In loving memory of our dear mother and aunt, Lumbidzani N, who cherished the Kalanga language and passed it on to us as a way of speaking blessings, gratitude and hope over a newborn child.
Among the Kalanga, naming a child is a delicate exercise. A name might reach back into a family’s past, speak plainly about its present, or reach forward as a wish for a child’s — or the whole family’s — future. Each name below carries one or more of seven such themes.