According to Whitepages.com, there are 14 people (living in over nine states) in the United States with the name “Thoko” which is an abbreviation of the name “Thokozile”. The name is ranked number 159,318 in usage in the United States. This makes this name truly unusual (at least in the USA). The pronounciation of the name sounds like “taco-zeal”. The “zi” in the name sounds like the “zi” in “zip”, rather than the “z” sound in “exile”.

The name originates in Southern Africa. Like many African names, the name “Thokozile” has a meaning. “Thokoza” means “be happy” in the Zulu/Xhosa/Ndebele languages of Southern Africa. The name “Thokozile” is used by other ethnic groups too, making it a very common name in the whole of the Southern African region. One explanation for the wide use of the name “thokozile” in Southern Africa might be its popularization by the song “Thokozile” sung by the world renowned South African group of the 1960s called “Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens”.

The “Thokozile” song is about a beautiful girl called “Thokozile” who makes her male relatives very proud on the day of her wedding, because her husband’s family bring the largest herd of heifers for her bride price. Also, Thokozile’s prospective in-laws come in style, singing and dancing behind the heifers, and begging that the gates of the cattle enclosures be opened so that their gifts may be accepted. One source says that,

” Thokozile is a 1986 hit by the South African mbaqanga group Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens. The album was a reunion of Mahlathini with the backing Makgona Tsohle and three of the original Queens, Hilda, Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola. The album (#Gallo-GRC BL 590) featured re-recordings of older songs such as “Umculo Kawupheli” (heard here as “Sibuyile”) and “Sithunyiwe” (here “Thokozile”). The album propelled the group into immediate international stardom when it was issued international on the Earthworks album.”

The album is still available to this day on CD.

In conclusion, the writer of this article also bears the name “Thokozile”, and she got the name from her maternal uncle who was hoping to get rich one day when she attained adulthood and married a rich man with a lot of cattle. Unfortunately, this did not happen as this “Thokozile” married an American man who not only did not know anything about bride price, but also did not have any cattle to give.

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1. http://names.whitepages.com/first/Thoko

2. http://www.afromix.org/html/musique/artistes/mahlathini/thokozhile.en.html

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thokozile