Hey! I really love your site but I wanted to correct/add a few things:
[name]Maja[/name] - this is also the [name]German[/name], Slovene and Scandinavian form of [name]Maya[/name] and pronounced MY-ah. It’s quite popular in Germany, Slovenia (Top 10), [name]Sweden[/name] (Top 10) and Norway.
[name]Anja[/name] - this is not really an exotic spelling. it is the traditional [name]German[/name] spelling of [name]Anya[/name], pr. AHN-ya and very popular in Germany (from the 70s until the mid 80s).
[name]Ronja[/name] - you write that this name “has a ninja feel” which is probably because you’re mispronouncing it. It is pronounced [name]RON[/name]-ya or ROHN-ya and a popular name (top 100) in Germany, Finland, Norway and [name]Sweden[/name]. It was indeed used by [name]Astrid[/name] Lindgren, but probably not invented by her. It was used in a book called “The Candlesticks and the [name]Cross[/name]” by [name]Ruth[/name] [name]Freeman[/name] [name]Solomon[/name] as Ronya, long before Lindgren’s book was released. It is a form of the Hebrew name [name]Ronia[/name]/Roniya which means “joyful song of god” (same as [name]Roni[/name], [name]Ronit[/name]) or the Russian pet form of [name]Veronica[/name] and [name]Roxana[/name] (just as [name]Sonia[/name] is the Russian pet form of [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Anya[/name] of [name]Anna[/name] etc)
[name]Daisy[/name] - does it really mean “pearl”? As far as I know it just means “daisy” or “day eye”. It is true that it was used as a pet form for [name]Margaret[/name] (which means “pearl”) but the reason it was used as a pet name for [name]Margaret[/name] is because “[name]Marguerite[/name]”, the French form of [name]Margaret[/name] literally means “daisy” in French. But [name]Daisy[/name] doesn’t mean “pearl”.
[name]Ilma[/name] - this also means “air” in Finnish. It is quite fashionable in Finland, as a nature name.
[name]Charis[/name] - this is pronounced more like “HAH-ris” is Greek. The H is one of those back in the throat sounds. It’s one of my favorites, so I asked one of the professors at my university who teaches Greek to pronounce it for me.
[name]Richart[/name] isn’t the [name]German[/name] form of [name]Richard[/name]. We spell it just like you do. [name]Richard[/name].
Thanks! Fixed/adjusted those. Always happy to get name news from other cultures – very difficult to get accurate on-the-ground information from another country, even when you speak the same language.
[name]Mignon[/name] - this is not used in [name]France[/name] as a name at all. It is the French word for “cute” or “delicate” and it sounds really weird as a name to someone who speaks French. It is also the male form of the word, the feminine form would be “mignonne”. I highly recommend not using this as a name, especially not if you ever intend to go to [name]France[/name]. It would sound ridiculous there. If you like the sound of [name]Mignon[/name] I would suggest using the similar sounding [name]Manon[/name], which is pretty and actually used as a name in [name]France[/name] (top 100).
It’s the same with Ch”rie. ch”ri/ch”rie (male, female) are French words that mean “darling, honey”. not used as names. I know some celebrities in [name]England[/name] etc have used [name]Honey[/name] for their daughters but that wouldn’t be done in [name]France[/name].
Oh and I thought it might be interesting for you to know that [name]Gretchen[/name] (which sounds quite [name]German[/name] to most Americans) is not used as a full name in Germany at all. I never met anyone named [name]Gretchen[/name]. It was used in Germany about 200 years ago but has been rather unheard of since. It has (as far as I know) never been used as a full name. It is a nickname for [name]Margarethe[/name]. [name]Even[/name] [name]Gretchen[/name]'s most famous namesake ([name]Gretchen[/name] in “[name]Faust[/name]”) just used [name]Gretchen[/name] as her nickname. Her full name as revealed in the book is [name]Margarethe[/name].
I noticed that under [name]Elle[/name], (the Pick of the [name]Day[/name] today and beautiful name!) it said that she was the “charming heroine of the movie Clueless.” I’m not sure how many versions are out there, but I’m pretty sure the character [name]Alicia[/name] Silverstone played was named [name]Cher[/name]. [name]Just[/name] thought I should let you know (and maybe be enlightened myself to a different Clueless movie!)
[name]Elle[/name] was the “heroine” in the [name]Reese[/name] Witherspoon movie Legally Blonde. Maybe that’s what they were thinking of instead of clueless?
Someone suggested [name]Zadie[/name] as a name for a baby girl(very cute and sounds like [name]Sadie[/name]), but I think it would be great if Nameberry could mention that [name]Zadie[/name] means grandpa in Yiddish!
[name]Noah[/name] (girl) - this spelling is absolutely legit for a girl! In Hebrew the girls name [name]Noah[/name] is actually written with the Hebrew letter that is generally translated as an H, the same that is also used to spell [name]Sarah[/name]. So this is not a “boys names for girls” kind of situation. [name]Noa[/name] is how people chose to spell it to differentiate it from what is a boys name in the US, but [name]Noah[/name] is just a legit for a girl as [name]Noa[/name].
You might be interested to know, that NO-a is strictly feminine in [name]Israel[/name] and even the number one girls name there. The male form has a completely different meaning and spelling (in Hebrew) and is pronounced NO-ach there (the ch is one of those deep in the throat sounds). It got translated as NO-a and became common in the US.
[name]Kaia[/name] doesn’t mean earth in Greek. [name]Gaia[/name] does. [name]Kaia[/name] is a Scandinavian form of [name]Katherine[/name] and means pure. It’s spelled [name]Kaja[/name] there and pronounced KAH-ya.
[name]Hope[/name] you can add this information! You’re doing a great job with the site!
(sorry if this thread was supposed to be dead…)
Hello…
My sister, whose name is [name]Siri[/name], discovered when she went to [name]Kenya[/name] two years ago that her name is not only a pet form of [name]Sigrid[/name] meaning “fair victory” (or beauty and victory as all the Norwegian name books say) but also “[name]Secret[/name]” in Swahili! Perhaps that could be added to the [name]Siri[/name] entry?
thanks!
I’ve noticed mistakes in your entries for [name]Arwen[/name] and [name]Broderick[/name].
For [name]Arwen[/name] you have:
Origin: Welsh
Meaning: “noble maiden”
This is a misnomer. [name]Arwen[/name] in Welsh and the [name]Arwen[/name] in the invented language of Tolkien, Sindarin, are two distinct names.
[name]Arwen[/name] in Sindarin comes from /ar/ ‘noble’ and /wen/ ‘maiden’
[name]Arwen[/name] in Welsh comes from /gwen/ ‘fair, white, blessed’ with /ar/ as an intensifying prefix.
The entry should either read:
Origin: Sindarin
Meaning: “noble maiden”
or
Origin: Welsh
Meaning: “very fair, very blessed”
Also, [name]Broderick[/name] is not related to the Scandinavian name [name]Broder[/name]. It is from the Welsh surname [name]Broderick[/name] from ‘[name]Ab[/name] [name]Roderick[/name]’ = “son of [name]Roderick[/name]” or “son of [name]Rhydderch[/name]” (as [name]Roderick[/name] is the Anglicised form of [name]Rhydderch[/name]).
The ‘ab’ or ‘ap’ meaning ‘son of’ (like the Gaelic ‘[name]Mac[/name]’ or ‘Mc’) in Welsh became contracted and the ‘a’ dropped, turning to [name]Broderick[/name].
The same thing can be seen in other Welsh surnames like [name]Bowen[/name] (ab [name]Owen[/name]), [name]Bevan[/name] (ab [name]Evan[/name]), Prichard (ap [name]Richard[/name]), [name]Price[/name] (ap [name]Rice[/name] - old anglicisation of [name]Rhys[/name]), [name]Powell[/name] (ap [name]Howell[/name])
Also, I should probably mention that while in [name]Wales[/name] [name]Arwen[/name] is feminine, Arwyn (the masculine counterpart) has been used for boys – both aren’t very common, with the name [name]Arwen[/name] recorded on approx 1,050 birth registrations (both first and middle names) and Arwyn on about 1,040, between 1915-2005 in [name]England[/name] and [name]Wales[/name].
[name]Prior[/name] to 1915, [name]Arwen[/name] was only recorded twice (in the 1837-1915 index) whereas Arwyn has just under 100 entries.
[name]Hi[/name] there. [name]Love[/name] your site! One quick note…
Regarding the name [name]SHOSHANA[/name]/[name]SHOSHANAH[/name]: your site lists its meaning as “lily.” This was the ancient Hebrew usage, but in modern Hebrew, [name]Shoshanah[/name] means “rose.” I’m 99% sure on this one, but any Israelis out there feel free to correct me.
Also re: [name]Shoshanah[/name] - your site lists [name]SHOSHONE[/name] as a variation of [name]SHOSHANAH[/name]. Actually, [name]Shoshone[/name] is the name of a Native American tribe, and is no relation to the name [name]Shoshanah[/name] at all! I only mention this because my own name is [name]Shoshanah[/name], and it’s always been a pet peeve of mine when people mispronounce it as [name]Shoshone[/name] (which happens a lot!). Not that I don’t like the name [name]Shoshone[/name], mind you :), it just doesn’t have anything to do with my name.
Also just a note regarding some of the previous posts: it’s great to get feedback from people about what names are actually used in which countries, and which names might get you funny looks if you were to travel to a specific place in the world. I’ll use the [name]Mignon[/name]/[name]Mignonne[/name] example that an earlier poster cited above…While it’s great to get that information, I still personally feel that it’s up to individual parents to decide what is “appropriate” to name their own child: if you love the name [name]Mignon[/name] for a girl, just be aware that it is more traditional to spell it [name]Mignonne[/name] in the French language, and that someone named [name]Mignon[/name] might get some funny looks when traveling in [name]France[/name]/French [name]Canada[/name], due to the translation of her name in the native language. I’ll also use the “[name]Honey[/name]” example mentioned by the previous poster. While the thought of naming one’s child “[name]Honey[/name]” may appall some prospective parents who feel that it is an “inappropriate” name for a child, I’m sure there are others out there who think the name is, pardon the pun, sweet ;). One last word on this: as mentioned by another previous poster, there will always be homonyms for many names in different languages. For example, when traveling in Indonesia, I was interested to learn that the word BABI meant “pig,” and the word [name]WANITA[/name] meant “girl.” My traveling partner and I joked that it would be pretty funny for a couple named [name]Bobby[/name] and [name]Juanita[/name] to travel together to Indonesia. I mention this to illustrate the fact that, while [name]Bobby[/name] and [name]Juanita[/name] would not be appropriate names for Indonesian children, they are perfectly appropriate names for children in other countries.
'[name]Kay[/name], that’s all. Thanks again for the awesome site.
God, I know this entry was made a long time ago, but I’m so happy to see that somebody said how unused and even ridiculous [name]Gretchen[/name] sounds in Germany. The same goes for [name]Hans[/name] by the way. Well, not exactly the same, there are a lot of people named [name]Hans[/name], but I have never met one that is now under the age of 50. I just wanted to mention that since I remember somebody writing at some point about her neighbors naming their children [name]Gretchen[/name] and [name]Hans[/name] because of their [name]German[/name] ancestry.
Also, for my own name [name]Annika[/name] the entry mentions [name]Pippi[/name] Longstocking, but it still says that it’s an Russian variation of [name]Ann/name. All sources I know of consider it (also) a Swedish variation of that name.
By the way: I love your page very much, not only because it gives me an inside into American name taste but also because it feels so international here and people are always so polite in their comments.
Also, [name]Lukas[/name] is a top 10 name in many more countries than Germany. ([name]Sweden[/name] for instance.) The spelling, [name]Lukas[/name], is the traditional Scandinavian spelling.
The list of Hungarian names is a big, bad joke. There are lots of misspellings and old fashioned nicknames. If you want to know more about REAL Hungarian names, visit this site (the home page of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
After [name]Heidi[/name] Klum anouncing her fourth child’s name “[name]Lou[/name]” I#Ve read several comments about that being a usual, fashinable name in Germany. Now I saw that it even says so on the “[name]Lou[/name]”-page of nameberry. This is just not true. [name]Lou[/name] is not even in the Top 500, so it’s definetly not fashionable. [name]Even[/name] as a nickname it is not popular, at least in my opinion. I have never met a girl named or called [name]Lou[/name]. It probably wouldn’t even be allowed here as a stand-alone-name without a distinctive femine middle name.
Also: It is true that [name]Leni[/name] is a traditional nickname for [name]Helene[/name] in Germany. In the generation of [name]Heidi[/name] Klum’s grandmother. As a full name it did not appear in any statistic since the 1920s (contrary to [name]Lena[/name] which has become quite a classic). That changed in 2005 when [name]Leni[/name] became one of the most popular and fastest rising names in Germany - and I guess eveeryone gets the reason
