Nelson Mandela, born July 18, 1918, was the revolutionary anti-apartheid leader who became President of South Africa. A patronymic surname, Nelson means “son of Neil”. Nelson is one of those surprising names that’s always been in the Top 1000 for boys. Originally given the isiXhosa name Rolihlahla, meaning “pulling the branch of a tree” or “troublemaker”, Mandela was renamed Nelson by his first grade teacher.
