Some of the meanings are wrong

Hey! I really love your site but I wanted to correct/add a few things:

Maja - this is also the German, Slovene and Scandinavian form of Maya and pronounced MY-ah. It's quite popular in Germany, Slovenia (Top 10), Sweden (Top 10) and Norway.

Anja - this is not really an exotic spelling. it is the traditional German spelling of Anya, pr. AHN-ya and very popular in Germany (from the 70s until the mid 80s).

Ronja - you write that this name "has a ninja feel" which is probably because you're mispronouncing it. It is pronounced RON-ya or ROHN-ya and a popular name (top 100) in Germany, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It was indeed used by Astrid Lindgren, but probably not invented by her. It was used in a book called "The Candlesticks and the Cross" by Ruth Freeman Solomon as Ronya, long before Lindgren's book was released. It is a form of the Hebrew name Ronia/Roniya which means "joyful song of god" (same as Roni, Ronit) or the Russian pet form of Veronica and Roxana (just as Sonia is the Russian pet form of Sophia, Anya of Anna etc)

Daisy - does it really mean "pearl"? As far as I know it just means "daisy" or "day eye". It is true that it was used as a pet form for Margaret (which means "pearl") but the reason it was used as a pet name for Margaret is because "Marguerite", the French form of Margaret literally means "daisy" in French. But Daisy doesn't mean "pearl".

Ilma - this also means "air" in Finnish. It is quite fashionable in Finland, as a nature name.

Charis - this is pronounced more like "HAH-ris" is Greek. The H is one of those back in the throat sounds. It's one of my favorites, so I asked one of the professors at my university who teaches Greek to pronounce it for me.

Richart isn't the German form of Richard. We spell it just like you do. Richard.

Thanks! Fixed/adjusted those. Always happy to get name news from other cultures -- very difficult to get accurate on-the-ground information from another country, even when you speak the same language.

hey, I just wanted to add a few things:

Mignon - this is not used in France as a name at all. It is the French word for "cute" or "delicate" and it sounds really weird as a name to someone who speaks French. It is also the male form of the word, the feminine form would be "mignonne". I highly recommend not using this as a name, especially not if you ever intend to go to France. It would sound ridiculous there. If you like the sound of Mignon I would suggest using the similar sounding Manon, which is pretty and actually used as a name in France (top 100).

It's the same with Chérie. chéri/chérie (male, female) are French words that mean "darling, honey". not used as names. I know some celebrities in England etc have used Honey for their daughters but that wouldn't be done in France.

Oh and I thought it might be interesting for you to know that Gretchen (which sounds quite German to most Americans) is not used as a full name in Germany at all. I never met anyone named Gretchen. It was used in Germany about 200 years ago but has been rather unheard of since. It has (as far as I know) never been used as a full name. It is a nickname for Margarethe. Even Gretchen's most famous namesake (Gretchen in "Faust") just used Gretchen as her nickname. Her full name as revealed in the book is Margarethe.

I noticed that under Elle, (the Pick of the Day today and beautiful name!) it said that she was the "charming heroine of the movie Clueless." I'm not sure how many versions are out there, but I'm pretty sure the character Alicia Silverstone played was named Cher. Just thought I should let you know (and maybe be enlightened myself to a different Clueless movie!)

samantha k wrote:I noticed that under Elle, (the Pick of the Day today and beautiful name!) it said that she was the "charming heroine of the movie Clueless." I'm not sure how many versions are out there, but I'm pretty sure the character Alicia Silverstone played was named Cher. Just thought I should let you know (and maybe be enlightened myself to a different Clueless movie!)

You're right! Thanks. Fixed.

Elle was the "heroine" in the Reese Witherspoon movie Legally Blonde. Maybe that's what they were thinking of instead of clueless?

Someone suggested Zadie as a name for a baby girl(very cute and sounds like Sadie), but I think it would be great if Nameberry could mention that Zadie means grandpa in Yiddish!

Hello :)

I'd like to correct some meanings/information:

Noah (girl) - this spelling is absolutely legit for a girl! In Hebrew the girls name Noah is actually written with the Hebrew letter that is generally translated as an H, the same that is also used to spell Sarah. So this is not a "boys names for girls" kind of situation. Noa is how people chose to spell it to differentiate it from what is a boys name in the US, but Noah is just a legit for a girl as Noa.

You might be interested to know, that NO-a is strictly feminine in Israel and even the number one girls name there. The male form has a completely different meaning and spelling (in Hebrew) and is pronounced NO-ach there (the ch is one of those deep in the throat sounds). It got translated as NO-a and became common in the US.

Kaia doesn't mean earth in Greek. Gaia does. Kaia is a Scandinavian form of Katherine and means pure. It's spelled Kaja there and pronounced KAH-ya.

Hope you can add this information! You're doing a great job with the site!

(sorry if this thread was supposed to be dead....)
Hello...
My sister, whose name is Siri, discovered when she went to Kenya two years ago that her name is not only a pet form of Sigrid meaning "fair victory" (or beauty and victory as all the Norwegian name books say) but also "Secret" in Swahili! Perhaps that could be added to the Siri entry?
thanks!

dearest wrote:(sorry if this thread was supposed to be dead....)
Hello...
My sister, whose name is Siri, discovered when she went to Kenya two years ago that her name is not only a pet form of Sigrid meaning "fair victory" (or beauty and victory as all the Norwegian name books say) but also "Secret" in Swahili! Perhaps that could be added to the Siri entry?
thanks!

Thanks--I did add the additional meaning.