Home › Clan names › Xhosa › Dlomo
Dlomo Clan — History & Meaning
Xhosa clan · isiXhosa
History & origin
Dlomo (also spelled Dhlomo) is a clan name (isiduko/isithakazelo grouping) found among the Nguni peoples of southern Africa, occurring in both Xhosa and Zulu genealogical traditions. Within the Xhosa context, Dlomo is documented as a name in the senior royal genealogy of the amaXhosa. According to recorded Xhosa oral tradition and the genealogies compiled by chroniclers such as John Henderson Soga (in "The South-Eastern Bantu" and "The Ama-Xosa: Life and Customs"), Dlomo (Dhlomo) features in the early line of Xhosa chiefs descending from the eponymous ancestor Xhosa, through the succession that includes figures such as Malangana, Nkosiyamntu, Tshawe (founder of the Tshawe royal house from whom the paramountcy derives), and later chiefs. Dlomo appears in this early ancestral sequence as one of the names preserved in the praise-genealogy of the senior Xhosa house. Because the same name occurs prominently in Zulu tradition (where Dlomo is a well-known ancestor in the Zulu royal genealogy, appearing among the early progenitors of the Zulu line before Zulu kaMalandela), there is frequent conflation between the Xhosa and Zulu "Dlomo." The reliably documented historical core for the Xhosa specifically is that the name belongs to the ancient genealogical record of the amaXhosa royal/senior lineage as transmitted in oral history and recorded by 19th- and early 20th-century chroniclers; it is not associated with a large, independently documented Xhosa chiefdom in the colonial-era historical record in the way that houses such as the Gcaleka, Rharhabe, Ngqika, or Ndlambe are. Region: like other amaXhosa, people carrying Nguni lineages associated with this early genealogy are historically located in the Eastern Cape of South Africa (the historic Xhosa territories between the Mbashe/Kei and Fish/Keiskamma river systems and surrounding areas). Caveat on reliability: beyond its appearance as an ancestral name in the recorded Xhosa royal genealogy, detailed, separately documented history of a distinct "Dlomo clan" within Xhosa society is limited and is easily confused with the better-documented Zulu Dlomo line. I have therefore confined this account to what is supported by the published Xhosa genealogical record and have not invented chiefdom-specific events, dates, or biographies.
Notable figures & facts
The most internationally notable bearers of the Dlomo/Dhlomo name are the South African writers Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo (1903-1956), author of the play "The Girl Who Killed to Save" (1935) and the poem "Valley of a Thousand Hills," and his brother Rolfes Robert Reginald Dhlomo (1901-1971), an early Zulu-language novelist and journalist — though these figures are of Zulu (KwaZulu-Natal) background rather than Xhosa. Within the Xhosa tradition specifically, "Dlomo" is notable chiefly as an ancestral name preserved in the senior Xhosa royal genealogy recorded by J. H. Soga. Note the recurring scholarly caution that the Xhosa and Zulu uses of the name are distinct and frequently conflated.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Tshawe (founding house of the Xhosa paramountcy), amaXhosa royal genealogy (Xhosa, Malangana, Nkosiyamntu, Tshawe), Zulu Dlomo lineage (early Zulu royal ancestor, often conflated with the Xhosa name), Gcaleka and Rharhabe (principal documented senior Xhosa houses).
We publish the full iziduko (clan praises) only once we can verify them against documented tradition — for this clan they are still being confirmed. If you can share an authoritative version, corrections are warmly welcomed.