The Beauty of Names

Salma Agha Origin: Arabic Gender: Female Meaning: "Safe" Pronunciation: SAHL-mah Other Forms: Salima, Shulammite, Shlomit, Selma, Salamatu; Salim, Saleem, Salman *This post is dedicated to my Dad's Boss who has kindly provided me some interesting family names to work with! Thanks Randa. Beautiful, short and sweet, with a surprising Biblical connection and a wealth of interesting (and inspiring!) namesakes -- today's name is the Arabic Salma. Derived from سَلِمَ (salima), which means "to be safe", Salma is best known for being the first name of the sultry Ms. Hayek, who is of mixed Lebanese, Mexican, and Spanish heritage, lending it a bit of familiarity for those worried it might be too unusual. It actually ranked in the US in 2019, though down towards the end at #909, but has seen popularity in Spain (where its cracked the top 100) and the Netherlands, which has a large Arabic diaspora. Other namesakes include Pakistan born Indian-British Bollywood star Salm...

Fatou Samba of "Blackswan" Origin: West African and Arabic Gender: Female Meaning: "To Abstain" Pronunciation: fa-TOO-mah-tah; FA-teem-ah Other Forms: Fatou, Fatuma, Fatma, Fatima, Fatimah, Fatimata, Fatimatou My sister, K-pop lover that she is, was the first one to bring to my attention Fatou Samba, one of the first black members of a K-pop group, and her beautiful name. Fatou is a diminutive of Fatoumata, a version of the Arabic Fatimah, which is popular in French-influenced parts of West Africa. Fatou herself was born in Senegal, but raised in Belgium. Fatimah means "to abstain", and its most famous bearer is a daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and eventual wife of Ali, fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the first Shia Imam -- Fatimah bint Muhammad. According to Sunni Muslims, she was the youngest of his daughters, while Shia Muslims believe she was the only child who lived to adulthood; either way, Fatimah is regarded as an incredibly important fi...

Hermine from GBBO Season 8 Bona - I stumbled across the unusual name while researching royals and found out there is not only one but two Princess who bore it! The first Princess was Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Milan, who lived from 1449 to 1503 and married into the famous Sforza family. The second was Princess Bona, or Maria Bona, of Savoy, who married Prince Konrad of Bavaria. She lived from 1896 to 1971. Bona is Latin and means "good", "noble", or "kind". In Italy when you call a girl "Bona" you mean that she is beautiful. Hermine and Sura - I've started the newest season of the Great British Bake Off, one of my favorite shows ever, and as usual there are some interesting names in the mix! I'm especially intrigued by Hermine, the French and German feminine form of Herman, meaning "army man", and Sura, which is Arabic and means "Highness of Status" or "Glory". Gudrid - Gudrid  Thorbjarnardóttir ( Guðríður  Þo...

Jördis Triebel at the "Dark" Premiere Julika and  Jördis - A couple of weeks ago I finished my favorite series of all time - Netflix's "Dark". After getting past the emotional trauma of the finale I thought I would write about to of the most interesting names associated with Dark, that of Julika Jenkins and  Jördis Triebel.  Julika Jenkins plays one of the most mysterious and important characters of the show during middle age, Claudia Tiedemann. The daughter of a Welsh and German couple, Julika was born in Heidelberg, West Germany, in 1971. Julika is pronounced YOO-lee-kah, sort of like Yulia with a K, and is commonly a Hungarian diminutive of Julia. Jördis plays Katharina Nielsen, the mother of the Nielsen children, and she was born in Prenzlauer Berg, which was once the hub of East Germany's counterculture, which including the gay community, bohemians and Christian activists. The name Jördis is the German form of the more modern, Swedish,  Hjördis, which i...

Poster featuring Svetlana Svetlana, Sveta, and Severija - I've been watching and enjoying Babylon Berlin on Netflix. It's a German TV show following a cop new to Berlin who uncovers much more than he signed up for. One of the characters in the show is Countess Svetlana " Sveta " Sorokina, a white Russian who sings at a cabaret, and who is playing all the sides - she is lover to Trotskyist Alexei Kardakov, right wing industrialist Alfred Nyssen, and is even working for the Soviet secret police. Svetlana (called Sveta by her lover) comes from the Slavic svet, meaning "light, world". Interestingly enough, it is sometimes used as a translation of Photine, most likely because they have the same meanings. The character is played by a Lithuanian actress named Severija  Janušauskaitė. I couldn't find any information on the name, but I assume it's a form of Severa or Severina. Zaida - At work the other day there was a little girl called Zaida . It ...

art by frédéric  bazille 2. Jules - The French are so stylish (especially when it comes to names!) and I was so happy to see something like Jules at number two. Jules is the French form of Julius, which is thought to mean "downy-bearded", and was a Roman family name. It is pronounced "ZHUYL" 95. Marceau - Known to me, and probably to most of the English-speaking world, as the surname of French actress and Bond girl/villainess Sophie Marceau, I was surprised to see this name being used as a first. It is apparently a medieval French form of Marcel. Marcel comes from Marcellus, a Roman family name which started out as a diminutive of Marcus. 113. Lilian - I never knew that Lilian was used as masculine name in France! Count me as pleasantly surprised. 133. Corentin - This gorgeous name possibly means "hurricane" in Breton, and is the name of a 5th-century Saint. 177. Sofiane - A Maghrebi transcript of Sufyan, which could have a meaning relating to ...

art by georges de feure Note: I know I haven't posted anything in forever, but I'm hoping to try and at least get to posting a few things every month. Work has been hectic, especially now since it's summer (the perks of working at an amusement park/arcade), so I apologize! While France doesn't release name stats every year, we do have the one from 2015 to give us an idea of what's popular at the moment. I chose only the names I found beautiful, or interesting, to highlight. Hope you enjoy! 22. Louna - I love this possible variant of Luna. I think it adds a sort of gravitas that Luna may be lacking. In Finland, this name is pronounced "LO-nah" and comes from the word lounas , meaning "southwest". 50. Capucine - A guilty pleasure of mine, this lovely name means "nasturtium". The nasturtium, or tropaeolum, is a genus of about 80 species of flowers, most often bright in color. Along with some of them being edible, with a pepper...

I've just seen "Chicken with Plums" I thought I would dedicate a post to some of the names in it. It is about an Iranian man named Nasser-Ali Khan who is a talented musician. After a fight with his wife, who breaks his violin, he decides to die. It is based on the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, who co-directed the film with Vincent Paronnaud. Parvine - I think this is a form of Parvin, which means "the Pleiades" in Persian. The Pleiades are a group of stars, closest to earth and most visible. They are named for seven sisters, companions to the Goddess Artemis, daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Nasser - Naseer, a form of Nasir, means "helper" in Arabic. I especially like the female version, Nasira. Irâne - This one was the most unusual to me. In the subtitles it is simply Iran, however she is credited as Irâne. I wonder if it is just the French version of Iran? If any one has any info, please let me know. Cyrus - I've liked this name for...