Official Names of South Africa

There are eleven official names of South Africa, one in each of its eleven official languages. The number is surpassed only by India. These languages include English, Afrikaans, the Nguni languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, and Swazi), as well as the Sotho languages, which include Tswana, Sotho and Northern Sotho. The remaining two languages are Venda and Tsonga.

There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoi-San languages which are not official languages, but are one of the eight un-officially recognised languages. There are even smaller groups of speakers of endangered languages, many of which are from the Khoi-San family, but receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival. As a result, there are many official names for the country. These are:

Language Long form Short form
Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika Suid-Afrika
English Republic of South Africa South Africa
Northern Sotho Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa Afrika Borwa
Southern Ndebele IRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika iSewula Afrika
Southern Sotho Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa Afrika Borwa
Swazi iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika iNingizimu Afrika
Tsonga Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga Afrika-Dzonga
Tswana Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa Aforika Borwa
Venda Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe Afurika Tshipembe
Xhosa iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika uMzantsi Afrika
Zulu iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika iNingizimu Afrika

And one former name:

Language Long form Short form Period
Dutch Republiek van Zuid-Afrika Zuid-Afrika 1961 — 1983

South Africa's country code, ZA, is an abbreviation of this former official name, Zuid-Afrika.

Famous quotes containing the words official, names, south and/or africa:

    The honor my country shall never be stained by an apology from me for the statement of truth and the performance of duty; nor can I give any explanation of my official acts except such as is due to integrity and justice and consistent with the principles on which our institutions have been framed.
    Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)

    You shall see men you never heard of before, whose names you don’t know,... and many other wild and noble sights before night, such as they who sit in parlors never dream of.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    We in the South were ready for reconciliation, to be accepted as equals, to rejoin the mainstream of American political life. This yearning for what might be called political redemption was a significant factor in my successful campaign.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    Everywhere—all over Africa and South America ... you see these suburbs springing up. They represent the optimum of what people want. There’s a certain sort of logic leading towards these immaculate suburbs. And they’re terrifying, because they are the death of the soul.... This is the prison this planet is being turned into.
    —J.G. (James Graham)