Spelling/meaning of a name pronounced dip-tee?
On a design TV show there was a lady who's name was pronounced dip-tee. She was from India because they were decoration her living room in an Indian style. So her name must also be Indian or Hindu.So, I was just wondering if anyone could help me find out how her name would be spelled and what it means. Thanks in advance!

This message was edited 10/28/2005, 10:32 AM

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Quick note.No name can be "Hindu". Hinduism is a religion. Names can be derived from the Hindu mythology, such as Lakshmi and Krishna, in the same way that we get names such as Mary and Joshua from Judeo-Christian mythology.Indian is probably the more correct term. Most Indian names come from Sanskrit, much like some English names come from Latin.
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Actually, you know, it kind of makes sense to say that the name is a `Hindu' name. Whether one likes it or not, the label Hindu has no (or rather no ideologically neutral) alternative when used to describe a tradition to which a lot of us belong, whether or not we believe in the tenets of the religion that goes by the same moniker. And, historically, for Indian names, the religious affiliation was very important, and that fact has continued today. Given an Indian name like Shailesh, Ramesh, Nityananda, Harpreet, Riddhi, Salman, Spenta, or Thomas, one can make a very good, though may not be perfect, guess as to the traditional religious affiliation of the community, and similarly, knowing the tradition (and sometimes even the finer social divisions) helps in figuring out the meanings of names. Of course, the regional identity is also very important: names from Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, or Assam do not sound the same!
Most Indian names coming from Sanskrit is technically correct (I haven't actually checked, but it sounds obvious), but this is because we are focussing on the names that belong to the Hindu tradition which in one form of the other would cover about ninety percent of the population, and the sections within it that do use non-Sanskrit origin names are either rural (women in some parts of South India, for example, used Dravidian names of flowers and other natural objects) or underpriviledged and do not appear much in literature that most of us are familiar with, or belong to a somewhat avant garde culture and the names are not thought of as being typically Indian, or the names are thought of as Sanskrit even though they are not (like some Dravidian names of gods etc.) ... I apologize for that long last sentence not making much grammatical sense, but you get what I am trying to say, I hope.
I think further discussion should probably be taken to the lounge unless it sticks clearly to name origins.
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see
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=166680&board=genand
http://www.behindthename.com/bb/arcview.php?id=169195&board=genA childs smile is worth more to me than Gold

This message was edited 10/28/2005, 12:20 PM

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Thanks!I found Deepti - glow, shine here: http://www.indiaexpress.com/specials/babynames/girl-d.htmlI guess it's already been talked about too!Deepti probably means "lamp, light, candle". Its the same root as Deepavali, meaning row of lights (the root name for the festival of Diwali)Deepti, it's such a cute name! :)
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Deepti actually does not mean lamp or candle in any north Indian language. It does mean light as in the thing that comes from a lamp, not light meaning a lamp. Deepavali and Deepti do share the same root, but they come from different grammatical forms: deepa (with the final a unstressed and unpronounced in many languages) means a source of light, but deepti only means the light itself. There are also meanings like lac and brass for deepti in Sanskrit, but they are rarely used. Deepti also applies to brightness as in beauty.
The male form Deepta, also used as a name, does mean burning or bright, and hence can be used for a lamp. Finally, the aavali bit of deepaavali means a row (from a bunch of related roots vr, bal, val, all connected with to- and fro- motions), and thence the name of the festival.
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