indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Feminine
Usage Greenlandic, Danish (Rare)
Other Forms FormsNavagiaq, Navarat (short form), Navarapaluk ("sweet little Navarat"), Navaranaaq
Meaning & History
Greenlandic name meaning "one who alternates between different parties", derived from the Proto-Eskimo root *naverar "to trade, exchange" and the name suffix na. In legend Navarana was an Inuit woman who brought about disunity by alternating between her tribe of native Greenlanders and the Norse colonists. The name was assumed by the first wife of Danish polar explorer and author Peter Freuchen (1886-1957), a Greenlandic Inuit woman formerly known as Mekupaluk (died 1921). This was later used by Knud Rasmussen for the heroine of 'The Wedding of Palo' (1934), filmed in East Greenland in 1933.