I was wondering if anyone had some great (heck even mediocre but trustworthy) sources for traditional names that fall into the Maori, Hawaiian, Tahitiian, Somoan tribal landscape. [/b]
So far I’ve only found websites that seem to be copying other websites I find (seriously spelling mistakes and all). And the few names I do look up in a Tahitiian/English dictionary I found have very different meanings.
For over 100 years each of my family members has had a Tahitiian mn. Something we honored with our daughter and want to do with future kids. However, we keep repeating the same handful of names and I’d love to expand that for future generations - provided I can find proper sources and meaning. Actually I found two very different meanings for my daughter’s mn - we decided to go with it since I’ve always loved it, and liked both meanings (though I’m certain one is a mistake since it bears no etymological similarities to other names with similar meaning).
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] [name_f]Tia[/name_f]! I don’t have any specific sources, but books by anthropologists are often full of fantastic information about language and naming, so I would suggest you look there. They are always fantastically reliable, as they’re written by people who have actually lived in the culture and usually speak the language. The [name_m]Pacific[/name_m] islands are popular for anthropological work, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding things. I can’t remember whether [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_u]Mead[/name_u] did any bits about naming specifically, but she did a lot of work in the areas you’re looking into. Barnes and Noble has a section dedicated to the social sciences that would probably have something.
So nice that Google will translate for you. (As long as you take the translation with a grain of salt).
This is by far one of the better sources I’ve found and so far that the meanings correlate with the dictionary I picked up in Tahitii. Thanks!
maoridictionary.co.nz - if you search english names (if they have a Maori translation) they are usually here and are accurate with spelling, accents and meanings, and in some cases have audio of correct pronunciation
hawaiiannames.hisurf.com - as far as I can tell this is reasonably accurate…similar to maoridictionary, type in an english name and if it has a translation it should appear