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[MAP MONDAY] The US has more isiZulu domains than SA

isiZulu is apparently not only a popular South African language, but also fairly useful as a source for company names and domains around the world, especially in the US.

Local developer, Johann Du Toit, creator of the Cape Town loadshedding map, found this out recently when he was looking to register a domain for a new photo sharing service he is building.

Du Toit initially went with Indaba, which means story or news in isiZulu, but it’s already taken by a company in San Francisco, which led him to explore how many other isiZulu words are registered to companies globally.

From about 10 000 words Du Toit found in an online isiZulu dictionary and used to search available domains, he found that 1930 domains with isiZulu words are registered.

Interestingly, African countries don’t even come in second, third or fourth on the list of countries where the most isiZulu words are registered. The top five countries are the US at 676, 116 in Denmark, 83 in Australia and 63 in Canada and Japan… South Africa only has 24.

Screenshot (344)

 

“I was quite interested with these results. This shows that the US holds the majority here. Which is not what I’d like to see. I can see how the names make amazing startup names. But I’d like to see more local support from Africa,” Du Toit says. “There are thousands left, have at them! [sic].”

You can see the interactive map on Du Toit’s blog.

[Source – Johann D u Toit, Image – Shutterstock]

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