Names distinctive to South Africa

The list of names unique to the Republic of South Africa*

Female forenames

NameUniqueness Prevalence rank
1. Sibongile 100% 2.
2. Lindiwe 99% 3.
3. Busisiwe 100% 4.
4. Johanna 41% 1.
5. Nonhlanhla 99% 5.
6. Zanele 97% 6.
7. Nokuthula 99% 7.
8. Zandile 96% 8.
9. Nompumelelo 100% 9.
10. Nomsa 99% 10.
11. Bongiwe 99% 12.
12. Nthabiseng 98% 13.
13. Nomusa 99% 16.
14. Thembi 97% 19.
15. Dimakatso 94% 18.
16. Dikeledi 98% 20.
17. Ntombizodwa 100% 22.
18. Thandiwe 100% 24.
19. Duduzile 99% 23.
20. Zodwa 99% 25.
21. Ntombifuthi 100% 27.
22. Thandeka 98% 26.
23. Fikile 83% 17.
24. Nomvula 99% 29.
25. Nombulelo 100% 30.

Male forenames

NameUniqueness Prevalence rank
1. Johannes 60% 1.
2. Sipho 100% 2.
3. Bongani 100% 4.
4. Thabo 98% 6.
5. Jacobus 89% 7.
6. Sibusiso 98% 8.
7. Willem 85% 9.
8. Petrus 58% 5.
9. Themba 87% 12.
10. Pieter 80% 11.
11. Jabulani 100% 14.
12. Hendrik 56% 10.
13. Nkosinathi 99% 15.
14. Xolani 99% 17.
15. Andries 79% 13.
16. Siyabonga 98% 18.
17. Jan 26% 3.
18. Dumisani 100% 20.
19. Mandla 68% 19.
20. Sandile 100% 21.
21. Mpho 97% 23.
22. Thembinkosi 98% 25.
23. Sifiso 100% 27.
24. Vusi 99% 26.
25. Matome 89% 22.

Surnames

NameUniqueness Prevalence rank
1. Nkosi 100% 1.
2. Ndlovu 97% 3.
3. Dlamini 83% 2.
4. Khumalo 97% 4.
5. Mahlangu 99% 6.
6. Mokoena 98% 5.
7. Sithole 98% 7.
8. Mkhize 100% 8.
9. Ngcobo 100% 9.
10. Naidoo 97% 10.
11. Mthembu 100% 11.
12. Khoza 100% 14.
13. Gumede 100% 15.
14. Mofokeng 100% 16.
15. Botha 93% 17.
16. Zulu 80% 12.
17. Buthelezi 100% 18.
18. Govender 98% 19.
19. Baloyi 100% 20.
20. Radebe 100% 21.
21. Sibiya 99% 23.
22. Mhlongo 100% 24.
23. Tshabalala 100% 25.
24. Pillay 86% 22.
25. Mathebula 100% 27.

*The rank of the unique name is the geometric average of the name uniqueness and the name prevalence in the respective country. Name uniqueness is measured only by the exact grapheme form (not taking into account transliterational equivalents or phonetic similarities).

** Country similarity is the correlation of the relative frequency of the names shared by two countries (as measured by cosine similarity).