- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “sun, sunlight, daytime, date, time.”
- Gender: Female
- Pronunciation: ZOO-vah
The name comes directly from the Shona word for day, sunlight, sun or time and date.
It is used as a feminine given-name among Shona-speakers in Zimbabwe but also appears as a surname as in the case of South African socialite, Amanda Zuva Habane (b. 1988).
Zuva is also the name of a petroleum company in Zimbabwe.
As a given-name in the English-speaking world, I have been able to find records of a few Zuvas in the U.S. & England going back to the 1880s, but all of them were of European ancestry according to their census records. Perhaps it was used by families who had Zimbabwen colonist ties or perhaps they were using a name that sounds the same but has a different etymology. If anyone has any information as to why this name may have been used in the late 19th-century among white Anglos, please do share.
It is also a term of endearment used in Kashmiri, literally meaning, “my life,” but it is not used as a given-name.
Sources
Legitimate Baby Names 