When I was pregnant with my DD, my grandma used to tease me about using one of her names for her. [name_f]My[/name_f] DH isn’t big on using family names because he’s afraid someone will be offended we picked this person’s name over that person (All of my husband’s grandparents as well as his father are deceased, along with my paternal grandparents and father) and as much as I many of the names in our family, it’s a concession I was willing to make given that there are so many other beautiful names out there.
However…my grandma passed away a couple of days ago. I just was browsing to see what her name - Onalee [name_f]Louise[/name_f] - meant. I can find [name_f]Louise[/name_f] but I can’t find anything on Onalee. I don’t know if the way that it’s spelled is an abnormal/unused spelling or if the name is just an older, very unused name. Pronunciation is On-a-lee (Ahna-lee) depending on which side of the family said it.
So I looked up the name [name_f]Ona[/name_f] on behindthename.com.
It gives you two options. 1) [name_f]Ona[/name_f] is the Lithuanian form of [name_f]Anna[/name_f] meaning favor or grace or 2) It could be the Catalan short form of Mariona meaning wave.
[name_u]Lee[/name_u] means clearing.
I’d assume Onalee is a combo of the Lithuanian [name_f]Ona[/name_f] with [name_u]Lee[/name_u] but it could really go either way. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] that helps.
I think Onalee may be a phonetic spelling for the [name_m]German[/name_m] name of [name_f]Annelie[/name_f]/[name_f]Annalie[/name_f]. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you have this heritage in your ancestry? Many new immigrants either changed the spellings of their names or the whole name entirely in order to assimilate into the new country. Today, we proudly celebrate ethnicity and culture. Back in the “old days”, life was tough for newcomers and many felt that by taking other names it would make their lives easier. Sadly, it didn’t always work.