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In India, Riya (usually short i, long open a, though I have also seen other spellings) is becoming an increasingly common female name, at least among the secular Hindus. Does anyone know where this name originated. Many popular lists have a meaning of graceful, singer, or flower for this; but I suspect these are less than accurate.

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Can anyone on this board help?

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I have the same question about the names Rita (long i, dental t, long open a) and Rina (long i, alveolar n, long open a) used in the same context.

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Incidentally, the index to my genealogies (http://tanmoy.tripod.com/genealogy/genindex.html and http://tanmoy.tripod.com/genealogy/maa_genindex.html) give etymologies of names that appear in my genealogy, and may be helpful to people searching for Indian Hindu names...