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HelpZenzile
I just learned that Miriam Makeba's first name was Zenzile. Her childhood nickname was Zenzi. I assume this is a name from her native South African language. WDYT?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba
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I used to be obsessed with this name! There was a girl who went to my grade school named this and she pronounced it as Zen-zee-lee and her nn was Zenzi too! :-) My inderstanding is that it means "her mother's shadow" but I could be very wrong. Her sister's name was Mwenza.
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That's really neat. I googled around and the usual spelling is Zenzele (lots of women come up with that name) and it's from the Xhosa language, which I've never even heard of ._. And it seems to be pronounced ZEN-zee-lay or ZEN-zeh-leh. I don't think I'd consider using it unless I had some significant connections to southern Africa, though, because it is rare and I think it would seem very "foreign" here.
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I've heard of Xhosa! That's the language where "xh" is a click.
I also wouldn't use it unless I had a connection, for the reasons you mentioned. I like the ZEN-zee-lay pronunciation.
I also wouldn't use it unless I had a connection, for the reasons you mentioned. I like the ZEN-zee-lay pronunciation.
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I don't like it,
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