{"id":1024,"date":"2013-11-25T17:08:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T16:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buzzsouthafrica.com\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2019-10-05T23:11:36","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T22:11:36","slug":"afrikaans-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzzsouthafrica.com\/afrikaans-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Afrikaans Names and their Meanings"},"content":{"rendered":"
Afrikaans is one of the native languages of South Africa that is, however, spoken mostly by the Dutch settlers in the country. The language is made up of both Bantu, Malay, Portuguese and Khoisan languages, but an estimated 90 to 95% of its vocabulary is of Dutch origin.\u00a0It came about as a result of the migration and subsequent settlement of the Dutch in the area known today as South Africa.\u00a0Afrikaans evolved from Dutch vernacular and was earlier on in its existence, referred to as Cape Dutch. It was also called kitchen dutch and even Creole.<\/p>\n
The emergence of Afrikaans as a dialect can be traced to as far back as the 17th century, when a Dutch East India Company official from the Netherlands complained about a \u201cdistorted and incomprehensible\u201d version of Dutch being spoken in a European settlement in the country.<\/p>\n
It is today ranked as the third most spoken language in South Africa, with about\u00a07.2 million people speaking it as a native language. A further 8-15 million people speak it as a second language in South Africa, with the total number of speakers around the world estimated to be between 15 and 23 million.<\/p>\n
See Also: 10 Sure Ways to Recognise the Afrikaans Language<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n In Africa, it is spoken and understood in countries like Botswana,\u00a0Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Namibia, specifically, uses the language as lingua franca, meaning that Afrikaans is adopted and used to communicate by Namibians who have different native languages. Countries around the world where Afrikaans speakers can be found include\u00a0Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.<\/p>\n Now, with Afrikaans’ huge popularity, and an increased number of people speaking the language,\u00a0it has become a common practice to give children Afrikaans names.<\/p>\n Here are some of the most popular Afrikaans names and their meanings.<\/p>\n Aba – Usually given to a female child born on Thursday.<\/p>\n Abu – A masculine name which simply means “Father”.<\/p>\n Abebi – It simply means “we asked and got her”.<\/p>\n Abina – Usually given to a female child born on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Abiba – A feminine name that is given to a child born after her grandmother’s death.<\/p>\n Adonis – Usually given to a male child. It means God of peace and love.<\/p>\n Aitan – A variant of the Biblical name Ethan which simply means “strong”.<\/p>\n Ajani – An inspirational name which means “he who wins the struggle”.<\/p>\n Ajayi – A masculine name that is given to baby boys who are born face down. It simply means “born face down”.<\/p>\n Alake – Means “one to be honored”.<\/p>\n Amiri – A masculine name which means Prince.<\/p>\nList of Popular Afrikaans Names and Meanings<\/strong><\/h2>\n