List of official names of South Africa

There are eleven official names of South Africa,The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Chapter 1 one in each of its 12 official languages. The number is surpassed only by India. These languages include English, Afrikaans, the Nguni languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, and Swazi), the Sotho-Tswana languages (Tswana, Sotho, and Pedi), Venda, and Tsonga.

There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoi-San languages, which are not official, but one of the eight unofficially recognised languages. There are even smaller groups of speakers of endangered languages, many of which are from the Khoi-San family, but receive no official status; however, some groups are attempting to promote their use and revival.

The official names are:For the text of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 11 official languages, each version of which contains the name of the country in the respective language, see Constitutional Court of South Africa. There is a 12th official language: South African Sign Language.

LanguageLong formShort formAfrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika Suid-AfrikaEnglish Republic of South Africa South AfricaPedi Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa Afrika BorwaSouthern Ndebele iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika iSewula AfrikaSouthern Sotho Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa Afrika BorwaSwazi iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika iNingizimu AfrikaTsonga Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga Afrika-DzongaTswana Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa Aforika BorwaVenda Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe Afurika TshipembeXhosa iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika uMzantsi AfrikaZulu iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika iNingizimu Afrika

And one former name:

LanguageLong formShort form PeriodDutch Republiek van Zuid-Afrika Zuid-Afrika 1961–1983

South Africa's country code, ZA, is an abbreviation of this former official name, Zuid-Afrika.

See also Languages of South Africa

References