Is it best to wait to name your baby until you meet it or just arbitrarily name it the minute you find out you’re pregnant? Thoughts?
[name]Nala[/name] [name]Josephine[/name] (what you think?)
It’s best to put a lot of thought into it. [name]How[/name] important are your family, religion, and culture? Is there any inspiring namesake you wish to honor? What sort of imagery do you want your baby’s name to convey? What makes a ‘good’ name anyway? [name]How[/name] do you feel about your own name? If you were starting over as a newborn and could go through life all over again, what name would you choose for yourself?
[name]Nala[/name] & [name]Josephine[/name] are two very different names. [name]One[/name] is modern, trendy and invented for the [name]Lion[/name] [name]King[/name]; the other is a stately classic given to a famous empress. It sounds pretty together but the two names send off very different signals.
Agree with [name]Blade[/name]. Also, I think it’s good to have a “top name” and then a couple of backups. So, go in with one in mind, and then if she doesn’t look like your top name, then you have a couple backups to choose from.
As for [name]Nala[/name] [name]Josephine[/name], they are two very different names. I personally don’t like [name]Josephine[/name] and don’t think it goes well with [name]Nala[/name]. I do believe [name]Nala[/name] actually means lioness in African/Swahili.
Names that sound similar to [name]Nala[/name]:
[name]Alannah[/name], [name]Lana[/name], [name]Natalya[/name], [name]Neva[/name], [name]Anya[/name], [name]Calla[/name], [name]Kilala[/name], [name]Auriella[/name], [name]Petula[/name]
I agree with [name]Blade[/name]'s assessment of the name [name]Nala[/name] [name]Josephine[/name]. Though it sounds good to the ear, it still seems to clash in some ways. You may like the similar-sounding names [name]Nella[/name] or [name]Lila[/name] that would match the style of [name]Josephine[/name] a bit more. I can’t think of other middle name suggestions for the first name [name]Nala[/name] at the moment. I suggest looking to pop culture for newer or more made-up names if you choose to go with [name]Nala[/name].
I also agree that thought should be put into a child’s name, though I suppose there’s nothing inherently wrong with naming a baby arbitrarily after it’s born. A name is one of the biggest gifts parents give to their child, and can in some ways affect the child psychologically, subject him to bullying, etc. I believe that care should be taken when naming a child. Clearly you believe that too, since you are spending time on Nameberry. 
Good for you, and welcome!
Another idea I just had. If you like [name]Nala[/name], you may like the Japanese and Celtic name [name]Nara[/name], meaning “happy.” Also spelled [name]Narah[/name]. Since [name]Nara[/name]/[name]Narah[/name] doesn’t have the Disney connection that [name]Nala[/name] has, I feel like it looks a bit better with [name]Josephine[/name]:
[name]Nara[/name] [name]Josephine[/name]
[name]Narah[/name] [name]Josephine[/name]
Perhaps it still has a bit of an ethnic clash, but to me it feels a bit more substantial than [name]Nala[/name] [name]Josephine[/name].
[name]Nala[/name] is not just a modern, trendy, invented name lol.
I think [name]Nala[/name] [name]Josephine[/name] is lovely. I really like [name]Nala[/name]!
I can’t imagine deciding 100% on a name before meeting a baby. It is good to always have a backup name or two or three, lol, just in case.
Actually, it is. You might be confusing it with [name]Nahla[/name], an Arabic name meaning “drink of water” that got some airplay when [name]Halle[/name] [name]Berry[/name] picked it. It’s entirely separate from [name]Nala[/name]; the H is voiced (part of the Arabic triliteral root system undergirding the whole language- n-h-l, which relates to water flowing).
[name]Simba[/name] is an actual, everyday word in Kiswahili, meaning ‘lion.’ [name]Nala[/name], though, they just made up.
According to BehindtheName, [name]Nala[/name] is a masculine name meaning ‘stem’ in Sanskrit.
Wikipedia says that [name]Nala[/name] is a variation of [name]Nahla[/name], means ‘successful’ in other African languages (does not specify) and in Swahili it means ‘gift.’
[name]Nala[/name] may not mean ‘lioness’, but it appears to be a legit name.
“nala” is a pleasant collection of sounds, so it’s not surprising that other languages would have cooked it up.
[name]Do[/name] you think the [name]Lion[/name] [name]King[/name] screenwriters looked into masculine Sanskrit-derived names [meaning ‘stem’] to name a female cartoon [name]East[/name] African lion? Or that it’s just a coincidence? Likewise, do you think this poster is naming her baby from a book of [name]Indian[/name] male names, and so happened to feel a great deal of resonance with either a) the ancient king who bore this name, or b) the woody bits of bushes, and decided it was perfect for her baby? Or is it more likely that she heard it on the [name]Lion[/name] [name]King[/name] as a child, and liked it?
There is a great deal of Arabic influence in the Swahili language-- the coastal region were colonized by the Gulf Arabs, who used them for trading and slaving. [name]Even[/name] the name of the language comes from an Arabic word, ‘sawahil,’ meaning “coasts” or “boundaries.” However, there is absolutely no connection between the old pre-Muslim Arabic name [name]Nahla[/name] (pronounced nahhhha-la, blow out a puff of air in the middle) and the [name]Lion[/name] [name]King[/name]'s [name]Nala[/name].
The most common words for gift in Swahili do come from Arabic: baraka (meaning, gift from God) and hiba (Arabic everyday word for gift).