Meaning and background
The story behind Simba
Simba is a particularly instructive case of one spelling with distinct language histories. In Swahili it means “lion”, which also explains the name of the leading character in The Lion King. A Shona given-name usage is separately glossed in terms of power or strength. Those meanings should be labelled by language, not blended into a single invented translation.
- Meaning
- In Swahili, “lion”; in Shona, a separate use is glossed “power” or “strength”. Source
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About Simba
Recorded as a dog’s name
Simba appears in 158 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/sɪmbə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/sɪmbə/ · primary stress on syllable 1S IH1 M B AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.