Oliphants in Africa

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Permalink Reply by Roddy Oliphant on December 6, 2009 at 6:36pm

So far as I know, most of the white Oliphants in South Africa are descended from the Aberdeenshire Oliphants.

It is believed that most, if not all of the native African Oliphants have adopted the name as a generic term relating either to the river or to elephants (the Afrikaans for elephant being very similar to Oliphant). I would actually like this to be proven wrong and to show that they are indeed of Scots descent. With so many Scots and English Oliphants having travelled out to India, China and other parts of Asia, to say nothing of those who went to the Cape Colonies, it is perfectly possible that many other Oliphants in South Africa do have similar DNA to the rest of the clan. We need tests for this group to find out their origin.