View Message

[Opinions] Aquinnah
What do you think of Aquinnah for a girl? How do you pronounce it?I googled it and it's the name of Michael J. Fox' daughter. Her middle name is Kathleen and she has a twin named Schuyler Frances. I tried to find out some more about it and Michael J. Fox said in an interview that it was Native American and meant "beautiful colors of the sea". To me that doesn't sound too reliable but aqua means water after all. I guess I'll post about it on the name facts board as well.What do you think of Aquinnah? I think I'd say ah-KWINN-na. I like Quinn as a nickname but also the full name.Opinions?Oh and I know a place called Aquina, pronounced ah-KEE-na, but I guess the double n changes the pronunciation to ah-KWINN-na. Would you spell it Aquinnah or Aquinna?
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

It sounds thoroughly dubious, more 60s-hippy than Native American.What about Aquila? If you ignore the Latin it works as a girl name, and has the merit of objective existence.
vote up1
I remember there used to be someone on the boards who wanted to use it as a feminine form of Quinn.I used to like it, but it's not my style anymore. I can see the appeal though. I think I prefer the look of Aquinnah.
vote up1
Wikipedia says (I know, right? Feel free to roll your eyes. ;-)) says of the town of Aquinnah, Massachusetts: "...the town changed its name to Aquinnah, which is Wampanoag for "land under the hill.""http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquinnah,_MassachusettsNot quite as picturesque if it essentially means "chunk of land over here." Heh. Of course it is Wikipedia, although in its defense it tends to be correct about a lot of Michigan's Native American place name origins. It reminds me of Thomas Aquinas, also of Aquila / aquiline. Google reveals some ladies by the name Aquina. I guess it's okay. I don't like Native American names that arise from language misunderstandings, although if you don't pass it off as being such without having a handle on its real meaning or origin it's not bad. I just.... I don't know. It's not bad, it's not exciting. I thought the more I typed the more of an opinion I would develop on it, but I guess that's just where I'll have to end it: on a neutral "meh."
vote up1
I'm always a little suspicious of meanings from Native American names. For some reason I think people take a lot of liberties with them. I'm not saying Michael J. Fox is deliberately doing that. And who knows, he could be right? But I'd need some more scholarly verification, personally. Latin "aqua" does mean water, but why would Native Americans use a Latin based root word? It just smells fishy.I don't care for the sound of it. I thought about Aquinas (as in Thomas Aquinas) for a boy, as a GP only. I like that long "i" sound much better.Instead of Aquinnah, how about Alannah (with a short "a" sound is in "land")? If you're into Native American names, I've heard of Chenoa ("sheh-NO-uh") before. But I don't know it's meaning.

This message was edited 6/20/2010, 12:38 PM

vote up1
This exactly
vote up1
Yes, I know! Especially because they aren't mentioning the tribe. And the meaning seems very bad baby name book-ish.I like Alannah, but not as much as Aquinnah. Chenoa sounds nice, especially because I really like Noah on a girl, I'll do some research on it.
vote up1
I've heard that Chenoa means "dove"...I have no idea how reliable that is, though :)
vote up1
It's a place nameI googled it and a town and some cliffs near Martha's Vinyard, Massachusetts came up. I didn't dig any further -- it's not unheard of for Native American names to be used like this. Just thought I'd let you know.
vote up1