Comments for AYLA (1):

According to the following website about plants in Israel, Elah is the word for terebinth and Alon is the word for oak tree, which first in with Smadar Shir Sidi's _The Complete Book of Hebrew Baby Names_. So I really question whether or not Ayla can mean "oak tree" in Hebrew.
http://www.n-k.org.il/pub/publications3.html

-- clevelandkentevans  8/24/2005

Basically this name means "strength" or "strong authority". A possible root (in Latin letters, "AYL") means something along the lines of "strong" - related to "oak tree", "pillar", "stag deer" and "chief" - but moreso to "ox". Another root ("AYLH") means "strong one", related to a hind or deer. Also, there are six words in Hebrew that mean "oak". One of them is "Elah", which has been translated as both "oak" and "terebinth". These translations are difficult, mostly because words with ancient roots may change slightly over time in meaning or pronunciation, such as Greek has.

-- antiquitas  4/17/2006

In Latin, 'ala' means 'wing'.

-- Anonymous User  6/19/2006

The Hebrew word for oak is Alon, which is a seperate boy name. In Hebrew, the name Ayla does not exist as far as I know, especially not as a feminine form of Alon. The Hebrew spelling you've got there is Ela, which means, as clevelandkentevans said, terebinth. And it isn't pronounced Ayla, but eh-LAH. So you should remove this, I think. [noted -ed]

-- Noa  7/2/2006

The central female character in Nadine Gordimer's novel, _My Son's Story_ is named Aila, a slightly different spelling I haven't come across outside of the novel.

-- mllefantine  10/26/2008

Comments for AYLA (2):

Sounds the same as the Scottish name Isla. Pronounced Eye-La.

-- emmasitar  9/30/2006

I think that this (but I know that one of the three versions) is pronounced Ey (as in Hay, but without the H)-Lah (as in the French "Le").

-- DontDissMadison  12/30/2007

I have been proud to have this as my name since the day I was born, contrary to people who I meet now and again who believe that I took on the moniker after the popularity of the Clan of the Cave Bear series. Not so! Although I loved the story, it was always a little irritating to hear MY name being mispronounced. Not only by the neanderthal people who adopted Ayla, but by Ayla herself. (or perhaps more correctly, Jean Auel!)

My mother was born and raised in Turkey and she named me on my date of birth, FAR before there were ANY Clan of the Cave Bear books! (well, maybe not THAT far hehe!)

Ayla: which translated from Turkish to English means something to the effect of "moon" or "moonlight/moonbeam".

This is the first website I have ever seen that has offered a different meaning other than the more common "oak tree" (I cannot even say if that is a correct definition!)

I was always baffled by the fact that the Turkish meaning was nowhere to be found. Thank you Behindthenane.com for clearing up an issue that has been a never ending source of irritation to me; having to explain to all I meet that I was certainly NOT named after a TREE! :)

-- Aylajojo  12/16/2008

I forgot to add, the correct pronunciation is "Eye-lah" rather than "Hey-la" (without the the H!)

-- Aylajojo  12/16/2008

Comments for AYLA (3):

Actually that is how Ayla tells Creb to say it in the book. He is the only Neanderthal that truly learns how to say it.

-- Anonymous User  3/6/2007

No, Creb didn't get it right. Ayla's real name is much longer, and in the book Creb is struggling to reproduce the multi-syllable word the little girl uses as her name, but he only gets as far as to Ay-la, two syllables, which is all his Neanderthal brain could handle. They weren't using language the way Cro Magnons did. I would really like to know what Ayla's real name is. Maybe Jean M Auel will let us know in the final book.

-- Tango  8/9/2007

The pronunciation of the name in the book is not by the Neanderthal, who communicate (according to Auel) by hand signals and primitive sounds, but is the original Cro-Magnon pronunciation of her name, a very important fact in the book as it is the only knowledge Ayla possesses about where she comes from, and the only evidence she has of her mother.

-- guinevere88  2/24/2008

The second person has it right. When exchanging names, Ayla rattles off her entire name, which confuses Creb. She then repeats only the first part, which Creb manages as Ay-la (sounding swallowed or gutteral or something like that), and Ayla decides that yes, she will be Ay-la for them.

Later on, when Jondalar et al says her name, Ayla notes that it sounds different than the Clan says it - I imagine it to be the way most of us would pronounce it, flowing instead of "swallowed". When she meets Rydag, the half-Clan boy of the Mamutoi, the first thing she notices is that he says her name the way she used to hear it from her Clan.

-- Townzell  4/10/2008

This is such a beautiful name!

-- Whikci333  5/7/2008

Ayla is my name, and my family has been pronouncing it the same as Kayla, just without the 'K'.

-- Ayla  6/16/2008

Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other

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