- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “you have given us.”
- Gender: Unisex
Derived from the Shona makatipa, meaning, “you have given us.”
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Matipa
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Category Archives: Shona Names
Munashe
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “the Lord is with us; the Lord is within us.”
- Gender: Unisex
- Pron: moo-NAH-sheh
A Shona theophoric unisex name, it is from a phrase mu ne ishe (the Lord is with us or the Lord is within us).
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Tendai
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “to be thankful.”
- Gender: Unisex
- TEN-dye
From the Shona word tenda or kutenda (to give thanks), it is technically unisex but slightly more common for boys.
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Mukundi
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “victor; conqueror; winner.”
- Gender: Male
- Pron: moo-KOON-dee
The name comes directly from the Shona word for a winner, victor or conqueror.
Mukundi can also be an alternate form for the Sanskrit male name, Mukunda, which has various meanings and is an epithet for Vishnu.
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Tamiranashe
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “stand firm with the Lord.”
- Gender: Unisex
The name is composed of the Shona words, tamira (to stand, to wait, to endure, to be ready), na (with, for) and ishe (the Lord).
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Rumbidzai
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “praises.”
- Gender: feminine
The name comes directly from the Shona plural noun rumbidzai meaning “praises.”
A common short form is Rumbi.
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Tinashe
- Origin: Shona
- Meaning: “we are with God, the Lord” or “we are alongside God, the Lord.”
- Gender: unisex
- (tih-NAH-sheh)
A common unisex name among the Shona people of Zimbabwe, it is composed of the Shona words ti (we) na (alongside; with) and ishe (God, the Lord).
A notable bearer is American singer & actress, Tinashe (b. 1993).
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Zuva
- 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.
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