, they came to be known as the Zhou, even though their surname was originally Ji. This situation lasted for over a millennium until a descendant, the famed virtuous Duke Wu Wang, changed his surname to Zhou, and his son established the Zhou dynasty. Zhou Enlai, premier of China from 1949 to 1976, belonged to this clan.

Spanish: habitational name from various places named with banda, probably in the sense ‘side’, ‘edge’, ‘part’. Hungarian: of uncertain origin; probably from the old secular personal name Bán. Jewish (from Poland): metonymic occupational name from Polish banda ‘ribbon’. In some instances, perhaps an altered spelling of German and Dutch Bande (see Band). Croatian or Serbian: nickname for a bandit, from banda ‘band’, ‘gang’. This name originates from the Kordun and Krajina region on the former border between Croatia and Bosnia.

North German and Dutch: topographic name from the plural of hof ‘manor farm’, ‘court’, ‘garden’, or a habitational name from places named with this word, for example in the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Hainault. Norwegian: habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads named Hove, from the dative singular of Old Norse hof ‘pagan temple’, ‘place of worship’.

Hungarian: variant of Mate. French: from a pet form of the personal name Mathieu, French form of Matthew. Spanish: possibly a variant of Maté (see Mate).

Norwegian: habitational name from any of forty or more farmsteads so named, especially on the west coast, from the dative case of Old Norse sandr ‘sand’, ‘sandy plain’, ‘beach’. German: variant of Sand.

English, Welsh, German, etc.: ultimately from the Hebrew personal name yo?hanan ‘Jehovah has favored (me with a son)’ or ‘may Jehovah favor (this child)’. This personal name was adopted into Latin (via Greek) as Johannes, and has enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe throughout the Christian era, being given in honor of St. John the Baptist, precursor of Christ, and of St. John the Evangelist, author of the fourth gospel, as well as others of the nearly one thousand other Christian saints of the name. Some of the principal forms of the personal name in other European languages are Welsh Ieuan, Evan, Siôn, and Ioan; Scottish Ia(i)n; Irish Séan; German Johann, Johannes, Hans; Dutch Jan; French Jean; Italian Giovanni, Gianni, Ianni; Spanish Juan; Portuguese João; Greek Ioannes (vernacular Yannis); Czech Jan; Russian Ivan. Polish has surnames both from the western Slavic form Jan and from the eastern Slavic form Iwan. There were a number of different forms of the name in Middle English, including Jan(e), a male name (see Jane); Jen (see Jenkin); Jon(e) (see Jones); and Han(n) (see Hann). There were also various Middle English feminine versions of this name (e.g. Joan, Jehan), and some of these were indistinguishable from masculine forms. The distinction on grounds of gender between John and Joan was not firmly established in English until the 17th century. It was even later that Jean and Jane were specialized as specifically feminine names in English; bearers of these surnames and their derivatives are more likely to derive them from a male ancestor than a female. As a surname in the British Isles, John is particularly frequent in Wales, where it is a late formation representing Welsh Siôn rather than the older form Ieuan (which gave rise to the surname Evan). As an American family name this form has absorbed various cognates from continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) It is used as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a surname among families from southern India.

English: from a personal name that has the same origin as Jacob. However, among English speakers, it is now felt to be a separate name in its own right. This is largely because in the Authorized Version of the Bible (1611) the form James is used in the New Testament as the name of two of Christ’s apostles (James the brother of John and James the brother of Andrew), whereas in the Old Testament the brother of Esau is called Jacob. The form James comes from Latin Jacobus via Late Latin Jac(o)mus, which also gave rise to Jaime, the regular form of the name in Spanish (as opposed to the learned Jacobo). See also Jack and Jackman. This is a common surname throughout the British Isles, particularly in South Wales.

Scottish and English: from a Middle English personal name, Jakke, from Old French Jacques, the usual French form of Latin Jacobus, which is the source of both Jacob and James. As a family name in Britain, this is almost exclusively Scottish. English and Welsh: from the same personal name as 1, taken as a pet form of John. German (also Jäck): from a short form of the personal name Jacob. Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Indian (Gujarat): Hindu (Brahman) name, from Sanskrit jñani ‘knowing’, ‘learned’.

English and Dutch: from a short form of the personal name Thomas. Polish: from a short form of the personal name Tomasz (see Thomas). Chinese: see Tan.

Finnish: unexplained. Samoan (Polynesian): unexplained.

Muslim: adjectival derivative of Sayed.

Spanish and Portuguese: from the personal name Antonio (see Anthony).

English: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Kent and Wiltshire, named Gore, from Old English gara ‘triangular piece of land’ (a derivative of gar ‘spear’, with reference to the triangular shape of a spearhead). French: nickname for a gluttonous and idle individual, from Old French gore ‘sow’ (of allegedly imitative origin, reflecting the grunting of the animal).

Scottish and English: from a short form of Richard. Although found in every part of Britain, the form Dick is especially common in Scotland, and it was from there, in the 17th century, that the surname was taken to northern Ireland. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from Middle High German dic(ke) ‘thick’, ‘strong’, ‘stout’, or in the case of the Jewish name from modern German dick ‘fat’ or Yiddish dik. German: topographic name for someone who lived by a thicket or patch of thick undergrowth, from Middle High German dicke, a special use of dic(ke) ‘thick’. North German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name Theodicho, formed with theud ‘people’, ‘race’.

English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, and South Indian: from the medieval personal name, of Biblical origin, from Aramaic t’om’a, a byname meaning ‘twin’. It was borne by one of the disciples of Christ, best known for his scepticism about Christ’s resurrection (John 20:24–29). The th- spelling is organic, the initial letter of the name in the Greek New Testament being a theta. The English pronunciation as t rather than th- is the result of French influence from an early date. In Britain the surname is widely distributed throughout the country, but especially common in Wales and Cornwall. The Ukrainian form is Choma. It is found as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. is used as a family name among families from southern India.

Japanese (Kondo): variously written, the most usual form being with characters meaning ‘nearby wisteria’, and actually designating ‘Fujiwara of Omi’ (Omi no Fujiwara). Kon (‘near’) is the Sino-Japanese pronunciation of chika, as in Chika-tsu-awa-umi (‘Nearer Lake’, now Shiga prefecture). The name refers to Lake Biwa and was shortened by usage to Omi. The surname is mostly found in the Tokyo area.

English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish (Simón), Czech and Slovak (Šimon), Slovenian, Hungarian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from the personal name, Hebrew Shim‘on, which is probably derived from the verb sham‘a ‘to hearken’. In the Vulgate and in many vernacular versions of the Old Testament, this is usually rendered Simeon. In the Greek New Testament, however, the name occurs as Simon, as a result of assimilation to the pre-existing Greek byname Simon (from simos ‘snub-nosed’). Both Simon and Simeon were in use as personal names in western Europe from the Middle Ages onward. In Christendom the former was always more popular, at least in part because of its associations with the apostle Simon Peter, the brother of Andrew. In Britain there was also confusion from an early date with Anglo-Scandinavian forms of Sigmund (see Siegmund), a name whose popularity was reinforced at the Conquest by the Norman form Simund.

English: from the Norman form of an Old French personal name composed of the Germanic elements wil ‘will’, ‘desire’ + helm ‘helmet’, ‘protection’. This was introduced into England at the time of the Conquest, and within a very short period it became the most popular personal name in England, mainly no doubt in honor of the Conqueror himself.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from the personal name Will, a very common medieval short form of William.

Portuguese: probably from gama ‘fallow deer doe’, feminine form of gamo, possibly as a topographic or habitational name.

Polish (Góra) and Jewish (from Poland): from Polish góra (Slavic gora) ‘mountain’, ‘hill’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a hillside or in a mountainous district, or perhaps a nickname for a large person.

English, Scottish, and northern Irish: patronymic from Jack 1. As an American surname this has absorbed other patronymics beginning with J- in various European languages.

Japanese (Goto): ‘later wisteria’, indicating descendants of the Fujiwara clan through various branches. This name occurs chiefly along the southeastern seaboard of Japan and in the Ryukyu Islands.

Welsh: variant of Reese. Americanized spelling of German Reis.

Italian: most probably a nickname from Sicilian and southern Italian tauro ‘bull’, ‘ox’ (Latin taurus).

English, German, French, and Jewish: from the personal name, Hebrew Yosef ‘may He (God) add (another son)’. In medieval Europe this name was borne frequently but not exclusively by Jews; the usual medieval English vernacular form is represented by Jessup. In the Book of Genesis, Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob, who is sold into slavery by his brothers but rises to become a leading minister in Egypt (Genesis 37–50). In the New Testament Joseph is the husband of the Virgin Mary, which accounts for the popularity of the given name among Christians.

Scottish, English, Welsh, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Sámson), and Jewish: from the Biblical name Samson (Hebrew Shimshon, a diminutive of shemesh ‘sun’). Among Christians it was sometimes chosen as a personal name or nickname with reference to the great strength of the Biblical hero (Judges 13–16). In Wales another association was with the 6th-century Welsh bishop Samson, who traveled to Brittany, where he died and was greatly venerated. His name, which is probably an altered form of an unknown Celtic original, was popularized in England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror, and to some extent independently from Wales.

English, Scottish, and Irish: from Middle English whit ‘white’, hence a nickname for someone with white hair or an unnaturally pale complexion. In some cases it represents a Middle English personal name, from an Old English byname, Hwit(a), of this origin. As a Scottish and Irish surname it has been widely used as a translation of the many Gaelic names based on bán ‘white’ (see Bain 1) or fionn ‘fair’ (see Finn 1). There has also been some confusion with Wight. Translated form of cognate and equivalent names in other languages, such as German Weiss, French Blanc, Polish Bialas (see Bialas), etc.

Muslim: from the Arabic personal name Musa (the Biblical Moses). The Qur’an says (19:51): ‘He was specially chosen, and he was a Messenger and a Prophet.’ Southern Italian: habitational name from a place called Musa, particularly the one in Melito di Porto Salvo in Reggio Calabria, and the one in Nissorìa in Enna province, Sicily.

English: variant spelling of Bond. Scandinavian: status name for a farmer, from Old Norse bóndi ‘farmer’. Compare Bond. In Sweden Bonde is both a personal name and the name of an old aristocratic family. Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead named Bonde, from Old Norse bóndi ‘farmer’ + vin ‘meadow’.

Vietnamese: unexplained. Dutch (De Van): metonymic occupational name for a winnower or a maker of winnowing fans, from Middle Dutch van(ne) ‘fan’. English: Western English variant of Fann. Czech (Van): from a pet form of the personal name Václav, Old Czech Veceslav (see Vacek). Ukrainian: from a short form of the personal name Ivan, Slavic form of John.

Japanese: from a common place name throughout Japan meaning ‘divine rice paddy’; also pronounced Kamita and Koda. The more prominent families of this name are descended either from the notorious 10th-century rebel Taira no Masakado, or from the Minamoto clan through the Matsuura family. Indian (Panjab): Sikh name based on the name of a Jat clan. The word k??n?da means ‘thorn’ in Panjabi. Czech: nickname from dialect kandat ‘prattler’, ‘chatterer’.

Indian (Andhra Pradesh): Hindu (Brahman) name based on the name of a subgroup of Brahmans. Czech and Slovak: from a derivative of the female personal name Magdalena (see Maudlin).

Chinese : Cantonese variant of Zhan. This name is common in Hawaii.

Jewish; also Welsh and English: from the Biblical name borne by the Israelite leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt, as related in the Book of Exodus. The Hebrew form of the name, Moshe, is probably of Egyptian origin, from a short form of any of various ancient Egyptian personal names, such as Rameses and Tutmosis, meaning ‘conceived by (a certain god)’. However, very early in its history it acquired a folk etymology, being taken as a derivative of the Hebrew root verb mšh ‘draw (something from the water)’, and was associated with a story of the infant Moses being discovered among the bullrushes by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2: 1–10). Moses is the usual English spelling. As a Welsh family name, it was adopted among Dissenter families in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a North American family name, it has absorbed forms of the name from other languages, for example Moise and Moshe.

English, Scottish, German, Dutch, etc.: from the personal name Peter (Greek Petros, from petra ‘rock’, ‘stone’). The name was popular throughout Christian Europe in the Middle Ages, having been bestowed by Christ as a byname on the apostle Simon bar Jonah, the brother of Andrew. The name was chosen by Christ for its symbolic significance (John 1:42, Matt. 16:18); St. Peter is regarded as the founding head of the Christian Church in view of Christ’s saying, ‘Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church’. In Christian Germany in the early Middle Ages this was the most frequent personal name of non-Germanic origin until the 14th century. This surname has also absorbed many cognates in other languages, for example Czech Petr, Hungarian Péter. It has also been adopted as a surname by Ashkenazic Jews.

Chinese and Korean: variant of Cho. English: from a short form of Joseph.

English: occupational name for a worker in metal, from Middle English smith (Old English smið, probably a derivative of smitan ‘to strike, hammer’). Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that this term and its equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. Medieval smiths were important not only in making horseshoes, plowshares, and other domestic articles, but above all for their skill in forging swords, other weapons, and armor. This is the most frequent of all American surnames; it has also absorbed, by assimilation and translation, cognates and equivalents from many other languages (for forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

Jewish, Welsh, Scottish, English, French, Portuguese, German, Czech, Slovak (Dávid) and Slovenian: from the Hebrew personal name David ‘beloved’, which has been perennially popular among Jews, in honor of the Biblical king of this name, the greatest of the early kings of Israel. His prominence, and the vivid narrative of his life contained in the First Book of Samuel, led to adoption of the name in various parts of Europe, notably Britain, among Christians in the Middle Ages. The popularity of this as a personal name was increased in Britain, firstly by virtue of its being the name of the patron saint of Wales (about whom very little is known: he was probably a 6th-century monk and bishop) and secondly because it was borne by two kings of Scotland (David I, reigning 1124–53, and David II, 1329–71). Its popularity in Russia is largely due to the fact that this was the ecclesiastical name adopted by St. Gleb (died 1015), one of two sons of Prince Vladimir of Kiev who were martyred for their Christian zeal.

Muslim (widespread throughout the Muslim world): from the Arabic personal name ?Ali ‘high’, ‘lofty’, ‘sublime’. Al-?Ali ‘the All-High’ is an attribute of Allah. Abdul-?Ali means ‘servant of the All-High’. ?Ali ibn Abi ?Talib (c. 600–661), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was the fourth and last of the ‘rightly guided’ khalifs (ruled 656–61) and the first imam of the Shiite Muslims. His assassination led to the appearance of the Shiite sect.

English, Scottish, Welsh, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Sámuel), Jewish, and South Indian: from the Biblical male personal name Samuel (Hebrew Shemuel ‘Name of God’). This name is also well established in South India. In North America this has absorbed other European cognates such as Greek Samouelidis. It is found as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. is used as a family name among families from southern India.

Jewish, English, German, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and southern Indian: derivative, via Latin Jacobus, from the Hebrew personal name ya‘aqobh (Yaakov). In the Bible, this is the name of the younger twin brother of Esau (Genesis 25:26), who took advantage of the latter’s hunger and impetuousness to persuade him to part with his birthright ‘for a mess of potage’. The name is traditionally interpreted as coming from Hebrew akev ‘heel’, and Jacob is said to have been born holding on to Esau’s heel. In English Jacob and James are now regarded as quite distinct names, but they are of identical origin (see James), and in most European languages the two names are not distinguished. It is used as a given name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. has come to be used as a surname among families from southern India.

English, Scottish, and Irish: generally a nickname referring to the color of the hair or complexion, Middle English br(o)un, from Old English brun or Old French brun. This word is occasionally found in Old English and Old Norse as a personal name or byname. Brun- was also a Germanic name-forming element. Some instances of Old English Brun as a personal name may therefore be short forms of compound names such as Brungar, Brunwine, etc. As a Scottish and Irish name, it sometimes represents a translation of Gaelic Donn. As an American family name, it has absorbed numerous surnames from other languages with the same meaning.