One of my students is named Sovannary (prn so-vaughn-uh-ree) and it’s so pretty. It’s a Cambodian name and I have no idea what it means but it’s so pretty I thought I would share it. She’s a beautiful girl in her early twenties (I instruct adults).
I think I’d prefer Sovaneary because it looks less familiar to me and I therefore can enjoy the name more than feeling like someone did something odd to [name_f]Savannah[/name_f].
I don’t really know anything about Khmer names, but Sovannary immediately made me think of Channary, which is i a Khmer girls name in the Behind the Name database and has always struck in my mind as being a pretty, interesting name. Behind the Name lists Channary as meaning “moon-faced girl”, so I guess nnary means “girl”?
Sovannary has a beautiful sound! I really like it.