Showing posts with label Zulu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zulu. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2018

You're a Star, pt. 3

I've already done a post on named stars, as well as one on names that mean 'star'. However, that overlooks one very narrow category of stellar names: those referring to one specific star--in this case, the morning and evening star (both are actually Venus, but let's not get too semantic). ;)

Danica and Lucifer are probably the only ones familiar in the US, but there are a quite a few others....
(surprisingly, most of the names I found are commonly used on people; the few that are mainly mythological/literary are marked with an *. Also, almost all the names refer to the morning star--or Venus in general--the ones referring to only the evening star are noted as such)

Feminine:
  • Arusiak (ah-ROOS-yak, Armenian)--also transliterated as Arusyak
  • Aušrinė (oh-SHREEN-ay [trilled/rolled R], Lithuanian)
  • Ayelet (ah-YEH-let, Hebrew)--lit. "gazelle". 'Ayelet hashachar ("gazelle of dawn") is the Hebrew name for the morning star.
  • Berlewen (behr-LEOO-en ['EOO' roughly sounds like the short 'e' of English "let" and the short 'oo' of "took" smashed together], Cornish)--a modern revival Cornish name. Another form is Borlowen* (bor-LOO-en). 
  • Danica (DAN-ik-ah, English; DAH-neets-ah, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovenian)
  • Jitřenka (yih-TRZHENK-ah [no close English equivalent for the ř, sort of a buzzy rolled R], Czech)
  • Lucero (loo-SEH-roh, Spanish)--lit. "light-giver, brilliance". Lucero del alba ("light-giver of dawn") is the Spanish name for the morning star. 
  • Quetzalli (ket-SAHL-lee, Nahuatl)--lit. "feather". Quetzalcoatl is the god of the morning star in Aztec mythology. Modern Spanish spelling is Quetzali.
  • Sagal (sah-GAL, Somali)
  • Vakarinė* (vah-kah-REE-nay [trilled/rolled R], Lithuanian) [evening]
  • Zornitsa (zor-NEET-sah, Bulgarian)
  • Zorya* (ZOHR-yah, Russian, Ukrainian)--lit. "dawn". Zorya Vechernyaya and Zorya Utrennyaya are the goddesses of the evening star and morning star, respectively, in Slavic mythology.
    [related names Zora/Zoran/Zorana are common in the Slavic languages]

Masculine:
  • Ēarendel* (AYR-en-del, Old English)--Old Norse form is Aurvandil* (AWR-vahn-dil). Orentil*Orendel*, and Erentil* are related names found in medieval German literature.
    [Tolkien fans might notice the similarity between Ēarendel and Eärendil--well, Tolkien was an Old English scholar. ;) ]
  • Lucifer* (LOO-sif-er, [anglicized] Latin)--lit. "bringer of light"
  • Tariq (TAH-rik, Arabic)--lit. "knocker, striker"
  • Tāwera (TAH-weh-rah, Maori)
  • Vesper* (VES-per, [anglicized] Latin)--Original Greek form is Hesperos*. [evening]

Unisex:
  • Khwezi (KWEH-zee, Zulu)
  • Tsolmon (TSAHL-mun, Mongolian)

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Modern but Not (girls)

Girls' name-trends are more nickname-driven apparently, and shorten to Addy, Maddy, Emma, Bella, Ella, or Lily (mostly skipping these, as they're covered in other posts). Girls' names are also more likely to start with A, K, Z; contain H, K, X, Y, Z, ; and end in 'lee' [and to a lesser extent, 'ee' in general], 'aya', or 'ia'.


  • Abigaia (ah-bee-GYE-ah, Greek [Biblical])--form of Abigail
  • Acacia (ah-KAY-shah, English)
  • Adannaya (ah-dah-NAH-yah, Igbo)--"her father's daughter"
  • Alaia (ah-lah-yah, Basque)--"happy"
  • Antheia (an-THAY-ah, Greek)--original form of Anthea
  • Araceli (ah-rah-SEH-lee, Spanish)
  • Arlie (AR-lee, English)
  • Atalia (ah-TAHL-yah, Hebrew)
  • Aviya (ah-vee-YAH, Hebrew)
  • Aya (ah-yah, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic)
  • Caelia (SAY-lee-ah, English; CHAY-lee-ah or KYE-lee-ah, Latin)--"heaven"
  • Clelia (CLEHL-yah, Italian)
  • Deòiridh (JOR-ee, Scottish)
  • Eilidh (AY-lee, Scottish)--form of Helen or Eleanor
  • Evelia (eh-VEH-lee-ah, Spanish)
  • Freya (FRAY-ah, English)--from Norse, "lady"
  • Gioia (JOY-ah, Italian)
  • Idriya (ee-dree-ah, Hebrew)
  • Iole (ee-OH-lee, EYE-ah-lee, Greek)--"violet"
  • Junia (JOO-nee-ah, Latin)
  • Kamaria (kah-mah-REE-ah, Swahili)--from Arabic, "moon"
  • Keziah (keh-ZYE-ah, English)--from Hebrew "cassia spice"
  • Kyveli (kih-VEL-ee, Greek)
  • Laelia (LAY-lee-ah, English; LYE-lee-ah, Latin)
  • Lígia (LEE-zhee-ah, Portuguese)
  • Magali (mah-gah-LEE, French)--form of Magdalene/Madeline. Also spelled Magalie.
  • Mahalia (mah-HAY-lee-ah, English)--from Hebrew, "lyre"
  • Marsaili (MAR-sah-lee, Scottish)
  • Melia (MEL-ee-ah, Greek)--"honey"
  • Micaiah (mee-kah-yah, Hebrew)
  • Minali (MEE-nah-lee, Hindi)
  • Mireia (mee-RAY-ah, Spanish)--also spelled Mireya.
  • Nephele (NEF-el-ee, Greek)
  • Noya (noh-yah, Hebrew)--"beauty"
  • Priya (PREE-ah, Hindi)--"beloved"
  • Rheia (RAY-ah, Greek)--original form of Rhea.
  • Riya (REE-ah, Hindi)--"singer"
  • Suraya (soo-RAH-yah, Arabic)
  • Tacey (TAY-see, English)--from Latin, "quiet"
  • Taisiya (tah-EE-see-ah, Russian)
  • Thulile (too-lee-leh, Zulu)--"quiet"
  • Velia (VEHL-yah, Italian)