This is discussed at length in The Official Ubuntu Book. Basically, ubuntu is a South African word for confidence in cooperation and collaboration with others. Shuttleworth and other founders felt that it "was a term that encapsulated where the project came from, where the project was going, and how the project planned to get there."
Ubuntu is a South African ethical ideology focusing on people's
allegiances and relations with each other. The word comes from the
Zulu and Xhosa languages. Ubuntu is seen as a traditional African
concept, is regarded as one of the founding principles of the new
republic of South Africa and is connected to the idea of an African
Renaissance.
A rough translation of the principle of Ubuntu is "humanity towards
others". Another translation could be: "the belief in a universal bond
of sharing that connects all humanity".
"A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of
others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he
or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or
she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are
humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu
As a platform based on Free software, the Ubuntu operating system
brings the spirit of ubuntu to the software world.
This is discussed at length in The Official Ubuntu Book. Basically, ubuntu is a South African word for confidence in cooperation and collaboration with others. Shuttleworth and other founders felt that it "was a term that encapsulated where the project came from, where the project was going, and how the project planned to get there."