Anyway, I had the realization that there are many established L names that fit the pattern 'L-[vowel sound]-la' (in linguistic terms, this is called reduplication). Nearly every vowel/diphthong makes a name, in fact!
So, naturally, I set out to see if any other consonants can do this fun little pattern as well. ;)
[all feminine, unless marked with an *. Also, many are diminutives rather than full names, especially in European languages]
- BAH-bah: Baba* (Indian [not sure which language]) / Babba (Swedish) / Bobba (Icelandic)
- BYE-bah: Baiba (Latvian)
- BEH-bah: Beba (Serbian, Bosnian, Spanish)
- BIB-ah: Bibba (Icelandic)
- BEE-bah: Biba (Croatian, Serbian, Indian [Punjabi?], Japanese)
- BOH-bah: Boba* (Serbian, Croatian) [unisex in both]
- BOO-bah: Buba* (Western African [Fula?]) / Bubba (Icelandic)
- BUB-bah: Bubba* (English)
- KAH-kah: Caca (Roman mythology) / Cacá* (Portuguese) / Kaká* (Portuguese) / Kaka* (Indian [not sure which language], Greenlandic) / Kaaka* (Greenlandic)
[unisex in Portuguese and Greenlandic; masculine in India] - KYE-kah: Kaika* (Finnish, Japanese) [unisex in Japanese; feminine in Finnish]
- KEH-kah: Keka (Bengali)
- KAY-kah: Keika (Japanese)
- KEE-kah: Kikka* (Finnish, Norwegian) [unisex in both]
- KOH-kah: Coca (Romanian) / Koka* (Indian [Telugu?], Russian, Georgian)
[masculine in Georgian and in India] - KOO-kah: Cuca (Spanish) / Kuka* (Greenlandic) / Kukka (Finnish) [unisex in Greenlandic]
- CHAH-chah: Chacha (Japanese [seems mostly historical])
- CHEH-chah: Checha* (Spanish) [unisex]
- CHOO-chah: Chucha (Spanish) [also an unrelated curse word in some Spanish dialects]
- DAD-dah: Dadda (Icelandic)
- DAH-dah: Dada* (Yoruba) / Dadá* (Portuguese) / Dodda (Icelandic)
[unisex in Yoruba and Portuguese] - DYE-dah: Daida (Spanish)
- DID-ah: Didda (Icelandic)
- DEE-dah: Dida* (Romanian, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish) [unisex in Portuguese; feminine elsewhere]
- DOH-dah: Doda (Polish)
- DOW-dah: Dauda* (Western African [Hausa?])
- DOO-dah: Duda* (Portugese, Croatian, Serbian, Georgian) [masculine in Georgian, unisex elsewhere]
- FAH-fah: Fafa (Western African [Ewe?]), Fafà* (Portuguese) [unisex in Portuguese]
- FEH-fah: Fefa* (Spanish, Portuguese) [unisex in Portuguese; feminine in Spanish]
- FEE-fah: Fífa (Icelandic)
- GAH-gah: Gaga* (Georgian)
- GEH-gah: Gega* (Georgian)
- GEE-gah: Giga* (Georgian)
- GOH-gah: Goga* (Georgian, Serbian, Croatian) [masculine in Georgian; feminine elsewhere]
- GOO-gah: Guga* (Georgian, Portuguese)
[in case you're wondering, every single Georgian G_ga name seems to be a nickname for Giorgi/George]
- JEE-jah: Gigia (Italian) / Jija (Indian [not sure which language])
- LAL-lah: Lalla (English)
- LAH-lah: Lala* (Scandinavian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Indian [not sure which language], Ancient Greek) / Lalla (Scandinavian, Italian, Ancient Greek)
[masculine in India; feminine elsewhere] - LYE-lah: Laila (Scandinavian) / Lilah (English) / Lila (English) / Lyla (English) / Læla (Icelandic) / Lajla (Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, Scandinavian)
- LEH-lah: Lela (Georgian) / Lella (Italian, Swedish, Icelandic)
- LAY-lah: Layla (Arabic, English) / Laila (Arabic, English) / Leila (Arabic, English, Scandinavian), Leyla (Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kurdish) / Lejla (Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian)
- LIL-ah: Lilla (English, Icelandic) / Lillah (English)
- LEE-lah: Lila (Scandinavian, Indian [many languages]) / Leela (Indian) / Lela (English) / Lilla (Hungarian, Scandinavian) / Liila (Finnish)
- LOH-lah: Lola (Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Scandinavian)
- LOY-lah: Loila (English, Spanish) [more common as a surname in Spanish]
- LOO-lah: Lula* (English, Scandinavian, Portuguese) [unisex in Portuguese; feminine elsewhere]
- MYE-mah: Maima (Western African [Gola?], Tahitian)
- MEE-mah: Mima* (Swedish, Japanese, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene) / Mimma (Swedish, Finnish, Italian)
[unisex in Serbian, Croatian, & Slovene; feminine elsewhere] - MOH-mah: Moma* (Serbian) / Mouma (Indian [not sure which language])
- MOO-mah: Mouma* (Arabic) [unisex, I think?]
- NAH-nah: Nana* (Japanese, Georgian, Greek, Scandinavian, Portuguese, Western African [not sure of the language(s)], Indian [again, not sure of the language]) / Nanna (Scandinavian) / Naana (Finnish)
[unisex in Portuguese and in Western Africa; masculine in India; feminine elsewhere] - NYE-nah: Naina (Indian [Hindi]) / Nina (archaic English)
- NEH-nah: Nena (Serbian, Croatian, Scandinavian, German) / Neena (Finnish) / Nenna (Scandinavian) / Nnenna (Igbo)
- NEE-nah: Nina (pretty much every European language, Japanese, Quechua, Persian, Indian [Hindi, Telugu, possibly others]) / Niina (Finnish, Japanese) / Neena (Indian) / Nína (Icelandic) / Ninna (Scandinavian)
- NOH-nah: Nona (English, Georgian, Japanese, Roman mythology) / Nonna (Russian, Romanian, Armenian, Scandinavian) / Noona (Finnish)
- NOY-nah: Noina (Thai)
- NOO-nah: Nuuna (Greenlandic)
Yeah, this turned out to be a lot longer and more involved than I originally imagined. Part 2 coming soon!
As an aside: since I am doing this from an English-speaking perspective, these lists are necessarily limited to what I can easily distinguish. The sounds I will be working with are as follows:
consonants: b, c/k, ch, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, sh, t, th, ts, v, w, x/ks, y, z, zh
vowels & diphthongs: a, ah, ai("eye"), e, ei("ay"), i, ee, o, ao("ow"), oy, uh, oo
consonants: b, c/k, ch, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, sh, t, th, ts, v, w, x/ks, y, z, zh
vowels & diphthongs: a, ah, ai("eye"), e, ei("ay"), i, ee, o, ao("ow"), oy, uh, oo
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