My husband, who is most definitely not a name nerd, found the name [name_f]Araya[/name_f] (on a woman) while wandering around on the internet and is really liking it. I’m curious about it - the Nameberry listing says it’s a variation of [name_u]Ara[/name_u], which is listed as feminine but is Arabic for “king” and is apparently sometimes used for boys in Armenia. Behind the Name doesn’t list [name_f]Araya[/name_f] but does list [name_u]Ara[/name_u] as a masculine Armenian name. Wikipedia considers it a surname and a place name (in Spain and in Venezuela) - no mention of Arabic or Armenian origins.
Has anyone seen [name_f]Araya[/name_f] before? [name_f]Do[/name_f] we know if it’s supposed to be pronounced as uh-[name_u]RAY[/name_u]-ah, uh-[name_m]RYE[/name_m]-ah, or something else? What do you think of it?
I never have seem [name_f]Araya[/name_f] before . I would pr . Uh - ray - ah but iam not sure . Its an interesting name in a good way but i prefer the similar [name_f]Amaya[/name_f] .
It’s very similar to one of my top 5 girls names which is pronounced oh-[name_m]RYE[/name_m]-uh or uh-[name_m]RYE[/name_m]-uh. I am still tossing up between the spelling [name_f]Oria[/name_f] or Oriah though.
My gut instinct would be to pronounce [name_f]Araya[/name_f] - ah-[name_u]RAY[/name_u]-ah. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re going for or not. If you have the pronounciation uh-[name_m]RYE[/name_m]-uh in mind, then perhaps you might like to consider [name_f]Oria[/name_f] or Oriah instead to make it easier from that point of view.