Saturday, August 1, 2020

Reduplication Avocation (Part 1)

My seven-year-old is in quite a fun phase where she names and renames her toys constantly, usually in (to me) incredibly "matchy" ways. Favorites of her lately are Layla and Lola, and today she needed another--Lila? That's a name, right, Mom? What about Lillah? And Leela and Lula, too!!! Oh, man. Heaven. 
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

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