Madiba: the name of the
isiXhosa clan that Nelson Mandela belongs to.
The clan dates back to the 18th century, and the name was
originally given to a Thembu Chief.
Rolihlahla: Mandela’s birth name. The literal translation means,
“pulling a branch of a tree,” but the phrase is interpreted to mean
troublemaker.
Tata: isiXhosa for father.[1]
Nelson Mandela, the first black
president of South Africa and one of the most influential leaders of his time,
is known by all three of the names above. From the central Transkei region
where he was born to the coastal city, Cape Town in the southwestern part of
the country where he proclaimed his freedom after imprisonment, to the capital
Pretoria where he currently lives at the age of 94, his name has been
immortalized as his legacy lives on.
