View Message

[Facts] Ayanna
FemaleOrgin-African How do you pronounce this?
vote up1vote down

Replies

Apparantely it's an Indian nameby which I mean Indian as in "from India", not Native American (it is definitely not Native American).Someone did a lot of research on this and proved it is not Native American. I wish I could find the site, but they had some prove that it's an Indian name that is used there quite often and pronounced AH-yah-na.
vote up1vote down
Hmmm... any details? Where in India? Which language? Male or female?(There is an Indian male name Ayan discussed here before; though at that time I did not mention that the most famous of them is called that as a lenition of the Sanskrit abhimanyu, desired, from abhi- (towards, against, etc., cognate with Greek ἀμφί etc.) + man- (to think, belive etc. cognate with Greek μένω, English mean etc.) = to think of, desire, threaten, injure, allow, agree, be proud etc.)
vote up1vote down
Actually, in other books and on other sites, I have read that this name is Cherokee or another plains Indian's name. It's meaning is "a field of flowers." It is pronounced ie-YAH-na and can also be spelled Aiyana.
vote up1vote down
Unfortunately, this is not true. It definitely is not Cherokee, and there is little evidence that it comes from any other Native American language.http://www.native-languages.org/wrongnames.htm
vote up1vote down
Africa is really, really big. Which part of it does Ayanna come from? (Hint: I've never encountered it down on the southern tip.)
vote up1vote down
This name is from Ethiopia, but I have not been able to find out which language it is from for sure. It was introduced into the African-American community by a book of African names published in 1970 where it was said to be "East African" and to mean "beautiful flower." I have no idea whether or not that meaning is really correct. However, through Googling it is obvious the name is in use in Ethiopia, though it is usually spelled Ayana, (but occasionally Ayanna) there and almost always seems to be a male name.Here are some examples of Ethiopians named Ayana:http://www.ethiopic.com/Ayana_Birru.htmhttp://www.developingtelecoms.com/content/view/302/59/The "beautiful flower" meaning turns up again and again, but I am reluctant to accept it without confirmation from someone who knows Ethiopian languages precisely because the name is normally male, not female, back in Ethiopia itself.

This message was edited 3/23/2009, 5:55 AM

vote up1vote down
I'll ask someone.I know several people from Ethopia and I'll see what I can find out.
vote up1vote down
Thanks
vote up1vote down
It is usually pronounced "eye-AH-nuh" or "eye-ANNA" in the United States.
vote up1vote down