What's Your Name's Meaning??? Etymology and history of Names

In Italian, the name Franco means- Diminutive of Francesco: Derived from the Latin Francis meaning French or free one.
 
SolarMother said:
Ljubica said:
SolarMother said:
That's all fascinating. Thank you for that info, Ljubica. I know someone from Slovenia who calls herself 'a Slovenka!' which is supposed to mean [I am] 'a Slovene!' in the feminine form. When I saw your name I also thought about 'I am a Ljubica!'--'I am Love!'--OK, I know I am being silly here... ;D

It's OK, actually you find out one of Slavic linguistically specificums; names with suffix ka, most of the time are related to: diminutive form, for example Sashka is small Sasha, Majka (English Mom) is small Mom, Baka (English Grand Mother) is small Grand Mother, this kind of diminutive it does not represent something small by proportions but close to the heart, calling someone with diminutive suffix ka relate to showing someone affection; to country; Slovenka, to person; Sashka or to family member; Majka.

On other hand other Slavic spefificum is suffix ca (again one variation of diminutive), most of the times we could notice it in personal names: Marica, Jelica, Ivica, Brankica, Ljubica, but as well in lot of international compound words transmuted to Slavic languages like: matrica (matrix), tvornica (factory), ulica (street), although in this case they do not show actuall diminutive but the new word, or in regular diminutives of all kinds like: pjesmica (little song), planinica (small mauntin)....,... on this way, Ljubica is actually small love, so you are correct.

It reminds me of the suffix in spanish, 'ita', being an endearment term, such as 'precious one', and of course 'little one.' Like you said, showing someone or something affection. Your name could also mean, 'precious love' or 'dear little love.' ;)

Well, Ljubica, I can't find anything new on the name, Maria. Your research on names is really fun to read, so I'm going to jump in here and ask you what you have on this name!!

Ljubica,
Thank you for sending me the information on Maria. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
There was a time when I went by the name Mara, so when I read that mara is a verb meaning rebellious, stubborn....well, that can fit me at times! :halo:
 
My name is after an English month and my middle name is a phase of day. Saddly no cool mystery there. However at one point I found out that I was named after the day my genetic parents met (I'm adopted). :P
 
From etymology.com:

late 15c., shortened or back-formed from dawning, dawing (c.1300), from O.E. dagung, from dagian "to become day," from root of dæg "day" (see day). Probably influenced by a Scandinavian word (cf. Dan. dagning, O.N. dagan "a dawning," Ger. tagen "to dawn"). Related: Dawned; dawning. The noun is first recorded 1590s.

Day: O.E. dæg "day," also "lifetime," from P.Gmc. *dagaz (cf. O.S., M.Du., Du. dag, O.Fris. dei, O.H.G. tag, Ger. Tag, O.N. dagr, Goth. dags), from PIE *dhegh-. Not considered to be related to L. dies (see diurnal), but rather to Skt. dah "to burn," Lith. dagas "hot season," O.Prus. dagis "summer." Meaning originally, in English, "the daylight hours;" expanded to mean "the 24-hour period" in late Anglo-Saxon times. Day off first recorded 1883; day-tripper first recorded 1897. The days in nowadays, etc. is a relic of the O.E. and M.E. use of the adverbial genitive.

I admit I take a personal interest in this particular name, I'm quite familiar with it! :P
 
Thanks D!
I suppose it's more interesting than I thought! I'm happy someone else shares an interest in that particular name. :halo:

:lol:

D Rusak said:
From etymology.com:

late 15c., shortened or back-formed from dawning, dawing (c.1300), from O.E. dagung, from dagian "to become day," from root of dæg "day" (see day). Probably influenced by a Scandinavian word (cf. Dan. dagning, O.N. dagan "a dawning," Ger. tagen "to dawn"). Related: Dawned; dawning. The noun is first recorded 1590s.

Day: O.E. dæg "day," also "lifetime," from P.Gmc. *dagaz (cf. O.S., M.Du., Du. dag, O.Fris. dei, O.H.G. tag, Ger. Tag, O.N. dagr, Goth. dags), from PIE *dhegh-. Not considered to be related to L. dies (see diurnal), but rather to Skt. dah "to burn," Lith. dagas "hot season," O.Prus. dagis "summer." Meaning originally, in English, "the daylight hours;" expanded to mean "the 24-hour period" in late Anglo-Saxon times. Day off first recorded 1883; day-tripper first recorded 1897. The days in nowadays, etc. is a relic of the O.E. and M.E. use of the adverbial genitive.

I admit I take a personal interest in this particular name, I'm quite familiar with it! :P
 
SolarMother said:
Ljubica,
Thank you for sending me the information on Maria. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
There was a time when I went by the name Mara, so when I read that mara is a verb meaning rebellious, stubborn....well, that can fit me at times! :halo:

This is pretty interesting, according to: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Mara

name Mara \m(a)-
ra\ is pronounced MAHR-ah. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Mara is "bitter". Biblical: Naomi, mother-in-law of Ruth, claimed the name Mara as an expression of grief after the deaths of her husband and sons. May also be used as variant of Mary and as a short form of Tamara.

Names that sound like Mara are Myra, Mira, Mera, Maira, Mare, Maria, Mayra, Marya, Maura, Mora and Meara.

Mara is a very common first name for women (#937 out of 4276) and also a very common last name for both men and women (#12008 out of 88799). (1990 U.S. Census)

But again this is a free translation, because mara as "bitter" is only one meaning of the name, in this case it is connected to sea, sea water, ocean, the salt in it, the bitterness, so Mara as derivate of the name Miriam, Mariam, has the same meaning, The sea. (Mar, Mare, More, Morje, Mares, Meer) :).
 
Here is one pretty interesting name:

Traditionally, Adam is the first human male (Genesis 2:20), (according to the Judeo Christian traditions).

Adam is one of five words that indicate a man (words like dude, guy etc). This particular word indicates man as a being created from material; a corporeal one, as probably opposed to the non-corporeal angelic creatures who were created before Adam and who shouted for joy during the creation of the earth (Job 38:7).

The name Adam is the masculine derivation of the Hebrew root Adam ('dm). The feminine derivation adama (adamah ) indicates the ruddy earth found in the Middle East and means acre, ground, land.
The words Adam (adom, adem) indicate the typical red color of that earth.

The name Adam means Earthling, or rather Corporeal One.

Other names from this same stock are Edom, Edom - the nickname of Esau - which also meaning red, ruddy, and Admah.

Other names that have to do with words that mean man are Enosh (Mortal), Gabriel (God's Guy), Methushael (Man Of God) and perhaps Zechariah (YHWH's Male) and Ishi (My Man).

A name that may be a playful reference to the name Adam is Javan, Mud Man. end quote from: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Adam.html


The boy's name Adam \a-dam\ is pronounced AD-um. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Adam is "earth". From "adama". In Hebrew, it is a generic term for "man". Biblical: in the Genesis account, he was the first man created from the red earth of Eden. The name was borne by a seventh-century Irish abbot of Fermo in Italy. Steadily used from the middle ages until the 1700s, and again beginning in the 1970s. An appropriate name for the first boy in a family that has produced many girls. Adan (a-DAHM) is the Spanish form. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.; actor Adam Sandler.

Adam has lot of variant forms: Ad, Adamo, Adams, Adan, Adao, Addam, Addams, Addem, Addie, Addis, Addison, Addy, Ade, Adem, Adham, Adhamh, Adim, Adnet, Adnon, Adnot, Adom, Atim, Atkins and Edom.

Popular Variants for the name Adam: Aatami (Finnish), Ad, Adamh (Irish), Adamo (Italian), Adao (Portugese), Adas, Addams, Adnon (Spanish), Adom, Atim, Atkins, Damek (Czech)

Adam is a very common first name for men (#69 out of 1220) and also a very common last name for both men and women (#2706 out of 88799). (1990 U.S. Census).
 
And something peculiar: Eden

The name Eden occurs three times in the Bible. The first and most famous Eden is the location of the paradisiac garden in which Adam and Eve lived their pre-fall existence (Genesis 2:8). The garden of Eden is marked by four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Haddakel and Parat (Genesis 2:13-14).
The second Eden is either a person or a region probably somewhere in Mesopotamia. Isaiah speaks of 'sons of Eden who were in Telassar' (37:12). The third Eden is a Levite in the days of king Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:12).

Of course, we must note that the name Eden was applied to Paradise in retrospect, unless we assume that God named the place Eden. We don't exactly know where Eden was, but apparently it is where four rivers sprouted from an unnamed mother river, like a delta. It is generally accepted that this location should be somewhere around the modern rivers Tigris and Euphrates, but these two rivers come from different sources and combine, in stead of the other way around. And there is also no trace of the two other rivers. To make matters even worse, the Bible lists these rivers as Haddakel for Tigris and Parat for Euphrates. These names may even indicate two totally different rivers.

The description of the location of the rivers is also not very revealing: The Pishon flows in the land Havilah, which is according to Genesis 25:18 somewhere between Egypt and Assyria. The Gihon flows in Cush, which is usually associated with Ethiopia. The Haddakel flows east of Assyria, and of the Parat no location is given. This may be simply because the Torah in the form that we have it was finalized during the exile in Babylon, and nobody there needed to be explained where the Parat (=Euphrates) went. But perhaps there are deeper meanings hidden in the story of the four rivers. One possibility is an allusion to the super-symmetry that may or may not underlie the fabric of creation.

There is some dispute over the meaning of the name Eden. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, NOBS Study Bible Name List and even the Septuagint note that Eden is similar to the Hebrew word Eden (eden 1567a) meaning finery, luxury, delight (2 Samuel 1:24, Psalm 36:8). This word comes from the verb Eden (adan 1567), meaning to luxuriate. This verb is used only once: In Nehemiah 9:25 it reads, "...and luxuriated in Thy great goodness."
Another derivation is adin (adin 1567c), meaning voluptuous, which Isaiah applies in his description of the daughter of Babylon (47:8). In Genesis 18:12 the derivation edna (edna 1567b) occurs as Sarah wonders if she will have pleasure , as she and Abraham are old.

BDB Theological Dictionary and HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, however, claim the name Eden from the Akkadian word edinu based on the Sumarian word eden, meaning Plain, Steppe.

Whatever the original name-giver meant to say with the name Eden is unclear, but any Hebrew audience would have heard a meaning of Delight or Luxury.

The NOBS Study Bible Name List reads Delight, Pleasantness. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names renders Paradise, A Place Of Delight. end quote from: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Eden.html


The girl's name Eden \e-den\, also used as boy's name Eden, is pronounced EED'n. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Eden is "place of pleasure". Also sometimes used as a pet form of Edith. Biblical: the name of God's garden paradise for Adam and Eve. May also be used as a variant of Edan, or as a transferred surname from Old English meaning "rich bear cub".

Eden has 4 variant forms: Eaden, Eadin, Edenia and Edin.

For more information, see also the related name Edna.

Baby names that sound like Eden are Aden, Adan, Adena, Adene, Adin, Adeen, Ayden, Aiden, Edana, Edina, Edyna, Edeena, Eddna, Edwena and Jaden.

Eden is a very common first name for women (#1878 out of 4276) and also a very common last name for both men and women (#4941 out of 88799). (1990 U.S. Census)

from wiki: The Garden of Eden (Hebrew גַּן עֵדֶן, Gan ʿEdhen; Arabic: جنة عدن, Jannat ʿAdn) is described in the Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden (Gen. 2:8). This garden forms part of the Genesis creation narrative and theodicy of the Abrahamic religions, often being used to explain the origin of sin and mankind's wrongdoings. The Archangel Uriel, with his flaming sword, is said to be guarding the Gate to the Garden of Eden.

Eden as Paradise:

"Paradise" (Hebrew פרדס PaRDeS) used as a synonym for the Garden of Eden shares a number of characteristics with words for 'walled orchard garden' or 'enclosed hunting park' in Old Persian. The word "paradise" occurs three times in the Old Testament, but always in contexts other than a connection with Eden: in the Song of Solomon iv. 13: "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard"; Ecclesiastes 2. 5: "I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits"; and in Nehemiah ii. 8: "And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's orchard, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." In the Song of Solomon, it is clearly "garden"; in the second and third examples "park". In the post-Exilic apocalyptic literature and in the Talmud, "paradise" gains its associations with the Garden of Eden and its heavenly prototype. In the New Testament, there is an association of "paradise" with the realm of the blessed (as opposed to the realm of the cursed) among those who have already died, with literary Hellenistic influences observed by numerous scholars. The Greek Garden of the Hesperides was somewhat similar to the Christian concept of the Garden of Eden, and by the 16th century a larger intellectual association was made in the Cranach painting (see illustration at top). In this painting, only the action that takes place there identifies the setting as distinct from the Garden of the Hesperides, with its golden fruit.

Alan Millard has hypothesized that the Garden of Eden does not represent a 'geographical' place, but rather represents 'cultural memory' of "simpler times", when man lived off God's bounty (as "primitive" hunters and gatherers still do) as opposed to toiling at agriculture (being "civilized").[27] Of course there is much dispute between Judeo-Christian and secular scholars as to the plausibility of this idea - the refuting claim being that cultivation and agricultural work were present both before and after the "Garden Life".

The Second Book of Enoch, of late but uncertain date, states that both Paradise and Hell are accommodated in the third sphere of heaven, Shehaqim, with Hell being located simply " on the northern side:" see Seven Heavens. end quote.
 
My name could not be found easily in any database, but it sure is fun to check out the meanings of other names. I have been wondering about the origins of my name though, as my parents picked it at random after hearing it from friends and deciding that they liked the sound of it. According to some Dutch sites, 'Nanja' means 'rebellious' and I think I remember reading before that it's origins lie in the Slavic languages, yet search machines like to 'automatically correct' my search entry to 'Ninja' :P it seems not to be a popular name.
 
sevensama said:
My name could not be found easily in any database, but it sure is fun to check out the meanings of other names. I have been wondering about the origins of my name though, as my parents picked it at random after hearing it from friends and deciding that they liked the sound of it. According to some Dutch sites, 'Nanja' means 'rebellious' and I think I remember reading before that it's origins lie in the Slavic languages, yet search machines like to 'automatically correct' my search entry to 'Ninja' :P it seems not to be a popular name.

Nice name, Nanja or なんじゃ means as well Bye on Japanese :), similar names in Slavic languages are: Nanđa, Nađa, Nadija, Nada, Nadža, Nadežda or Hope but as well as diminutive and nick name of Anđa or Andja or Angela & Anhela.
 
I really do not know much about my name but I have a story to him.
Usually my name is spelled like this: Johny but when I was born (in Colombia), my grandfather lived in USA and wanted me to give an "American" name so he said to my dad that I had to call Johny but my father didn't know the spelling of the name so I registered as Jhonny.
Logically a person who speaks English sees a mistake on my name.
 
Ljubica said:
Nice name, Nanja or なんじゃ means as well Bye on Japanese :), similar names in Slavic languages are: Nanđa, Nađa, Nadija, Nada, Nadža, Nadežda or Hope but as well as diminutive and nick name of Anđa or Andja or Angela & Anhela.

Thank you Ljubica, for the information! as I study Japanese, I understand you would pronounce it that way perhaps when reading it, but the preferred pronunciation lies closer to ナン/なん rather than ジャ/じゃ :) 
 
sevensama said:
Ljubica said:
Nice name, Nanja or なんじゃ means as well Bye on Japanese :), similar names in Slavic languages are: Nanđa, Nađa, Nadija, Nada, Nadža, Nadežda or Hope but as well as diminutive and nick name of Anđa or Andja or Angela & Anhela.

Thank you Ljubica, for the information! as I study Japanese, I understand you would pronounce it that way perhaps when reading it, but the preferred pronunciation lies closer to ナン/なん rather than ジャ/じゃ :) 

Understood, sounds like "Nanya" (NaniJazz), "or what" on Japanese ;) So it's phonetically much closer to: Latvian: Nannija or Bosnian Nanija... Really interesting pronunciation, in Slavic languages (most of them are phonetic languages) when something written with "nj" it sounds like Spanish "Ñ", thanks for the clarification.
 
Ljubica said:
sevensama said:
Ljubica said:
Nice name, Nanja or なんじゃ means as well Bye on Japanese :), similar names in Slavic languages are: Nanđa, Nađa, Nadija, Nada, Nadža, Nadežda or Hope but as well as diminutive and nick name of Anđa or Andja or Angela & Anhela.

Thank you Ljubica, for the information! as I study Japanese, I understand you would pronounce it that way perhaps when reading it, but the preferred pronunciation lies closer to ナン/なん rather than ジャ/じゃ :) 

Understood, sounds like "Nanya" (NaniJazz), "or what" on Japanese ;) So it's phonetically much closer to: Latvian: Nannija or Bosnian Nanija... Really interesting pronunciation, in Slavic languages (most of them are phonetic languages) when something written with "nj" it sounds like Spanish "Ñ", thanks for the clarification.

In Japan, I had to be careful with pronouncing my name in a sentence because of the similar phonetics :D in the end, the children would just call me 'Nana'.

Does 'Nanija' have a meaning? It seems there is no clear one in the online databases I know of and unfortunately, I don't know much about Latvian, other than it celebrates name days - I wonder if the numerology behind all the names and dates align in some way...
 
My name (Silvana) is the italian female version of the Roman forest god Silvanus.

I like forests :D
 
Back
Top Bottom