Hello! I’ve been doing a little research on Native American names and came across a great website.
It points out that many baby books and websites (sadly) list names as native american that either have no connection or are somewhat offensive to native speakers. Or they give inaccurate meanings. It makes for interesting reading. Let me know what you think!
Also want to mention as far as I can tell Nameberry is very accurate in this regard!
I don’t know how accurate Nameberry is for native american names, but there are many inaccuracies for several other names.
E.g.
[name]Beatrice[/name]
[name]Mary[/name]
[name]Katherine[/name]
[name]Emily[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name]
Not sure if it counts as inaccurate but my native father in law pronounces my daughters name ([name_f]Aiyana[/name_f]) as EH-yah-nah not EYE-yah-nah. (A not I)
It would be interesting if your father-in-law could give some background on this name, as the website linked in the OP states:
[name_f]AIYANA[/name_f]: [name_u]Baby[/name_u] name books claim [name_f]Aiyana[/name_f] means “eternal blossom” or “forever flowering” in Cherokee. This is false. It does not have any meaning in Cherokee that we know of, and as far as we know it’s not a traditional Native American name at all (we’ve never heard of anyone with this name born before about 1970.) Probably [name_f]Aiyana[/name_f] is really just a spelling variant of [name_f]Ayanna[/name_f], which is an African-American and Jamaican name that’s been used for at least 50 years. [name_f]Ayanna[/name_f] is said to come from an Amharic (Ethiopian) word for a flower or blossom; we’re not familiar enough with African languages to verify that, but it seems like a likely source of this name to us. (One person has emailed us to say [name_f]Ayanna[/name_f] is a man’s name in Ethiopia, but of course, many originally masculine names are today used as women’s names, particularly in [name_u]America[/name_u].) There’s also a Hindi name “[name_f]Ayana[/name_f]” which may have contributed to the error–Hindi names are frequently mistaken for Native American names by baby book authors because they are simply identified as “[name_f]Indian[/name_f].”
I know this is from 2010, but Native American names are an interesting topic. [name_f]Aiyana[/name_f] isn’t Cherokee (I’m a full quarter Cherokee and another almost full quarter Choctaw) and if it were it would be pronounced eye-YAH-nah. AI says EYE like the I in ice in Cherokee.
As for Nameberry’s accuracy on Native American names, they do a lot better than a lot of other sites but here’s the problems I’ve noticed…
[name_f]Aiyana[/name_f] – nameberry is correct on this one (if it were Cherokee)
[name_m]Hakan[/name_m] – listed as meaning “fiery” but it means “fire” and should be pronounced HAH-kahn
[name_m]Hiawatha[/name_m] – listed as “he makes rivers” and pronounced as haio-hw’tha – it’s actually “he who combs” and is pronounced haio-wat-ha
[name_m]Igashu[/name_m] – listed as “wanderer” but what they meant was [name_m]Igasho[/name_m] meaning “wanders”
[name_f]Imala[/name_f] – listed as “strong minded” but means “disciplines”
[name_m]Nakos[/name_m] – listed as meaning “sage, wise” but means “sagebrush”
[name_m]Namid[/name_m] – listed as being Ojibwa but it’s Chippewa (as a boys name) but as a girls name it’s [name_u]Cheyenne[/name_u]
[name_f]Oneida[/name_f] – listed as “long awaited” and I think they mean [name_f]Onida[/name_f] meaning “the one searched for”
[name_f]Patzi[/name_f] – listed as Omaha meaning “yellow bird” when I’m sure they mean Pazi which is Ponca and means “yellow bird”
[name_f]Pelipa[/name_f] – they have this listed as Native American but with no info. It’s Zuni and means “lover of horses”
[name_f]Tadita[/name_f] – listed as “to the wind” actually means “one who runs”
[name_f]Tula[/name_f] – listed as Choctaw meaning “to be tranquil” but it means “[name_m]Peak[/name_m]” in Choctaw
[name_m]Yancey[/name_m] – listed as meaning “yankee” but likely means “englishman”
[name_u]Remy[/name_u], from which Native language is [name_f]Imala[/name_f] derived? Nameberry doesn’t say and I’m not really finding it elsewhere, either. Also, as a Native, what are your thoughts on the appropriateness of Caucasians using names from these languages?
Curious…can any Native American experts translate Ouaconisen (Wa-con(e)-eh-sen)? The spelling was likely influenced by [name_m]French[/name_m] speakers. The woman was of the Missouria tribe (most closely related to/split from [name_u]Lakota[/name_u], to the best of my knowledge). Thanks for any assistance!
I think [name_f]Imala[/name_f] comes from the Choctaw language. I can’t find another website that lists it meaning what nameberry lists it as.
Well, really, Native American name their children based on something they see during birth, some way the baby looks, a quality of the child. They go through many different naming moments (and can end up with a lot of different names through life) and all of them usually just have something to do with an achievement or quality. So that’s why Native names mostly mean something naturey or a color like red for a redhead baby, so it’s really no different than when you name a baby [name_u]Blue[/name_u], [name_f]Azure[/name_f], Sahani (blue in Cherokee) or [name_f]Willow[/name_f], Itia (greek) or Delegalis (Cherokee). It’s just like using nature names in other languages.
What’s not appropriate and what is very frustrating is when you name a kid [name_u]Dakota[/name_u]/[name_u]Lakota[/name_u]/Cherokee/[name_f]Sioux[/name_f] etc. Tribal names aren’t appropriate. It’s appropriation. And it’s annoying when someone names a kid [name_f]Moon[/name_f] [name_u]River[/name_u] and says “Oh, it’s like an Native American name.” No, it’s just weird. We don’t name babies random nature names, we name them carefully based on attributes and things present during their life. It’s more complicated than looking out the window and going “There’s a river and it’s windy…[name_u]River[/name_u] Wind!”
@rkrd – I think that’s Osage and from what I know, O never says Wa let alone OUA. Also, most Native names (no matter the tribe) end in a vowel (especially for the girls) so I have to go with your thought that the spelling was likely messed with for the [name_m]French[/name_m] and I’m sorry to say I don’t know what it can mean because I’m not sure what the base name was.
Okay, good. Your thoughts were all pretty much what I figured, but I wanted to make sure I was being, y’know, sensitive. 
Hey guys I started a group a while back…. which would be a good place to add minority names for NB to add. I always try looking for three independent sources for the admins to look at to make their lives easier. It would be cool to have this conversation there so that it’s easy to find when you come across a good source.
Dantea,
You had mentioned some knowledge of the Osage language and naming above. My husband had a great grandmother named Neosha. The family believes that she was Osage. I’ve googled the name, but I don’t know if what I am finding is accurate- I am finding that it means deep water or possibly shallow water or dirty water or clean water. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you happen to know or know of any reliable resources for finding out?
From my knowledge, Neosha would be nay-oh-sha and it would mean something like “cold, clean water” (It doesn’t appear to have any elements for dirty or shallow or deep). But, Osage isn’t a language that is spoken very widely anymore and it’s really only older tribe members who know the language so that meaning and pronunciation is based on other Siouan languages (Osage is one) and me asking other people in the community.
As for online, I can’t find the name listed anywhere online that I would consider a reliable source so I’m just using friends in the community who know the language better than I do.
Thanks, Dantea! We’ve always wondered how to pronounce it. I like the meaning, too. There is some family pressure to use it, and I really didn’t want to if it essentially meant mud puddle or was offensive in some way.
No, it’s not offensive. Oh, and the emphasis would be on the o. nay-OH-sha 
If you or anyone else needs help, I’m here