A survey of first-name changes in South Africa over two parallel threemonth periods in 1977 and 2000 demonstrates that sociocultural factors made up the main reasons why people changed their names and that there was a surprising trend in favor of English names. A further survey (from december 2001 to february 2002) on African speakers' name changes reveals a slightly less strong preference for English names and an increase in the impact of aesthetic factors in name changes. These results point to a steady drift away from traditional African naming practices, possibly resulting from urbanization effects.