“[name]Eliana[/name] means G0d answered me. It does NOT mean “sun” in
Hebrew. [name]El[/name]=God. i-me. [name]Ana[/name]=answered.”
I asked about [name]Eliana[/name] in the Girl Names section and someone posted this. It also confirms what I get on other sites. The Hebrew definition is not sun but god has answered.
I had to comment on the Italian word list. Not sure if this is the best thread because it’s not that the meanings are wrong on the list, simply that some of the suggestions are just really out there. I know naming is largely a matter of taste, but there are cultural norms that come into play. If people choose names from this list and their child ever goes to [name]Italy[/name], people would be incredulous and aghast about the name.
Most of my gripes come from nouns, like aquila and baia. Would you name a baby Caress in English? I find it a little creepy. [name]Canna[/name] also means drinking straw, like what you ask for with your Coca Cola. [name]Faro[/name] (lighthouse), [name]Ora[/name] (hour, as in what time is it) and [name]Riva[/name] (seashore or riverbank, a common term in [name]Venice[/name]) make me sad. The very worst, though, is [name]Zingaro[/name], gypsy, which has a negative connotation and is pretty much a dated racial slur. Please, even if you leave up the others… and I wouldn’t want to call my baby [name]Street[/name] or Stairs or Upstairs or Pencil, but someone might… but you really should take down zingaro.
Anyone considering a foreign word for a baby name should really ponder whether their native language equivalent is acceptable. Sweet little baby Fringe, or Nurse, or Elite, or Cleanliness might not agree if they travel.
That’s very interesting. I would hope that the names in the database are names. In the US, we do start getting “inventive” over what can be a name, like words. And names do have meanings so that they are translated something like words. If my name means “pure,” is Pure a name? Is this the word they use for ‘pure’ in that language? It is a derivative of [name]Catherine[/name], which I’m not sure means “pure” in any language anymore.
What I mostly think when I look to a list of names from a particular origin is that it’s a name. I hope that it is a name, I mean, and not that, for instance, it sounds exotic because it comes from another language, and has “name-like” qualities - sounds like a name + has a meaning in a foreign language doesn’t necessarily = a valid name from that origin.
This came up in a blog article last week - a hope for some separation of what names are real, valid alternatives from another country, and which sort of emulates a “foreignization” in Modern English by altering the spelling at whim or by seeing it around, a few of which have become validated by use, but are modern and English-speaking-originated. An example being [name]McKayla[/name] for [name]Michaela[/name]. Some variants have some very strange spellings but are (or I [name]HOPE[/name] they are) accurate spelling or transliteration from another language’s use of the name. [name]McKayla[/name] is a modern invention, and has come up recently in another thread, some people don’t even recognize this name when they see it spelled [name]Michaela[/name]. Does [name]McKayla[/name] have the same meaning? In what language?
It would be nice to know if there are names in the database which are also inventions of the English language, by the co-opting of words in languages and from countries where they aren’t actually a name, vs. names that are names. I think it is up to the individual if they want to be quirky like that, but some of us think the difference is enormous and important.
I’ve also removed [name]Zingaro[/name] from my list o’ Z names (and I wonder if any others are so ridiculous, if not as heinous in meaning). I have some idea already that there is a bigotry with gypsies, but I didn’t take the time to think about whether it was a good thing or a bad thing or a name or a slur when I made my list. In the US, we unfortunately have a romanticized very poor understanding of the history of the Romani (is that an ok term? I don’t even know). It’s not that great to be so ignorant, and while we have similar problems in the US between groups of people, we have no business celebrating this effect with the people in other areas of the world. I still think the word ‘[name]Zingaro[/name]’ sounds better if you don’t know what it means or think too deeply about it, but that’s not a good way to be. It is zingy and fun to say, and sounds like an interesting person… unfortunately.
That’s a problem with not understanding other parts of the world or striding in taking words carelessly, especially if you are naming a child, in your sheltered understanding of what seems so quaint, when you don’t get the information up front. If you are instead naming a character in a book, it would help to tread carefully the depth of the uses of the word as a name - it might have some bearing on the character and his backstory if that is his name, or the author might have time to think better of it, if they think it just sounds uplifting and full of spirit. There are a lot of good reasons to want to know if a name is a valid name or is a word co-opted somewhat ignorantly (and even hopefully mostly harmlessly).
Thanks for bringing this up, [name]Elle[/name].
[name]Alanna[/name]/[name]Alana[/name] - some sites have the meaning of “rock”. I don’t know what the true meaning is. Another site www.babynamesofireland.com has the meaning as this:
“Adding a to leanbh, the word for “child” in Irish, brings a sense of warmth ” “O child” or “darling child.””
Alert: [name]Quartilla[/name]! [name]Octavia[/name] does NOT mean the same thing. The meanings listed for both names are correct. However, it says in the notes that [name]Octavia[/name] means the same as [name]Quartilla[/name]. That’s incorrect.
I love this site. You’ve done a wonderful job with it!!!
[name]Noelani[/name] isn’t simply a variation of [name]Noel[/name], it means heavenly mist in Hawaiian. [name]Noelani[/name] and [name]Noel[/name] are two completetly different names.
It says [name]Will[/name] Champion used [name]Juno[/name] as the name of one of his twin daughters, but they were boy girl twins, as you know!
I would add notes to names with contested meanings. For example [name]Eleanor[/name] and [name]Mary[/name]. You list [name]Mary[/name] as Hebrew name meaning bitter, but many other sources disagree. [name]Miriam[/name] (the original name) was also the name of [name]Moses[/name]’ Egyptian mother. It is very unlikely that she would have a Hebrew name. Similarly, many sources think that [name]Eleanor[/name] comes from [name]Alia[/name]-Aenor. [name]Even[/name] if you disagree with them, I think you should mention the debate.
[name]Caridad[/name] is Spanish for “charity” - is not a variation of [name]Carina[/name] as you have listed 
There are a few origins listed for [name]Maya[/name], but there is no mention of the fact that in Eastern Pantheism [name]Maya[/name] means illusion. Brahman is the all encompassing God that everything is, and [name]Maya[/name] is what looks like reality but isn’t. Forgive me for not knowing everything about it, I’m just learning about it. It’s not a very good meaning though so I thought I’d mention it.
[name]Hi[/name] guys!
I just noticed that the meaning of [name]Ishmael[/name] is listed as “Outcast” but it actually means “God hears” or “God has heard.” Probably someone brave enough to use such a politically charged name wouldn’t be turned off by an unattractive meaning or would know better anyway, but I thought I’d mention it.
Thanks!
I’ve just realised you have [name]Madison[/name] down as meaning ‘son of a mighty warrior’ when, in fact, its more literal meaning is “son of [name]Maud[/name]” ([name]Maud[/name] being the medieval form of [name]Matilda[/name] and meaning ‘strength in battle’). Or, according to Reaney and [name]Wilson[/name]'s [name]Oxford[/name] Dictionary of English Names it was sometimes a corrupted spelling of [name]Mathieson[/name] (son of [name]Matthew[/name]).
Either way, it’s a patronymic surname and they always contain a (first) name as well as the meaning ‘son of’ so to say it means 'son of a mighty warrior seems a bit of a leap to me.
At least that’s not as bad as sources that try to tweak [name]Madison[/name] and other names with “son of” meanings to mean “daughter of” instead to make them more appealing to bestow on girls.
Right now you list the name [name]Maxen[/name] with the following:
Gender: M
Origin of [name]Maxen[/name]: Welsh, from [name]MAXIMUS[/name]
[name]Max[/name] plus the trendy -en ending equals not a good idea.
But [name]Maxen[/name] is not a trendy mish-mash name. [name]Maxen[/name] is a variation of Macsen, from [name]Magnus[/name] [name]Maximus[/name], known as Macsen Wledig in Welsh, Western [name]Roman[/name] Emperor from 383 to 388.
[name]Maxen[/name] is also a town in Germany.
Maxson is a surname in my family, but could also be a variant spelling, as well as Maxon, Maxsen, Macson, etc.
Perhaps you could update the entry with a little more info? I really like the name, and it makes me sad to see it written off like that.
[name]Hi[/name] girls!
I love namberry, and I think that is a great web, but like others have said before some meanings are wrong.
[name]Caridad[/name] is not a varriation of [name]Carina[/name], [name]Caridad[/name] it is the Spanish world for [name]Charity[/name], and it means exactly the same that [name]Charity[/name]. [name]Carina[/name] means “dear little one”, so I think that there is something wrong with it.
I love the name [name]Caridad[/name], and I’d love you to put the correct meaning!!
Thanks!!
Teen_berry
Sorry it’s taken us a while, but we are gradually making these corrections. Thanks for your input!
[name]Linda[/name] and [name]Pam[/name]: Thanks for change the wrong meanings! I ? nameberry!
[name]Hi[/name] girls and boys!
Thanks for change the meaning of [name]Caridad[/name]! It was so quickly!
Ive found another wrong meaning :), and its in a Spanish world name too, this name is the lovely [name]Brisa[/name], the Spanish word for [name]Breeze[/name], but you say it means “beloved”. Maybe it has 2 meanings, but I just want you to know what it means in Spanish!
Thanks! I ? NB!