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Meaning of Names
What are the meaining's of the following names:
Female : Sumitha -1
Female : Sue -2
Male : Pravesh -3
Male : Rakesh -4Names 1,3 and 4 originate from the Hindu religion.
Not sure what ethnic background name 2 originates from.
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Sumitha is using the South Indian transliteration scheme for what in North India would be transcribed as Sumita. In south India the contrast between dental (th) and retroflex (t) are distinguished in the transcription, whereas North Indians discriminate between aspiration (th) versus lack of it (t) when writing in the Roman script. Both make the voiced (d/dh) unvoiced (t/th) distinction. The name needs a dental unaspirated consonant. I will use the North Indian usage only because it comes more naturally to me and I will make fewer mistakes this way.The word Sumita (the last syllable is indeterminate short closed for the male name, long open for female) is very old (found in the Rgveda), and means `well measured' or `well fixed' from the prefix su (originally an adverbial particle, becoming clitic in later language) meaning excellent and the participles of the verbal roots ma (which has cognates in many Indo european languages) or mi meaning to measure or to erect/found/establish respectively. mita alone also appears as a name in the ancient period.The sanskrit mitra, meaning friend and an old divine name, in India and in Persia (there, Mithra) and derived from the verb mith meaning to unite, (shades of a mid, which normally means to be fat or prosper, are also seen in some words) becomes mita in some languages like Bengali, especially the feminine form. So, naming a girl Sumita by modern parents may have been influenced by this meaning in these modern languages.Sue, I won't comment on. Look it up in the database; it is a very common name, short form of a ultimately semitic root meaning lily.Pravesh I haven't heard as a name, but is a common word. Pra is a prefix, cognate with English fore for example, meaning before, forth, excessively, etc., vish (again with cognates in other Indo European languages) is a verb meaning to enter, settle down, or pervade. From this one has Pravesh which means to enter or penetrate, a very common word used since antiquity, but probably not as a name.

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Sumitha I'm not sure about, but it is very similar to another Indian name, Sunitha. Any chance it could be an 'n' not an 'm'?Sue is English. Sue and Rakesh are already in the database, and you could have found out about them quite easily by using the search engine on the main page (www.behindthename.com). Next time please search first before posting on the message board. :-) Please click here: Sue, Rakesh for information.
ChrisellAll we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.

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