Johannesburg literally means “the city (or town) of Johannes,” named after two officials called Johannes who were involved in founding the town in the 1880s.

Name meaning in simple terms

  • The “-burg” part comes from German/Dutch roots and means “town,” “fort,” or “city.”
  • “Johannes” is a personal name (equivalent to “John”).
  • Put together, Johannesburg is essentially “Johannes’s town” or “the town of Johannes.”

Where the name comes from

Historical records from the old South African Republic explain that the city was named after two government officials:

  1. Christiaan Johannes Joubert – a high-ranking official involved in land and administration.
  1. Johann Friedrich Bernhard Rissik – a surveyor and official who helped lay out the town.

One official document from 1896 explicitly states that Johannesburg was named after Joubert and Rissik , both bearing the name Johannes. Some historians note there were several men called Johann or Johannes around the government at that time, which created earlier debate, but the Joubert–Rissik explanation is now the standard view.

Extra context: nicknames and associations

  • Johannesburg is often called Jozi or Joburg in everyday speech.
  • In Zulu and Xhosa it’s also known as eGoli , meaning “city of gold,” because it grew rapidly after gold was discovered there in 1886.
  • Today it is the largest city in South Africa and the main hub for gold and diamond trade, finance, and business.

TL;DR: Johannesburg doesn’t mean “city of gold” literally; that’s a nickname. Its literal meaning is “Johannes’s town/city,” taken from the shared name of two founding officials, Joubert and Rissik.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.