Yousafzai

Yousafzai is a Pashtun surname and tribal name associated with the Yusufzai, a major Pashtun group historically centered in the Swat Valley of present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The name appears among families that trace lineage to the Yusufzai and is used by individuals in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and by Pashtun communities in the diaspora.

The Yusufzai have a long history in the region around Swat and neighboring areas. Today, people with the Yousafzai surname can be found in urban and rural centers, reflecting migration patterns within Pakistan and abroad. Spelling variations such as Yusufzai are common in English-language references.

Notable individuals with the surname include Malala Yousafzai (born 1997), a Pakistani education activist who gained international attention for her advocacy for girls’ education after surviving a 2012 attack by the Taliban. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, becoming the youngest-ever Nobel laureate. Malala co-founded the Malala Fund, a nonprofit focused on education access, and has written works including I Am Malala. Ziauddin Yousafzai (born 1969) is Malala’s father, a Pakistani educator and advocate for education who has been active in public campaigns to improve schooling for girls and support for educational reform.

See also: Yusufzai, a variant spelling of the same tribal name.