View Message

It's not unheard-of in South Africa, but it's very difficult to generalise about naming here. Mostly, English-speakers choose two names, but there are plenty with just one name. Both my parents and two grandparents had one name each, for instance, and I've got two for family reasons. Afrikaans-speakers typically have two names, though some have more and only very few have one only. Muslims do what they always do. Black Africans often give an English or Afrikaans name and also a name in their home language, for convenience. They sometimes do what Africans elsewhere on the continent do: use a dictionary word as a name, not always sensibly. I knew a teenager named Lucky who was knocked down and killed by the driver of a stolen car while on his way to help elderly neighbours; depressing. And a local house-painting business is owned by a gentleman named Givemore! I attended a university graduation ceremony once, at which one of the proud graduates was named Furniture: I think he was from Zimbabwe; it was certainly his only given name.