Objectives: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma occurs with increasing frequency in HIV/AIDS. As South Africa has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS worldwide, an epidemiologic study of this nature provides insight into head and neck lymphomas in a defined South African population. This retrospective review evaluated frequency and clinico-pathologic characteristics of patients diagnosed with head and neck lymphoma at the Oral Pathology Department, University of Witwatersrand between 1993 and 2012. Materials and methods: Histopathology reports of patients with head and neck lymphomas (n = 504) were reviewed. Demographic (age, gender), clinical (site and size of tumour), laboratory and histological parameters were recorded. Results: There were 504 patients with head and neck lymphomas. The mean age was 40.4 years. The male: female ratio was 1.1: 1. The cervical lymph node was the most common anatomic site (115 cases) and the maxilla (60 cases) the most common extranodal site. Plasmablastic lymphoma (159 cases) was the most common histologic subtype, seen more frequently as a result of its strong association with HIV/AIDS. The most common Hodgkin's lymphoma was the nodular sclerosing variant (21 cases). Of the head and neck lymphomas in patients with a known HIV status, 56% had plasmablastic lymphoma, 43.9% diffuse large B cell lymphoma and 25% Burkitt lymphoma. Conclusion: There is an increase in head and neck lymphoma frequency, contrary to that found in Western countries. The high HIV prevalence in certain lymphomas provides strong indication of the role of HIV/AIDS in pathogenesis of lymphomas. This study serves as a baseline for future studies, especially in South Africa. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.