Google reveals 4.5 million results (archived) of "South African coronavirus variant" and related terms (see below) as of 13 January 2021. Some government/media sources used it as a name, some used it colloquially. These are the names in most common (colloquial) usage, as compared to 501.V2 variant. Below is a shortlist of sources of these terms. denote scientific sources.

• "South African variant"

• "South African COVID-19 variant present in Ireland - health chief". Fortune. 2021-01-09.
• "Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine appears effective against mutation in new coronavirus variants -study". Reuters. 2021-01-08.
• "South African variant 'unlikely to bypass the protection provided by vaccines'". BBC Science Focus. 2021-01-05.
• "Expert reaction to the South African variant". Science Media Centre. London. 2021-01-04.
• "Implications of the Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variant VUI 202012/01". US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2020-12-22. The South African variant also has the N501Y mutation and several other mutations but emerged completely independently of the UK strain and is not related to it.

• "South African COVID variant"

• "South African COVID variant found in Germany". Deutsche Welle. 2021-01-12.
• "Public Health England steps up surveillance of South African Covid variant". The Guardian. 2021-01-12.
• "South African Covid variant may affect vaccine efficacy, warn scientists". Financial Times. 2021-01-07.
• "Will South African COVID variant evade vaccine?". Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (press release). 2021-01-08.

• "South Africa COVID variant"

• "Matt Hancock 'incredibly worried' about South Africa Covid variant". The Independent. 2021-01-04.
• "S Africa COVID variant more infectious than UK strain: Hancock". Al Jazeera. 2021-01-04.

• "South African COVID-19 variant"

• "South African COVID-19 variant present in Ireland - health chief". Reuters. 2021-01-09.
• "Canada's first case of South African COVID-19 variant found in Alberta". The Canadian Press. 2021-01-09. Archived from the original on 2021-01-09.

• South Africa's COVID-19 variant

• "South Africa's Covid-19 variant spurred discovery of the UK's". CNN. 2021-01-06. Archived from the original on 2021-01-09.
• "'This is worrisome.' SA's new Covid variant now dominates in KZN too". Business Insider South Africa. 2020-12-28.

• "South African coronavirus variant"

• "South African coronavirus variant detected in reinfection case in Brazil". Reuters. 2021-01-09.
• "Analysis: why the South African coronavirus variant is so worrying". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2021-01-08.

• "South Africa's coronavirus variant"

• "What we know about South Africa's coronavirus variant". Agence France-Presse. 2021-01-12.
• "South Africa's coronavirus variant fuels spike in cases, stretches hospitals". Associated Press. 2020-12-25.