Home › Clan names › Sotho › Bahlubi
Bahlubi Clan — History & Meaning
Sotho clan · Sesotho
Totem Among amaHlubi/Bahlubi the commonly cited clan associations include the buffalo and elephant lines; totem attribution varies by source and is not uniformly documented as a single Sotho seboko
History & origin
The Bahlubi (amaHlubi) are an old Nguni people of the tekela dialect group, one of the senior northern-Nguni stocks. During the Mfecane they were scattered; many fled westward and settled among the Sotho around the Caledon River and southern Lesotho, where the Hlubi, Sotho and Phuthi languages meet, giving rise to closely intertwined Hlubi-Sotho communities. Their best-known 19th-century king, Langalibalele I, came into conflict with the Natal colonial government in 1873, was tried and exiled; he had earlier sought refuge with Molapo, son of Moshoeshoe I, in Lesotho. AmaHlubi today live across KZN, the Free State, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and beyond.
Associated surnames
Surnames that share this clan: Hlubi, Radebe, Langalibalele, Mthimkhulu, Bhungane.
We publish the full diboko (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.