Moyo

Name: Moyo: recorded bearers, distribution and rank
Creator: Mondonomo
Published: 2026-09-12

surname · English · Latin script

Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published

Moyo is a surname, most frequently recorded in Zimbabwe, where it is the most common surname. It appears chiefly in English and bem, written in the Latin script. Recorded meaning: Archaic form of moio.

rarermore common

ZWZimbabwe1 in 6◐
ZASouth Africa1 in 1.6K
ZMZambia1 in 3K

carrying the name, one hue, darker where it is more common. Hover a country for its figure.

: ≈898 ●
: #956 ●
Sources: 164 ●
: 1 in 227K ◐

Meaning & origin●

Archaic form of moio.

Sources 1

kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Where in the world●

Sorted by bearers counted by national registers, records where none counts.

Where Moyo is recorded, by country
Country						Most common spelling	Sources
ZW Zimbabwe	#1	1,198,946	601 rec.	—	400K	Moyo	68
ZA South Africa	#94	18,322	18K rec.	—	—	Moyo	93
GB United Kingdom	—	5,555	2.4K rec.	—	—	Moyo	110
ZM Zambia	#168	2,809	110 rec.	—	38K	Moyo	37
PH Philippines	—	1,602	1.5K rec.	—	—	Moyo	18
TZ Tanzania	#397	1,379	743 rec.	—	—	Moyo	27
AU Australia	—	1,160	1K rec.	—	—	Moyo	64
NG Nigeria	—	1,045	1.5K rec.	—	listed	Moyo	39
MW Malawi	#16	783	54 rec.	—	1	Moyo	24
US United States	—	442	3.9K rec.	1 in 753K	630	Moyo	164
KE Kenya	—	315	66 rec.	—	—	Moyo	8
ES Spain	—	190△	45 rec.	1 in 263K	190	—	11
DE Germany	—	119	117 rec.	—	—	Moyo	41
PL Poland	—	111△	12 rec.	1 in 345K	111	Moyo	14
AR Argentina	—	57	—	1 in 798K	57	—	—
CH Switzerland	—	37△	10 rec.	1 in 227K	37	Moyo	8
GR Greece	—	34	31 rec.	—	—	Moyo	5
SE Sweden	—	33△	5 rec.	1 in 309K	33	—	5
NO Norway	—	16△	5 rec.	1 in 342K	16	—	4
TH Thailand	—	16	7 rec.	—	—	Moyo	10
NL Netherlands	—	10	28 rec.	—	—	Moyo	12
CA Canada	—	9	217 rec.	—	1	Moyo	41
DK Denmark	—	8	—	1 in 734K	8	—	—
AT Austria	—	8	4 rec.	—	—	Moyo	8
IE Ireland	—	8	36 rec.	—	—	Moyo	15
IN India	—	5	30 rec.	—	7	Moyo	12
BE Belgium	—	4	13 rec.	1 in 2.9M	4	Moyo	6
MX Mexico	—	—	—	—	31	—	—
FI Finland	—	—	1 rec.	—	20	—	1
NA Namibia	—	—	51 rec.	—	1	—	9
EE Estonia	—	—	—	—	listed	—	—
EC Ecuador	—	—	—	—	1	—	—
GH Ghana	—	—	—	—	listed	—	—

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table. How that works.

Languages●

English1.2M95%
bem38K3%
Swahili10K1%
Spanish4.6K1%
English (South Africa)2.6K1%

Show as table

Languages in which the name is recorded
Name	Records	Note
English	1,221,710	95%
bem	38,334	3%
Swahili	10,228	1%
Spanish	4,620	1%
English (South Africa)	2,635	1%

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Moyo is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

Spanish surname6.3K records spelled Moyo3 spellings in the group
Most recorded in Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Spain
Languages: Spanish, Portuguese
Also written Moyó

51 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Moyo is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

Heart
as a nameThe book of African names
Heart; ancient totem of Rozvi kings
as a nameThe book of African names
God health
as a nameThe book of African names
In German, aus Malawi stammender männl. Vom., der in der Ngoni-Sprache »Leben, Wohl befinden, Gesundheit« bedeutet.
as a nameDUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen
Life, well-being, good health. Malawi
as a nameThe African book of names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●

Mavis Moyob. 1929ZWZimbabwean broadcaster
Jonathan Moyob. 1957ZWZimbabwean politician
Alois Moyob. 1966ZWZimbabwean actor and screenwriter
Dambisa Moyob. 1969ZMZambian-born economist
Masasa Moyob. 1970CACanadian television actress
Henry Moyob. 1972MWOlympic track and field athlete (* 1972)
Sipho Moyob. 1981ZWZimbabwean economist
Yven Moyob. 1992FRCongolese and French association football player
David Moyob. 1994GBEnglish footballer (born 1994)
Malcolmtsuyoshi Moyob. 2001JPJapanese association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Attested in 34 sources across 21 countries.

Official registers attesting Moyo
Country	Register	Year	Count	Rank
ZW Zimbabwe	This page provides an overview of common surnames in Zimbabwe, published on surnam.es.	2026	400K	#1
ZW Zimbabwe	This page provides a list of the most common surnames in Zimbabwe.	2023	397K	#1
ZM Zambia	Zambia top-100 surnames (surnam.es)	—	38K	#52
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020	2020	630	#37,907
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010	2010	442	#47,878
US United States	Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000	2000	296	#63,141
ES Spain	INE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal)	—	190	#17,221
ES Spain	INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos)	—	190	#17,174
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (surnames)	2026	111	—
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names)	—	111	#27,187
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (surnames)	2026	106	—
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names)	—	106	#28,592
AR Argentina	RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national)	—	57	—
CH Switzerland	BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames)	2024	37	#23,367
SE Sweden	Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)	—	33	#17,432
MX Mexico	RENAPO — name frequencies (eduardofv dataset)	—	31	#3,460
FI Finland	DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup)	—	20	#29,501
FI Finland	DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup)	—	20	#28,017
NO Norway	SSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population)	—	16	#46,828
SE Sweden	Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)	—	9	#36,904
DK Denmark	Danmarks Statistik — Hvor mange hedder...? (living-population name counts)	—	8	#45,281
ZM Zambia	ECZ 2021 Councillor Elections — candidate results	2021	7	#36
IN India	Instate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls	—	7	#3,426
BE Belgium	Familienaam.be — Belgian family-name frequency (population register)	2008	4	#108,670
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20)	2026	3	#27,177
PL Poland	dane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names)	—	2	#28,906
CA Canada	Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender	2024	1	#2,418
NA Namibia	ECN Government Gazette 8791 — 2025 local authority candidates	2025	1	#15
EC Ecuador	INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024)	1992	1	—
MW Malawi	Wikidata humans by citizenship — given & family names	—	1	#71
EC Ecuador	INEC — Visualizador de Nombres y Apellidos, per-token query API (1900–2024)	—	1	—
EE Estonia	Siseministeerium — population register name list 2023	2023	—	—
NG Nigeria	The African Book of Names (Hodari, 2003)	—	—	—
NG Nigeria	A Handbook of African Names (Asante, 1976)	—	—	—
NG Nigeria	African Names (Julia Stewart, 1993)	—	—	—
MW Malawi	MasakhaNER 2.0 — Zimbabwe (sna)	—	—	—
ZW Zimbabwe	MasakhaNER 2.0 — Zimbabwe (sna)	—	—	—
GH Ghana	MasakhaNER 2.0 — Zimbabwe (sna)	—	—	—
US United States	wru Name Dictionary — US surnames (Census 2010 + voter-file supplement)	—	—	—

Reference works 3

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Moyo?: We estimate roughly 898 people bear Moyo (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.
In which country does Moyo have the most bearers?: Moyo is most frequently recorded in Zimbabwe, where it is most often spelled moyo.
How common is Moyo compared with other names?: In Zimbabwe, Moyo is the most common surname of 8,027 surnames recorded there.
What does the name Moyo mean?: Recorded meaning: Archaic form of moio.

Query this name via API

curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/moyo

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use. Bulk access and licensing.

About this data

● measured from records◐ inferred from the name graph○ machine-generated

Data snapshot 2026-09-12. Figures are rebuilt periodically and will change.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Moyo” — the most common surname in Zimbabwe. Data snapshot 2026-09-12.

See how Moyo parses inside a full name →