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ArchivesNew names I've come across -- mixed bag
I work among lots of children, so I hear names being called around every day. A few have been totally unfamiliar to me. Any advice you have on origin is much appreciated!
(Oh, and all these spellings are best guesses. I usually only hear the names).
Amitai - on a girl? I'm certainly acquainted with Amittai on a boy (love it in fact). Does this have any history as a girls name?
Anuka - on a (I think) Japanese-speaking girl
Chayani - on a Spanish-speaking girl
Denilson - on a Hispanic boy; I see that it's part of the -son trend that has been quite popular among Latin Americans, but I've never heard of this version, even as a surname
Joriana - just a trendy portmanteau? Or is there some history here?
Manya - I see this is a Russian pet form of Maria, but I don't think the family was Russian. She had a sister named Kimia.
Kitomi - on a girl, who I don't believe was Japanese. I have actually been seeing quite a bit of Japanese & Hawaiian names (or invented names that sound Japanese or Hawaiian) on children not from those ethnic groups.
Natu - I've heard this twice now! Both boys I've seen with this name were ethnically African...one spoke English and one did not (my guess was Amharic, who knows how accurate that is, though).
Naya - Is this just an invention that rhymes with Maya? She had a sister named Kiana, so I thought that was a definite possibility. Any info on this as a traditional name?
Niraj & Bina - I asked these kids about their names--they said they were Sanskrit. The kids were not ethnically Indian, either.
Parsa - on a boy
Kehinde - on a girl. Her father is Nigerian, and her twin sister is named Taiwo, so I'm almost sure it's also a Yoruba name. I would love to know its meaning, though.
Zayana - on an Indian girl, I think.
Zherina - also on an Indian girl.
ZhiBo - on a Chinese boy. I saw his name written, and assumed it was pronounced ZHEE BO, but his classmates pronounced it ZYE BO. Weird.
(Oh, and all these spellings are best guesses. I usually only hear the names).
Amitai - on a girl? I'm certainly acquainted with Amittai on a boy (love it in fact). Does this have any history as a girls name?
Anuka - on a (I think) Japanese-speaking girl
Chayani - on a Spanish-speaking girl
Denilson - on a Hispanic boy; I see that it's part of the -son trend that has been quite popular among Latin Americans, but I've never heard of this version, even as a surname
Joriana - just a trendy portmanteau? Or is there some history here?
Manya - I see this is a Russian pet form of Maria, but I don't think the family was Russian. She had a sister named Kimia.
Kitomi - on a girl, who I don't believe was Japanese. I have actually been seeing quite a bit of Japanese & Hawaiian names (or invented names that sound Japanese or Hawaiian) on children not from those ethnic groups.
Natu - I've heard this twice now! Both boys I've seen with this name were ethnically African...one spoke English and one did not (my guess was Amharic, who knows how accurate that is, though).
Naya - Is this just an invention that rhymes with Maya? She had a sister named Kiana, so I thought that was a definite possibility. Any info on this as a traditional name?
Niraj & Bina - I asked these kids about their names--they said they were Sanskrit. The kids were not ethnically Indian, either.
Parsa - on a boy
Kehinde - on a girl. Her father is Nigerian, and her twin sister is named Taiwo, so I'm almost sure it's also a Yoruba name. I would love to know its meaning, though.
Zayana - on an Indian girl, I think.
Zherina - also on an Indian girl.
ZhiBo - on a Chinese boy. I saw his name written, and assumed it was pronounced ZHEE BO, but his classmates pronounced it ZYE BO. Weird.
This message was edited 7/10/2007, 8:41 AM
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Replies
Naya = Naia?
Maybe it's another spelling of Naia (nai'a), which means dolphin in Hawaiian, I believe.
Maybe it's another spelling of Naia (nai'a), which means dolphin in Hawaiian, I believe.
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As for Amitai -- I don't have any previous knowledge of this particular name being used for girls, but people who should know have told me that in Israel during the past 20 years a whole host of formerly exclusively male names have been given to girls. The phenomenon of giving daughters formerly male names has been even more popular there than it has been in the English speaking world, according to my correspondents.
The Penguin Book of Hinud Names by Maneka Gandhi claims that Niraj meant "to illuminate, irradiate" and that Bina means "lute".
The Penguin Book of Hinud Names by Maneka Gandhi claims that Niraj meant "to illuminate, irradiate" and that Bina means "lute".
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The meaning of Niraj given in that book is highly suspect. There is indeed a root rAj meaning to rule, be resplendant, glitter, or shine; probably originally connected to raj/ranj/Rnj with clear cognates in Greek and meaning to colour, feel emotion, dye, illuminate, decorate, set straight etc. There is also a prefix nis/nir which gives the sense of away etc., and often strengthens the meaning of verbs and nouns with slightly negative or causative meanings. nIrAja from that can indeed mean to illuminate, but I have never seen that spelling as the name.
The name is nIraja (long -I-, first short schwa -a-, last silent -a). This word has an obscure meaning derived from the same root ranj: that word gave rise to various words like rakta (`coloured' but meaning blood), rAga (`colour' but could also mean a pattern of song and strong emotion), and raja (`glitterring' but dust or the female genitive principle). nIraja from the same nir/nis could mean a woman not menstruating, but also dust or emotion free, and is used as an epithet for the emotionless, meditative, destroyer amongst the trinity, and this probably contributed at some point in the history of the name.
The meaning most people will, however, recognize, comes from the word nIra, water, whose connection to the root nI, to lead is not clear. the element -ja comes from jan, cognate with the root of genesis, to be born, and nIraja means water-born and is commonly recognized as a word for lotus or water lily, and is the seat of the goddess of wealth.
vINA is indeed the seven stringed two-gourded nineteen-fretted Indian lute with a compass of two octaves. The word is of uncertain origin, and the actual number of strings and its compass can vary depending on design. In modern east Indian pronounciation the labio-dental v- becomes the bilabial b- and the difference between the retroflex -N- and the dental -n- is lost. Furthermore the difference between long -I- and short -i- is lost, so we can get binA.
The name is nIraja (long -I-, first short schwa -a-, last silent -a). This word has an obscure meaning derived from the same root ranj: that word gave rise to various words like rakta (`coloured' but meaning blood), rAga (`colour' but could also mean a pattern of song and strong emotion), and raja (`glitterring' but dust or the female genitive principle). nIraja from the same nir/nis could mean a woman not menstruating, but also dust or emotion free, and is used as an epithet for the emotionless, meditative, destroyer amongst the trinity, and this probably contributed at some point in the history of the name.
The meaning most people will, however, recognize, comes from the word nIra, water, whose connection to the root nI, to lead is not clear. the element -ja comes from jan, cognate with the root of genesis, to be born, and nIraja means water-born and is commonly recognized as a word for lotus or water lily, and is the seat of the goddess of wealth.
vINA is indeed the seven stringed two-gourded nineteen-fretted Indian lute with a compass of two octaves. The word is of uncertain origin, and the actual number of strings and its compass can vary depending on design. In modern east Indian pronounciation the labio-dental v- becomes the bilabial b- and the difference between the retroflex -N- and the dental -n- is lost. Furthermore the difference between long -I- and short -i- is lost, so we can get binA.
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Do you have a book to recommend (written in English) which would be more accurate than Maneka Gandhi's?
This message was edited 7/11/2007, 8:53 AM
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No
I apologize if I gave the impression that I am knowledgeable about this field. My academic interest in names is merely an offshoot of my growing research interest in mathematical aspects of history in general and history of movement of people across the globe in particular; as part of which I am just embarking on some new statistical analysis techniques to find possible deep connections between the world's languages. I won't lie: at a cultural level I was always interested in names, culture, history, but never, prior to now, enough to start research in this field; nor did I have the opportunity. My main contribution to this board has been based on my erstwhile fluency in Sanskrit and my training to take a critical look at hypotheses, not on any specific knowledge in this field.
So, I do not know the literature specifically about names, and am ill-qualified to provide suggestions. From what I have seen, Maneka Gandhi's book seems more accurate than most others. But you do have to read an `errors and omissions excepted' at the end ...
---
http://tanmoy.tripod.com/
I apologize if I gave the impression that I am knowledgeable about this field. My academic interest in names is merely an offshoot of my growing research interest in mathematical aspects of history in general and history of movement of people across the globe in particular; as part of which I am just embarking on some new statistical analysis techniques to find possible deep connections between the world's languages. I won't lie: at a cultural level I was always interested in names, culture, history, but never, prior to now, enough to start research in this field; nor did I have the opportunity. My main contribution to this board has been based on my erstwhile fluency in Sanskrit and my training to take a critical look at hypotheses, not on any specific knowledge in this field.
So, I do not know the literature specifically about names, and am ill-qualified to provide suggestions. From what I have seen, Maneka Gandhi's book seems more accurate than most others. But you do have to read an `errors and omissions excepted' at the end ...
---
http://tanmoy.tripod.com/
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Thanks
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CKE--off topic
Might I direct you to this thread in the Lounge: http://www.behindthename.com/bb/view.php?id=2952538&board=ot?
:)
Might I direct you to this thread in the Lounge: http://www.behindthename.com/bb/view.php?id=2952538&board=ot?
:)
This message was edited 7/10/2007, 2:40 PM
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Anuka is not really a Japanese name, in theory it could be and there might be a Japanese child called that way, but it's not really a well-known or frequently used name. Just from the sound it could very well be corean or chinese etc (if you say it was an asiatic child).
Same goes for Kitomi, in theory it would be possible, but there aren't many people called like that, at least nobody I can find :) To me it looks a bit like a misspelling of Hitomi in fact.
Maybe you could tell me more about non-japanese children having japanese names? That would be very interesting, since I feel that Japanese names are extremely rarely used by non-Japanese parents.
Same goes for Kitomi, in theory it would be possible, but there aren't many people called like that, at least nobody I can find :) To me it looks a bit like a misspelling of Hitomi in fact.
Maybe you could tell me more about non-japanese children having japanese names? That would be very interesting, since I feel that Japanese names are extremely rarely used by non-Japanese parents.
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Well, I've noticed quite a few children, mostly black, but some white or Hispanic, who have Japanese (or Japanese-sounding) or Hawaiian (and Hawaiian-sounding) names. I really like the sound of most of these names, and I'm fairly sure that's why the parents have chosen these names. Here is a list of the ones I've noticed:
Girls: Kailani, Kimari, Kitomi
Boys: Kainoa, Kamani, Keoni, Yoshi
Girls: Kailani, Kimari, Kitomi
Boys: Kainoa, Kamani, Keoni, Yoshi
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Of the names listed for girls, only Kailani could be entirely Hawaiian; "r" and "t" don't occur in the Hawaiian language. Kailani sounds very nice, but I'm confused about its intended meaning. "Kai" is a common noun for "sea" or "sea water", while "lani" is Hawaiian "the heavens." Taken together, the name may be a reference to "heavely water" (rain?) but "kai" is specifically salt water.
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