interesting theory on "Zula", but i don't think it's correct for all occurences. my Cajun-Sicilian grandmother (born ~1920) has that name after her Sicilian great aunt who had it as a nickname. no one still living in my family (including my grandmother) knows where it comes from, but "Zulu" seems an unlikely origin in this case. as a side note, the mfkane history theory is now generally believed to have been invented by South African whites to justify northward expansion, and the personality of Shaka himself is thought by many to have been invented for this purpose.