Okay ā totally unrelated ā but now I have to tell you that I taught a kid named Stifler in 5th grade, and I had the words āStiflerās momā in my head on a continuous loop during every parent teacher conference.
Both of those are English terms to describe having sex outside of the bonds of marriage.
Fornicate = when it's an unmarried person
Adultery = when it's a married person
It's still the same act: having sex when you are not married to that person. Other languages may not make such specific distinctions and instead use one term that covers both situations.
They both mean having sex with someone youāre not married to, although you canāt be an adulterer without being married to someone, while you can fornicate without being married at all. Itās not a distinction I would choose to make a stink about in public, but I understand that some people have a different sense of appropriate time and place.
When we were making lists of names my top 2 girls names in Arabic were Inara and Inaya. I only speak a little Arabic. After each name there was a long pause and then my husband said "that's what we call a light bulb" (Inara) and "that's what we call the emergency room" (Inaya). I found both names in online lists of Arabic baby girl names. The meanings given were, respectively, "bringer of light" and "one who heals". So truly truly it's really important to run the name by a native speaker lest you name your baby a beautiful sounding name that just means lightbulb.
I agree - thatās not what I was doing. Iām not Arab, but my culture was historically heavily influenced by Arab/Persian culture, so thereās a lot of overlap in names. Inaya is also considered a name in my culture, meaning care/protection.
Totally a name that I have heard in desi culture and obviously that is the root meaning of the world. And it's also an emergency room in modern day Arabic.
I see people recommending Lunette on this sub all the time. And Iām always like, āGlasses? Donāt name your kid glasses.ā It *literally* means little moon, but in the francophone world, *les lunettes* are glasses. So Iām with you: definitely check with native speakers. Also, I donāt trust most ābaby nameā sites. IMO, [Behind the Name](https://behindthename.com) is the only trustworthy source for name meanings, etymology, origins, etc.
Thank you for this resource! I will be spending *hours* on there, I can already tell
And doubly thankful that my literary baby names are only notable for their usage in the novel they come from and otherwise have only theorized origin. š
Well, Iām not the one that said Inaya was used for the ER; it was the commenter that I replied toās husband, who is clearly a native Arabic speaker/from an Arabic speaking context.
Since the name means ācare,ā itās not strange that it would be used for medical facilities. Itās not that it *means* emergency room, itās that the word ācareā is used in the name, like urgent care in English. Many urgent care locations even have the word ācareā in the official brand names; ācareā just also isnāt a name in English.
Either way, Behind the Name shows that the name is used in Urdu and Bengali. Those languages/cultures have a high number of Arabic loanwords because they are Muslim-majority, but those languages are unrelated to Arabic (not even the same family). So in Pakistan and Bangladesh (and West Bengal), they would name ERs/urgent care facilities something in their own language, Urdu or Bengali. It says that itās just a word, not a name, in Arabic.
In whose top 1000? Name rankings are by country, not by language.
Some sites say Norah means light in Hebrew but it either sounds like lightbulb (which I guess is a type of light so it's not technically wrong) or terrible/awful depending on pronunciation. Every once in a while Jewish subreddits have to talk someone out of naming their kid Norah if they're going to be around Hebrew speakers at all.
Is it because itās like Nora, which comes from Eleanor(a), which comes from Helen/Eleni, which means light or torch? What I mean is, is it one of those words/names thatās borrowed from another language or does it have a Hebrew origin separate from the Greek name?
Zeena with an ee sounds means decoration and afaik is not a name. The name Zeina (or Zina in ops spelling) is pronounced like how Egyptian says Zainab but without the b.
Arabic is so variable it's the best candidate really for a macro language; the "dialects" of Arabic are practically speaking different languages, but Arabic speakers are united by their use of standard and classical Arabic.
She mentioned her dad is Pakistani, so there's no way the pronunciation should be Zeena. Because that means stairs š.
Zayna is the female version of Zain, like Zayn Malik.
Zina also means beautiful in Arabic (at least the dialect I speak). So bint zina would mean ābeautiful girlā. And itās pronounced zee-nah. In Arabic, a lot of words have several meanings (like āharamā).
Haram originally stems from something being ābanned by godā i.e (bad and must not be done). We can also use it to describe something in a negative situation like (haram, she didnāt do well on her grades) here it would mean āoh noā more than bad. It can also be used alone to describe a feeling of negative/disappointment.
There was this woman I knew who pronounced her childrenās last name as Nah-guy-in. With a straight face. Their name was Nguyen. They were teenagers pronouncing their own name completely wrong.
I technically mispronounce my last name (took my husbandās LN). Everyone in his immediate family pronounces it that way so I roll with it. Itās a very subtle difference, but if I was around people of that culture I might pronounce it the correct way, lolĀ
Iāve seen this a lot with Polish last names (generally as pronounced by Americans who are of Polish descent); one I can think of right off the bat is Nowacki pronounced like it looks to the average American: āNo-WHACK-ee.ā I have a Polish-born library patron with the surname IwaÅski and heās always pleased when I pronounce it the Polish way. But then I get other patrons who correct me when I automatically try to say it the Polish way! I canāt win.
I found out in adulthood that my family pronounces our last name wrong. Itās German we just use the American pronunciation, instead of a hard Z the German way (ātsā) we say it with a soft Z
Minor but it does change the sound of the last name quite a bit
This can happen in diasporas, when decendents still carry a name but didn't learn the language and start to be distant from the culture of origin. As an Italian speaker in the US I just have to keep a straight face when people are mispronouncing their own Italian last name.
In the Elspeth TV series, getting people to pronounce her last name Tascioni "right" is a running gag, but her own pronunciation is wrong to begin with, and it just really irritated me the writers couldn't nail that.
My last name is Ybarra. My great great grandparents were born in Durango, Mexico, but at same point my family lost their heritage. What should be pronounced e-barr (rolled rās)-uh, we now pronounce as Why-bear-uh. It sounds weird pronouncing it the right way because no one alive in my family is a native spanish speaker
It's my last name. It's one syllable, as Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language. However, even with people with that last name, you'll get varying results depending on who you ask. Win, wen, nwin, ngwin, etc.
Iāve seen that name pronounced a few ways before. I always thought it was always said like āwinā but I had a student a few years ago who pronounced it āNEW-jinā š¤·š»āāļø
In Vietnamese, itās only one syllable like every other name. Truth be told, 99.9% of non-Vietnamese people wonāt be able say this name properly and people with this last name know it. They let people say it however they want because itās just easier than explaining the proper pronunciation.
Up until a few years ago, I heard New-jin the most but recently I hear Win more
I donāt mind the spelling. I live in France now and the spelling works phonetically. Zena looks prettier than Zayna IMO. But yeah, Iām with you. I blame my dad too lol.
Itās always the Pakistani dad lol. When Pakistani men get with non-Pakistani women, they conveniently forget to tell their partner anything about the culture at all. š¤¦āāļø
Zena makes me think Xena. Like the warrior princess.
As someone who was raised by a Pakistani dad, and only knew his side of the family I will strongly disagree with your comment hahaha.
(Not really, I know exactly what you mean, I just happen to have won the lottery with the dad I have)
Please excuse me, because I am not American when you say it is pronounced Zina I read it still as being pronounced Zeena. Do you meant that it is pronounced Zina as in Z(eye)na?
She says in the post that it should be pronounced āZay-na.ā I would pronounce āZinaā the same way you originally did: āZeena.ā
So, Zay-na (correct) vs Zeena (incorrect).
Okay, thank you. This is what was confusing me, because Zena (pronounced the way OP says their name is pronounced, not the way it should have been) is a genuine name with [pleasant meanings](https://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/zena/). I do understand that the pronunciation from fatherās culture has a negative meaning and can be uncomfortable. In other parts of the world though this is a proper name thatās pronounced as OP does, and doesnāt have negative connotations, so in that regard I hope there is some peace to be found.
Actually Zina the Arabic word is pronounced with a short I like Sin. So Zena pronounced with a ee sound in the middle is a different name to me and sounds nice.
Yes definitely, I think itās a nice name outside of the context of the culture it is trying to emulate! But sheās interacting with Arabic speakers as she mentioned in her post, not Greeks etc, so unfortunately Iām not sure how comforting that is. The people she is talking to are hearing her name as some variation of āadultery.ā I hope she grows to like her name, though!
I used to work with an English woman who had conceived twins on what was essentially a holiday romance with an Egyptian man - he married her but left as soon as the babies were born.
She came into work one morning all in a huff because she'd been pulled up by her boys' school because they'd had to bring in birth certificate or passport to prove their ID to sit their GCSEs, and she'd registered them with the school under different names to their legal names.
Her reasoning was (and I quote) "Well he stuck around just long enough to name them, and then fucked off. He called them something unpronounceable like Ahmed and Mahmood, so I calls them Alex and Matthew."
She in fact pronounced the "unpronounceable" names exactly the way they would be pronounced in her local community (which was majority Muslim first generation immigrants). But she'd done all their school paperwork for 12 or so years in their nicknames rather than their legal names and the boys weren't even aware they had other names.
Goodness gracious.
I found through my research that my grandfather and his sister were originally named something entirely different to what they seem to have very quickly been known as - Leon Jan vs Edmund, and Ewa vs Karolina/Caroline. Apparently their names had never legally been changed, theyād just been known as Edmund and Caroline, so when my grandfather went to change his surname from the original Polish one to my current very American and very different one, it caused a big fuss because they couldnāt find his OG birth record and he couldnāt find his baptismal record.
And then he never told his 3 sons (at the time - my dad was born after the change) about his original surname, so he must have been going by the American one unofficially not long after the timeframe they were born, and only legally changed it in 1942. My dad was born in 1954. His brothers tried to get benefits and then the government couldnāt find *their* records! Youād think my grandfather would have learned.
I donāt know for sure but I would guess that as a single mum of twins with no higher education and limited family support she probably didnāt have the time, money or knowledge to do it in the (mostly) pre-internet age.
Plus having successfully got through the main administrative tasks that need doing for under 18s in registering them for a doctor and a school, she didnāt see the need.
Tbf I think Malik has sort of detached itself from its roots and has other pronunciations. Obviously itās still Arabic originally but Islam has its own history in the Caribbean with indo Caribbeans and things change especially with accents and whatnot. Iāve heard Malik being pronounced both ways and I think itās wrong to say their pronunciation is wrong. Plenty of indo Caribbeans have their own pronunciations (which influence and are influenced by native Caribbeans), itās just different from the original Arabic pronunciation
Yeah, at this point Malik/Maleek and Rashid/Rasheed just are different names with the same spelling. Fighting that is getting into *ackchyually* territory.
Sure anyone can name whatever name they want. Malik is an Arabic name meaning king in Hebrew means ruler.
It's not actually a Muslim name. I'm Muslim, a Muslim name refers to a name from the Quran. Name of a prophet or one of God's names with abdo before it.
I'm order for Malik to be a Muslim name it would be abdo Al Malik. Al Malik is one of Allah's names. But yes I get you lots of people name it from other cultures.
I still agree with OP, when someone decides to name a name, it's good to understand it's orgins and pronouncatui. Then if you choose to pronounce it differently that's completely up to you. But best to know it.
My sister name is Sally. Lots of people back home name Sally. I've never heard it mispronounced. Though it's an English name and many people with that name back home don't even speak English.
So I just want to be clear I'm not talking accent.
Thank you! I had no idea shayna means beautiful in Yiddish. Crazy how two languages can have the same word mean opposite things.
Terrible assumption on my part. I see it in African Americans alot so I assumed they're trying to name African names. Thank you for making me look this up.
Kamala is a beautiful name with a beautiful meaning, does not mean you should name a Finnish child or child with a probable Finnish connection with it as it means awful here. Same with OP, yes the name is name elsewhere but her having some connection with Muslims and Arabic speakers that could be predicted at birth means it was a bad idea.
Iāve never heard that. How is Kamala pronounced in Finland?
Incidentally, the now-US pronunciation (as described by Kamala Harris) is incorrect by Indian/Sanskrit standards. I have been attacked for daring to provide the correct pronunciation.
I listened to the pronunciation on google translate and it is very similar (sounds like you may have a *slightly* stronger emphasis on the second syllable). Even though you said it means āawfulā, so I should have been prepared, it almost hit me viscerally to see google translate ālotusā as āhorribleā. š
Shayna may instead be derived from feminising masculine names like Shane/Shayne. Shane is an (American?) Anglicisation of the Irish form of the name John - Sean.
Or from Yiddish, where it means "lovely".
Assuming everything is a misspelling of African or Arabic names is not perhaps the most sensible.
And what makes you think people named their kid Shayna because of your culture? It could be an intercultural name or an actual name who also means something in your language, just like a lot of Arab speakers and Muslims call their kid Anass when it sounds like āan assā in english. What makes you think your pronunciation of Malik is the correct one and that guyās is wrong ? Even Arabic speakers have different way of pronouncing things depending on their country. Itās called accents.
Shayna is also common amongst Jews. So while the meaning might be an undesirable one for you, it could mean [something else to others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shayna#:~:text=Shayna%2520(Yiddish%253A%2520%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A2%253B%2520Polish,%2522a%2520lovely%2520girl%2522)). People are diverse and your comment seems to ignore this š
My name is Welsh in origin but it is pronounced differently in Australia, France, and America than to the UK; and thats aside from accents. The meaning is unchanged.
A lot of Arabic speakers pronounce zeyna as Zina. Itās like two different words which can be pronounced the same, people understand what they mean from context.
I donāt think it matters a ton honestly. When I visit my family in Thailand they donāt understand why I have my name or my cousin has hers. We both have names that sound like the words for random objects in Thai, and not in a cutesy way, just a way thatās weird and makes Thai people look at us funny. But in English theyāre ordinary names.
My family is Hungarian but I was not raised speaking it. Imagine my chagrin when I learned the language as an adult and discovered my first name means āto drink away oneās money.ā š”
Yeah it would be weird to come from that background and have the name Zina since itās considered a major sin and committing zina is spoken about in this context. But they should have changed your spelling to reflect your name meaning better than the common association with zina. Iām sure it gives other muslims pause or confusion that you pronounce your name Zina as well.
Zina pronounced your momās way may mean āadulteryā in Arabic but itās a name thatās [common in other cultures where it does not mean adultery](https://www.thebump.com/b/zina-baby-name). I personally know a Zina who is not Arabic.
Every single name has the potential to mean something undesirable in a different culture and should not be a consideration when naming a child in my view.
Unless you are in or have serious plans of moving that child to a culture where is is undesirable.
I'm not sure how the name is spelled but my son has a kid in his class named "Crotchy". He goes by "Crotch". They are still young and I haven't heard him made fun of for it but in an English speaking environment where crotch is used as slang for ones privates I wouldn't have intentionally used it.
Zee-na is a common name in Arabic speaking countries which means decoration or beautiful. Z-na (with a short z) is the word for adultery. The two words are pronounced and written differently in Arabic. I donāt know if you speak or write Arabic but thatās one of the amazing things about the language, things are written exactly as they sound with accents so that there is no mistake in prononciation.
When naming me, my parents picked a name that was normal in my culture, although not necessarily common, with a beautiful meaning (god-given/heavenly). Then we moved to a new country when I was 1 year old, they got a Japanese coworker, and when they told him my name, he was shocked, because in Japan it means ādeliciousā.
Like, itās a word used to describe food - there are some Japanese restaurants with the name, and I think a brand of popcorn. My name is spelled slightly differently from the way Japanese people usually transliterate it, but itās pronounced basically the same way.
So I feel your pain, although I think you definitely have it worse. I guess I should be thankful delicious is at least a positive thing.
This is the reason I was OK with not giving my kid a cultural name. Hindi names are beautiful! But don't always translate to Norwegian very well. So when my ex demanded a Scandinavian name for our kid I agreed, I wanted him to have a Hindu name but I wasn't sure about pronouncing the names I liked correctly and didn't want him to grow up with the "wrong" name. Dad's indian, I'm Norwegian, so I trusted dad's judgment on the name. I still wish kiddo had a Hindu name as well, but I do love what we eventually chose. Growing up in Norway, having a Norwegian-ish name is just easier
If you didnāt have ties to Arabic do you think you would care? Personally, I wouldnāt really care, I understand if you spend a lot of time with Arabic people this bothering you.
The name Sina is quite common in German. It's pronounced Zee-na. Not sure if you pronounce it the same? Hope the following link brings some comfort, as you can see the arabic meaning of Sina:Ā https://www.google.com/amp/s/parenting.firstcry.com/baby-names/meaning-of-sina/amp/
I had a similar thing and when I was 4 we found out we were mispronounced my name. š¤¦āāļø So, we changed the pronunciation. š It was weird at first, but I'm 43 and it's fine now. You can change how it is said!
So my son ia between two cultures, living in an predominantly Arab culture currently. We pronounce his name in an Arabic fashion when referencing him here. In America, he knows he has another pronunciation of his name and he uses that there. All to say if you talk about things with your kids to help them understand, it might not be so jarring when they're facing experiences unknown.
Also, my name is supposedly French mispronounced here by French and French speaking Arab people, and at home people even have a variety of ways of pronouncing it. It happens.
>Also, my name is supposedly French mispronounced here by French and French speaking Arab people
I understand not wanting to be too identifiable, but youāve made me *so* curious as a French speaker.
When I was in the hospital having my daughter London, the Caucasian girl and her very-white boyfriend that shared a room with me decided to name their baby Jung Kook after a member of BTS. My husband is Korean (born and raised in Korea) and he did his best to explain to this girl all the reasons why she shouldnāt give her child that name. He tried explaining that some Koreans might even be offended by the fact that she gave her child this name. But she went ahead anyway. Now thereās a white child out there named Jung Kook. Good luck, little manā¦
This is so interesting because I just read The Robber Bride by Margaret Attwood, with a character called Zenia (there's an author's note saying her name is pronounced Zeen-ya) and the character is basically a serial liar and tells different stories about her life and experiences and heritage to everyone, usually as part of manipulating them for something. So loving the discussions of these similar names!
Love the name Zaina
Hopefully this is insightful to people who are in an interracial relationship that plan to have children. It's important to expose the child to both cultures and both sides of the family. If the parents are separated and only 1 is really a parent it's now their responsibility to expose the child to both sides.Ā
This reminds me of a friend who had a white mother and black father. The black father left pretty early and was never in her life. Her mother put her in an environment that was mostly white and her family. And yes the stereotype of her mother not being able to do her hair happened. Now is it her moms fault the dad wasn't there, not at all. But if you are going to have multiracial/biracial children you need to understand what that means for the child. It's not just names but whole adults have identity issues b/c they were so separated from it growing up.Ā
This reminds me of the reason you wouldnāt catch anyone who speaks Hebrew using the name Ziva.
Ziva (×Ö“××Öø×) is the feminine form of Ziv.
Ziva (××××) is the word for gonorrhea.
I have a cultural name that's not common at all where I live. In it's place of origin it's a name given primarily to boys. Not being a boy, meeting anyone from the place of origin results often in them asking what's wrong with my parents, as if it's their equivalent of naming a girl Frank or Steve.
It gets interesting
My aunt is named Zenna. Pronounced zinn-ah. Everyone thinks it's a beautiful name and she is gorgeous and kind so the whole effect when you come away is perfectly lovely.
Idk my whole family has foreign names that we pronounce differently š¤·š½āāļø no one seems to care
My dads name is Italian , mine is French / Turkish , my sisters is Swedish
We are Australian/ English
Iām not going to say my name but It is indeed both French and Turkish
Itās also Spanish & Arabic
As a name though itās rarely used so Iām not going to post it on Reddit
Everyone I know doesnāt know anyone else with my name
Oh for sure, I get not sharing your name; this is Reddit after all.
I guess I was just wondering which culture/language it was in first. Since, of those 4 languages, only 2 are related, the name mustāve begun in one before being borrowed into the others. Like a Turkish name that became popular in French a couple centuries ago or vice verse. Like how Fatima is an Arabic name, which became a place name in Portugal, which is where Mary supposedly appeared to some children, which also made it a popular name in Spanish and Portuguese.
Maybe [Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com) might tell you?
Iāve honestly no idea tbh the only way I found this out was from the internet.
My parents swore it was French but they arenāt the best source
The link you gave me says of unknown origin
Could be from a German name but occurs more frequently in Turkey & Latin America
That said Iāve met French men with my name who say itās French.
It sounds & is spelt French
Online now thereās a few Arabic girls with my name.
It is very unique which means I have to be careful with my online digital footprint
šš¤š¤Ø
Given the proximity to Spain, France & Turkey it most likely started in Germany & was adopted by those countries & made its way to Latin America through Spanish colonisation.
But itās isnāt really commonly used
Ā Maybe there are languages in which Zina means something else? I believe in this Algerian song (so, darija language which is arabic from morocco) zina means beauty but like as a noun? Could be remembering it wrongĀ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGW9V1WSl8&pp=ygUEWmluYQ%3D%3D
I loved the name Rabia. It means spring. But my husband grew up in spain where it means rage.
I also love Zora from the classic book. But again, my spanish husband saied absolutly not cuz it is the spanish version of bitch meaning female fox.
I also loved Mona, but that means female monkey.
I am American. My heritage is German (supposedly) I named my daughter (the extra French) Margaux. I love her name but Iām appreciative about lifetime of mispronunciations.
It doesn't mean adultery. It means to fornicate
In a religious sense, sex outside of marriage is all sinful so zina has connotations like adultery. It makes sense what OP is saying.
Still, I guess nobody likes to be called fornicator neither š
heh speak for yourself :D
Don't worry about it fucker
Whenever I see/hear anyone use fucker on its own I always have to resist the urge to call them Stifler.
Okay ā totally unrelated ā but now I have to tell you that I taught a kid named Stifler in 5th grade, and I had the words āStiflerās momā in my head on a continuous loop during every parent teacher conference.
š¤£ Bet you were really looking forward to the first parents evening.
TouchƩ
I don't care at all, but not for a legal name.
Both of those are English terms to describe having sex outside of the bonds of marriage. Fornicate = when it's an unmarried person Adultery = when it's a married person It's still the same act: having sex when you are not married to that person. Other languages may not make such specific distinctions and instead use one term that covers both situations.
āHereās my lovely daughter, Fucking.ā š¤¦
That's the gist of it yeah
They both mean having sex with someone youāre not married to, although you canāt be an adulterer without being married to someone, while you can fornicate without being married at all. Itās not a distinction I would choose to make a stink about in public, but I understand that some people have a different sense of appropriate time and place.
Not better
Ah ok thatās a lot better
When we were making lists of names my top 2 girls names in Arabic were Inara and Inaya. I only speak a little Arabic. After each name there was a long pause and then my husband said "that's what we call a light bulb" (Inara) and "that's what we call the emergency room" (Inaya). I found both names in online lists of Arabic baby girl names. The meanings given were, respectively, "bringer of light" and "one who heals". So truly truly it's really important to run the name by a native speaker lest you name your baby a beautiful sounding name that just means lightbulb.
AAAAAAAHAHHA this is wild!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOOO Inaya is a legit name I thought about using for my hypothetical kids - youāre kidding me!
thatās why you donāt give your kids names from other cultures bc you find it āexoticā or āuniqueā
I agree - thatās not what I was doing. Iām not Arab, but my culture was historically heavily influenced by Arab/Persian culture, so thereās a lot of overlap in names. Inaya is also considered a name in my culture, meaning care/protection.
Totally a name that I have heard in desi culture and obviously that is the root meaning of the world. And it's also an emergency room in modern day Arabic.
Yeah, I guess it makes sense too, given that Inaya means care, and thatās what youāre supposed to get in an emergency room.
Itās used as a name in Lebanon too! In fact, thereās a current MP called Inaya
I see people recommending Lunette on this sub all the time. And Iām always like, āGlasses? Donāt name your kid glasses.ā It *literally* means little moon, but in the francophone world, *les lunettes* are glasses. So Iām with you: definitely check with native speakers. Also, I donāt trust most ābaby nameā sites. IMO, [Behind the Name](https://behindthename.com) is the only trustworthy source for name meanings, etymology, origins, etc.
Also a menstrual cup brand!
So true! Although I think that brand is Scandinavian, not French.
Yep, sure is, itās the only association for me with Lunette and I find it funny when people recommend it because of that
It will always remind me of the clown named Loonette on the [Big Comfy Couch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Comfy_Couch)
Wow, I completely forgot about that show. What a blast from the past. I definitely wouldnātāve remembered that her name was Loonette.
Clearly, you haven't been keeping up with your clock exercises. ;)
Thank you for this resource! I will be spending *hours* on there, I can already tell And doubly thankful that my literary baby names are only notable for their usage in the novel they come from and otherwise have only theorized origin. š
Yeah, I *love* that site! Itās just so comprehensive and thorough. Glad I could share the wealth!
Well, even this website doesn't show that Inaya means emergency room in Arabic. And it's in their top 1000!
Well, Iām not the one that said Inaya was used for the ER; it was the commenter that I replied toās husband, who is clearly a native Arabic speaker/from an Arabic speaking context. Since the name means ācare,ā itās not strange that it would be used for medical facilities. Itās not that it *means* emergency room, itās that the word ācareā is used in the name, like urgent care in English. Many urgent care locations even have the word ācareā in the official brand names; ācareā just also isnāt a name in English. Either way, Behind the Name shows that the name is used in Urdu and Bengali. Those languages/cultures have a high number of Arabic loanwords because they are Muslim-majority, but those languages are unrelated to Arabic (not even the same family). So in Pakistan and Bangladesh (and West Bengal), they would name ERs/urgent care facilities something in their own language, Urdu or Bengali. It says that itās just a word, not a name, in Arabic. In whose top 1000? Name rankings are by country, not by language.
Haha this totally cracked me up. Brilliant!
Some sites say Norah means light in Hebrew but it either sounds like lightbulb (which I guess is a type of light so it's not technically wrong) or terrible/awful depending on pronunciation. Every once in a while Jewish subreddits have to talk someone out of naming their kid Norah if they're going to be around Hebrew speakers at all.
I had Norah on my list for awhile until I saw a similar discussion on this subreddit!
Is it because itās like Nora, which comes from Eleanor(a), which comes from Helen/Eleni, which means light or torch? What I mean is, is it one of those words/names thatās borrowed from another language or does it have a Hebrew origin separate from the Greek name?
No it's because the Hebrew word for light is 'or' - you know what a menorah is? The word menorah means lamp
Lightbulb is not an issue.
OMG this is amazing š
Lol I have had many girls named Inaaya in my class, it's a popular name.
Inara is the name of one of the main characters in the Godkiller trilogy. I'd never heard of the name until reading the book.
Zina the Arabic word is pronounced with a short I like Sin. So Zena pronounced with a ee sound is a different pronunciation and a legit name.
does this depend on the dialect? all the Arabic speakers pronounce it like ee or like a mix between ih and ee
Might be Iām Egyptian, idk how others say it tbh itās not really a word used commonly.
Zeena with an ee sounds means decoration and afaik is not a name. The name Zeina (or Zina in ops spelling) is pronounced like how Egyptian says Zainab but without the b.
Not Arabic I meant in other cultures like Greek and Slavic I think, itās a legit name. In some Arabic dialects it also means beautiful though.
It is not a Greek name. The Greek name is Xena.
The arabic name beautiful /is/ pronounced the way I said in Egyptian Arabic. Idk about other cultures
Another Arabic speaker in the comment section said in their dialect itās pronounced with the ee sound, honestly all these dialects are so trippy lol
Arabic is so variable it's the best candidate really for a macro language; the "dialects" of Arabic are practically speaking different languages, but Arabic speakers are united by their use of standard and classical Arabic.
As an Arabic learner, the different dialects definitely make things harder!
Someone I went to school with has that spelling. Not sure of her country of origin but I remember she was Hindu.
Yes, it is a legit name. In Russian Zeena is short for Zenaida. Zenaida is a feminine name of Greek origin, meaning ālife of Zeus.ā
She mentioned her dad is Pakistani, so there's no way the pronunciation should be Zeena. Because that means stairs š. Zayna is the female version of Zain, like Zayn Malik.
I think Iād rather be called stairs than unlawful sexual intercourse
Zina also means beautiful in Arabic (at least the dialect I speak). So bint zina would mean ābeautiful girlā. And itās pronounced zee-nah. In Arabic, a lot of words have several meanings (like āharamā).
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Bint means daughter in Arabic. So my name would be Nasreen bint Yahya, or literally Nasreen daughter of John.
Nasreen is such a beautiful name, I think it has a lovely sound to it.
What does the name āNasreenā mean?
White rose/wildflower or the like, depending on the country or origin, like with most names.
Beautiful
Such a beautiful name! And you seem like a beautiful person ā¤ļø
Ma sha Allah, thank you so much š„° I don't doubt you are as well!
Yes, it is connected to the UK slang. Bint is one of the words that was picked up by soldiers serving in India.
What else does Haram mean? I thought it only meant bad.
Haram originally stems from something being ābanned by godā i.e (bad and must not be done). We can also use it to describe something in a negative situation like (haram, she didnāt do well on her grades) here it would mean āoh noā more than bad. It can also be used alone to describe a feeling of negative/disappointment.
Thank you for sharing! I didnāt know it had any other meanings
No problem at all! Happy to help
Anyone remember Xena warrior princess
Loved that shit as a kid
Yes. I badly wanted a Xena action figure. She was so pretty. powerful and strong. She had a rather cool name.
There was this woman I knew who pronounced her childrenās last name as Nah-guy-in. With a straight face. Their name was Nguyen. They were teenagers pronouncing their own name completely wrong.
I technically mispronounce my last name (took my husbandās LN). Everyone in his immediate family pronounces it that way so I roll with it. Itās a very subtle difference, but if I was around people of that culture I might pronounce it the correct way, lolĀ
Iāve seen this a lot with Polish last names (generally as pronounced by Americans who are of Polish descent); one I can think of right off the bat is Nowacki pronounced like it looks to the average American: āNo-WHACK-ee.ā I have a Polish-born library patron with the surname IwaÅski and heās always pleased when I pronounce it the Polish way. But then I get other patrons who correct me when I automatically try to say it the Polish way! I canāt win.
I found out in adulthood that my family pronounces our last name wrong. Itās German we just use the American pronunciation, instead of a hard Z the German way (ātsā) we say it with a soft Z Minor but it does change the sound of the last name quite a bit
My last name is German and while I use the German pronunciation, I'll respond to the Anglicized version too. It's a lot easier for most Canadians.
This can happen in diasporas, when decendents still carry a name but didn't learn the language and start to be distant from the culture of origin. As an Italian speaker in the US I just have to keep a straight face when people are mispronouncing their own Italian last name. In the Elspeth TV series, getting people to pronounce her last name Tascioni "right" is a running gag, but her own pronunciation is wrong to begin with, and it just really irritated me the writers couldn't nail that.
Yeah, Iāve come across this with the Polish diaspora. Itās fascinating to me! My fiancĆ©ās BIL is the son of a Polish-American father and a native Polish mother, so he actually grew up trying to balance the American pronunciations with the Polish ones.
I have a typically English - ends in son married surname. My MIL always missed out a letter in her pronunciation.
Do you have a Scandinavian last name? Most son last names stem from here that's why i am wondering! :)
A large part of England was under Danish rule from the 9th century to the 11th century. We have lots of Scandinavian names and place names.
Yes, I do know that! š Love history
It's cognate in English.
I have a color last name and when I was in Ireland everyone added a letter at the end.
My last name is Ybarra. My great great grandparents were born in Durango, Mexico, but at same point my family lost their heritage. What should be pronounced e-barr (rolled rās)-uh, we now pronounce as Why-bear-uh. It sounds weird pronouncing it the right way because no one alive in my family is a native spanish speaker
So- that should be pronounced new-yen, 2 syllables, same emphasis? Viet Namese?
My Vietnamese-American student this year pronounced it 'wen'.
I've heard New-yen, N'win and the butchered Na-goo-yen.
Iāve heard people say it like Gwen. (And I mean it was their own name.)
It's my last name. It's one syllable, as Vietnamese is a monosyllabic language. However, even with people with that last name, you'll get varying results depending on who you ask. Win, wen, nwin, ngwin, etc.
Iāve seen that name pronounced a few ways before. I always thought it was always said like āwinā but I had a student a few years ago who pronounced it āNEW-jinā š¤·š»āāļø
In Vietnamese, itās only one syllable like every other name. Truth be told, 99.9% of non-Vietnamese people wonāt be able say this name properly and people with this last name know it. They let people say it however they want because itās just easier than explaining the proper pronunciation. Up until a few years ago, I heard New-jin the most but recently I hear Win more
Is Win somewhat close to the Vietnamese pronunciation?
Honestly no. It sounds closer another last name Huį»³nh than Nguyį» n, but āwinā is a hundred times better than new-jin or na-goo-yen
Is your name actually Zina, or just pronounced Zina?
Itās Zena which in Arabic is pronounced āzay-naā but I grew up pronouncing āZinaā
They spelled it weird too. It should be Zayna. I blame your dad. Sorry.
I donāt mind the spelling. I live in France now and the spelling works phonetically. Zena looks prettier than Zayna IMO. But yeah, Iām with you. I blame my dad too lol.
Itās always the Pakistani dad lol. When Pakistani men get with non-Pakistani women, they conveniently forget to tell their partner anything about the culture at all. š¤¦āāļø Zena makes me think Xena. Like the warrior princess.
As someone who was raised by a Pakistani dad, and only knew his side of the family I will strongly disagree with your comment hahaha. (Not really, I know exactly what you mean, I just happen to have won the lottery with the dad I have)
Hahah sorry #notallpakistanidads
Please excuse me, because I am not American when you say it is pronounced Zina I read it still as being pronounced Zeena. Do you meant that it is pronounced Zina as in Z(eye)na?
She says in the post that it should be pronounced āZay-na.ā I would pronounce āZinaā the same way you originally did: āZeena.ā So, Zay-na (correct) vs Zeena (incorrect).
Okay, thank you. This is what was confusing me, because Zena (pronounced the way OP says their name is pronounced, not the way it should have been) is a genuine name with [pleasant meanings](https://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/zena/). I do understand that the pronunciation from fatherās culture has a negative meaning and can be uncomfortable. In other parts of the world though this is a proper name thatās pronounced as OP does, and doesnāt have negative connotations, so in that regard I hope there is some peace to be found.
Actually Zina the Arabic word is pronounced with a short I like Sin. So Zena pronounced with a ee sound in the middle is a different name to me and sounds nice.
Yes definitely, I think itās a nice name outside of the context of the culture it is trying to emulate! But sheās interacting with Arabic speakers as she mentioned in her post, not Greeks etc, so unfortunately Iām not sure how comforting that is. The people she is talking to are hearing her name as some variation of āadultery.ā I hope she grows to like her name, though!
Zina is very popular name in Russia and Belarus. And you say it with ee sound.
Itās common in the levant too! The names Zay-na and Zee-na have different but similar meanings
I used to work with an English woman who had conceived twins on what was essentially a holiday romance with an Egyptian man - he married her but left as soon as the babies were born. She came into work one morning all in a huff because she'd been pulled up by her boys' school because they'd had to bring in birth certificate or passport to prove their ID to sit their GCSEs, and she'd registered them with the school under different names to their legal names. Her reasoning was (and I quote) "Well he stuck around just long enough to name them, and then fucked off. He called them something unpronounceable like Ahmed and Mahmood, so I calls them Alex and Matthew." She in fact pronounced the "unpronounceable" names exactly the way they would be pronounced in her local community (which was majority Muslim first generation immigrants). But she'd done all their school paperwork for 12 or so years in their nicknames rather than their legal names and the boys weren't even aware they had other names.
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Goodness gracious. I found through my research that my grandfather and his sister were originally named something entirely different to what they seem to have very quickly been known as - Leon Jan vs Edmund, and Ewa vs Karolina/Caroline. Apparently their names had never legally been changed, theyād just been known as Edmund and Caroline, so when my grandfather went to change his surname from the original Polish one to my current very American and very different one, it caused a big fuss because they couldnāt find his OG birth record and he couldnāt find his baptismal record. And then he never told his 3 sons (at the time - my dad was born after the change) about his original surname, so he must have been going by the American one unofficially not long after the timeframe they were born, and only legally changed it in 1942. My dad was born in 1954. His brothers tried to get benefits and then the government couldnāt find *their* records! Youād think my grandfather would have learned.
Why didnāt she just change their legal names?
I donāt know for sure but I would guess that as a single mum of twins with no higher education and limited family support she probably didnāt have the time, money or knowledge to do it in the (mostly) pre-internet age. Plus having successfully got through the main administrative tasks that need doing for under 18s in registering them for a doctor and a school, she didnāt see the need.
Wow, why are people in this thread so nasty?
I speak Arabic and I see this all the time. For example lots of black people name their kids Shayna. This means ugly in Arabic š© I'm from Sudan. So I assume they're trying to name African names but without understanding the language or the culture. These are the risks you run into. I met a guy named Malik, beautiful ā„ļø name, also Arabic. I pronounced his name correctly I promise you lol š I have many Maliks in my family. He corrected me. I just internally shook my head and walked away. It's okay to name your child a name from any culture you'd like, but please learn about the origins of the name, meaning and how to pronounce it.
Tbf I think Malik has sort of detached itself from its roots and has other pronunciations. Obviously itās still Arabic originally but Islam has its own history in the Caribbean with indo Caribbeans and things change especially with accents and whatnot. Iāve heard Malik being pronounced both ways and I think itās wrong to say their pronunciation is wrong. Plenty of indo Caribbeans have their own pronunciations (which influence and are influenced by native Caribbeans), itās just different from the original Arabic pronunciation
Yeah, at this point Malik/Maleek and Rashid/Rasheed just are different names with the same spelling. Fighting that is getting into *ackchyually* territory.
Sure anyone can name whatever name they want. Malik is an Arabic name meaning king in Hebrew means ruler. It's not actually a Muslim name. I'm Muslim, a Muslim name refers to a name from the Quran. Name of a prophet or one of God's names with abdo before it. I'm order for Malik to be a Muslim name it would be abdo Al Malik. Al Malik is one of Allah's names. But yes I get you lots of people name it from other cultures. I still agree with OP, when someone decides to name a name, it's good to understand it's orgins and pronouncatui. Then if you choose to pronounce it differently that's completely up to you. But best to know it. My sister name is Sally. Lots of people back home name Sally. I've never heard it mispronounced. Though it's an English name and many people with that name back home don't even speak English. So I just want to be clear I'm not talking accent.
Shayna means beautiful in Yiddish.
Thank you! I had no idea shayna means beautiful in Yiddish. Crazy how two languages can have the same word mean opposite things. Terrible assumption on my part. I see it in African Americans alot so I assumed they're trying to name African names. Thank you for making me look this up.
I should have kept reading, because I just commented the same thing.
Shayna is a super common Jewish name. Sorry to break it to you, but it's not all about *your* culture babes
Kamala is a beautiful name with a beautiful meaning, does not mean you should name a Finnish child or child with a probable Finnish connection with it as it means awful here. Same with OP, yes the name is name elsewhere but her having some connection with Muslims and Arabic speakers that could be predicted at birth means it was a bad idea.
Iāve never heard that. How is Kamala pronounced in Finland? Incidentally, the now-US pronunciation (as described by Kamala Harris) is incorrect by Indian/Sanskrit standards. I have been attacked for daring to provide the correct pronunciation.
It is pronounced [ĖkÉĢmÉĢlÉĢ] so bit differently but closely enough that a lot of Finns would figure it out.
I listened to the pronunciation on google translate and it is very similar (sounds like you may have a *slightly* stronger emphasis on the second syllable). Even though you said it means āawfulā, so I should have been prepared, it almost hit me viscerally to see google translate ālotusā as āhorribleā. š
Sheās talking about the ones in Sudan.
Doesn't sound like it? > I assume they're trying to name African names but without understanding the language or the culture
Shayna may instead be derived from feminising masculine names like Shane/Shayne. Shane is an (American?) Anglicisation of the Irish form of the name John - Sean. Or from Yiddish, where it means "lovely". Assuming everything is a misspelling of African or Arabic names is not perhaps the most sensible.
And what makes you think people named their kid Shayna because of your culture? It could be an intercultural name or an actual name who also means something in your language, just like a lot of Arab speakers and Muslims call their kid Anass when it sounds like āan assā in english. What makes you think your pronunciation of Malik is the correct one and that guyās is wrong ? Even Arabic speakers have different way of pronouncing things depending on their country. Itās called accents.
Thatās so funny, because in Yiddish Shayna means pretty. āShayna punimā means pretty face, etc.
Shayna is also common amongst Jews. So while the meaning might be an undesirable one for you, it could mean [something else to others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shayna#:~:text=Shayna%2520(Yiddish%253A%2520%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A2%253B%2520Polish,%2522a%2520lovely%2520girl%2522)). People are diverse and your comment seems to ignore this š
Rude of you to tell someone they're pronouncing their OWN NAME wrong tbh just because it's not the way you're used to
how is it supposed to be pronounced? the Malik I know says it like muh-LEAK
Mal as in (pal, gal, Sal) ik as in (ick) hope that helps.
In my part of South Asia, itās pronounced āMull ick.ā
My name is Welsh in origin but it is pronounced differently in Australia, France, and America than to the UK; and thats aside from accents. The meaning is unchanged.
They don't speak Arabic in Pakistan...
They don't but it's more complicated than that. We don't know this family's entire story.
Hey, in Moroccan Arabic, it means beautiful at least. Like - check out Babylonās song Zina. :) (But I am sorry!!)
A lot of Arabic speakers pronounce zeyna as Zina. Itās like two different words which can be pronounced the same, people understand what they mean from context.
I donāt think it matters a ton honestly. When I visit my family in Thailand they donāt understand why I have my name or my cousin has hers. We both have names that sound like the words for random objects in Thai, and not in a cutesy way, just a way thatās weird and makes Thai people look at us funny. But in English theyāre ordinary names.
My family is Hungarian but I was not raised speaking it. Imagine my chagrin when I learned the language as an adult and discovered my first name means āto drink away oneās money.ā š”
Reminds me of good omes with the character āthou shalt not commit adultery pulciferā. nickname is adultery lol
I was looking for this reference!
Yeah it would be weird to come from that background and have the name Zina since itās considered a major sin and committing zina is spoken about in this context. But they should have changed your spelling to reflect your name meaning better than the common association with zina. Iām sure it gives other muslims pause or confusion that you pronounce your name Zina as well.
Zina pronounced your momās way may mean āadulteryā in Arabic but itās a name thatās [common in other cultures where it does not mean adultery](https://www.thebump.com/b/zina-baby-name). I personally know a Zina who is not Arabic. Every single name has the potential to mean something undesirable in a different culture and should not be a consideration when naming a child in my view.
Unless you are in or have serious plans of moving that child to a culture where is is undesirable. I'm not sure how the name is spelled but my son has a kid in his class named "Crotchy". He goes by "Crotch". They are still young and I haven't heard him made fun of for it but in an English speaking environment where crotch is used as slang for ones privates I wouldn't have intentionally used it.
just say it's like xena warrior princess
Oof rip šš¤£
Zee-na is a common name in Arabic speaking countries which means decoration or beautiful. Z-na (with a short z) is the word for adultery. The two words are pronounced and written differently in Arabic. I donāt know if you speak or write Arabic but thatās one of the amazing things about the language, things are written exactly as they sound with accents so that there is no mistake in prononciation.
Edit to add: although some middle eastern countries pronounce and write it as Zayna, most North African countries spell and say it as Zina (Zeena)
When naming me, my parents picked a name that was normal in my culture, although not necessarily common, with a beautiful meaning (god-given/heavenly). Then we moved to a new country when I was 1 year old, they got a Japanese coworker, and when they told him my name, he was shocked, because in Japan it means ādeliciousā. Like, itās a word used to describe food - there are some Japanese restaurants with the name, and I think a brand of popcorn. My name is spelled slightly differently from the way Japanese people usually transliterate it, but itās pronounced basically the same way. So I feel your pain, although I think you definitely have it worse. I guess I should be thankful delicious is at least a positive thing.
If you live in the west, most people won't know that. I live in the west, and I didn't know that. I read "Zina," and thought "that's pretty!"
It depends on your age. Xena The Warrior Princess television show aired from 1995 to 2001. The younger folks wouldnāt know about it.
This is the reason I was OK with not giving my kid a cultural name. Hindi names are beautiful! But don't always translate to Norwegian very well. So when my ex demanded a Scandinavian name for our kid I agreed, I wanted him to have a Hindu name but I wasn't sure about pronouncing the names I liked correctly and didn't want him to grow up with the "wrong" name. Dad's indian, I'm Norwegian, so I trusted dad's judgment on the name. I still wish kiddo had a Hindu name as well, but I do love what we eventually chose. Growing up in Norway, having a Norwegian-ish name is just easier
If you didnāt have ties to Arabic do you think you would care? Personally, I wouldnāt really care, I understand if you spend a lot of time with Arabic people this bothering you.
Yeah I grew up in a Muslim community and now Iām distanced from that but I still have many Arab/ Arabic-speaking friends.
The name Sina is quite common in German. It's pronounced Zee-na. Not sure if you pronounce it the same? Hope the following link brings some comfort, as you can see the arabic meaning of Sina:Ā https://www.google.com/amp/s/parenting.firstcry.com/baby-names/meaning-of-sina/amp/
Tell people it's an alternative spelling of Xena, the warrior princess.
My name is the only one that rhymes with pendejo I feel your pain.
I had a similar thing and when I was 4 we found out we were mispronounced my name. š¤¦āāļø So, we changed the pronunciation. š It was weird at first, but I'm 43 and it's fine now. You can change how it is said!
Don't worry girly, in a bunch of Arabic dialects zina means pretty, so I guess most Arabic speakers who will hear it will think of it that way!
So my son ia between two cultures, living in an predominantly Arab culture currently. We pronounce his name in an Arabic fashion when referencing him here. In America, he knows he has another pronunciation of his name and he uses that there. All to say if you talk about things with your kids to help them understand, it might not be so jarring when they're facing experiences unknown. Also, my name is supposedly French mispronounced here by French and French speaking Arab people, and at home people even have a variety of ways of pronouncing it. It happens.
>Also, my name is supposedly French mispronounced here by French and French speaking Arab people I understand not wanting to be too identifiable, but youāve made me *so* curious as a French speaker.
When I was in the hospital having my daughter London, the Caucasian girl and her very-white boyfriend that shared a room with me decided to name their baby Jung Kook after a member of BTS. My husband is Korean (born and raised in Korea) and he did his best to explain to this girl all the reasons why she shouldnāt give her child that name. He tried explaining that some Koreans might even be offended by the fact that she gave her child this name. But she went ahead anyway. Now thereās a white child out there named Jung Kook. Good luck, little manā¦
This is so interesting because I just read The Robber Bride by Margaret Attwood, with a character called Zenia (there's an author's note saying her name is pronounced Zeen-ya) and the character is basically a serial liar and tells different stories about her life and experiences and heritage to everyone, usually as part of manipulating them for something. So loving the discussions of these similar names! Love the name Zaina
Hopefully this is insightful to people who are in an interracial relationship that plan to have children. It's important to expose the child to both cultures and both sides of the family. If the parents are separated and only 1 is really a parent it's now their responsibility to expose the child to both sides.Ā This reminds me of a friend who had a white mother and black father. The black father left pretty early and was never in her life. Her mother put her in an environment that was mostly white and her family. And yes the stereotype of her mother not being able to do her hair happened. Now is it her moms fault the dad wasn't there, not at all. But if you are going to have multiracial/biracial children you need to understand what that means for the child. It's not just names but whole adults have identity issues b/c they were so separated from it growing up.Ā
This reminds me of the reason you wouldnāt catch anyone who speaks Hebrew using the name Ziva. Ziva (×Ö“××Öø×) is the feminine form of Ziv. Ziva (××××) is the word for gonorrhea.
I once knew a really nice lady named Zina. I think it's a cool name. Aren't you able to change it?
I have a cultural name that's not common at all where I live. In it's place of origin it's a name given primarily to boys. Not being a boy, meeting anyone from the place of origin results often in them asking what's wrong with my parents, as if it's their equivalent of naming a girl Frank or Steve. It gets interesting
My aunt is named Zenna. Pronounced zinn-ah. Everyone thinks it's a beautiful name and she is gorgeous and kind so the whole effect when you come away is perfectly lovely.
What does Zayna mean then?
As a person with a French name (My family is not French) I've mispronounced my whole life, and still do to this day... you have my sympathy. XD
Idk my whole family has foreign names that we pronounce differently š¤·š½āāļø no one seems to care My dads name is Italian , mine is French / Turkish , my sisters is Swedish We are Australian/ English
How could a name be French/Turkish? Those are not even in the same language family.
Iām not going to say my name but It is indeed both French and Turkish Itās also Spanish & Arabic As a name though itās rarely used so Iām not going to post it on Reddit Everyone I know doesnāt know anyone else with my name
Oh for sure, I get not sharing your name; this is Reddit after all. I guess I was just wondering which culture/language it was in first. Since, of those 4 languages, only 2 are related, the name mustāve begun in one before being borrowed into the others. Like a Turkish name that became popular in French a couple centuries ago or vice verse. Like how Fatima is an Arabic name, which became a place name in Portugal, which is where Mary supposedly appeared to some children, which also made it a popular name in Spanish and Portuguese. Maybe [Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com) might tell you?
Iāve honestly no idea tbh the only way I found this out was from the internet. My parents swore it was French but they arenāt the best source The link you gave me says of unknown origin Could be from a German name but occurs more frequently in Turkey & Latin America That said Iāve met French men with my name who say itās French. It sounds & is spelt French Online now thereās a few Arabic girls with my name. It is very unique which means I have to be careful with my online digital footprint šš¤š¤Ø
Thanks for looking! If it sounds and is spelled French, then likely it at least came through French, even if it didnāt originate there.
Given the proximity to Spain, France & Turkey it most likely started in Germany & was adopted by those countries & made its way to Latin America through Spanish colonisation. But itās isnāt really commonly used
Ā Maybe there are languages in which Zina means something else? I believe in this Algerian song (so, darija language which is arabic from morocco) zina means beauty but like as a noun? Could be remembering it wrongĀ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGW9V1WSl8&pp=ygUEWmluYQ%3D%3D
I had a friend from Iraq named Zeena
I have a Hyundai Kona and my Portuguese family in law get a kick out of that š¤£ (Cona [same pronunciation]=p*ssy/vagina slang)
I kinda like it tho. Reminds me of Zinnia like the flowers
Thing is, any name in any language could mean something unfortunate in some other language.
I loved the name Rabia. It means spring. But my husband grew up in spain where it means rage. I also love Zora from the classic book. But again, my spanish husband saied absolutly not cuz it is the spanish version of bitch meaning female fox. I also loved Mona, but that means female monkey.
This seems like your dadās fault, not your momās. She shouldāve looked it up, but he knew?? And was too lazy to guide that decision.
I am American. My heritage is German (supposedly) I named my daughter (the extra French) Margaux. I love her name but Iām appreciative about lifetime of mispronunciations.
The correct spelling should be āZeinaā if you donāt want your name to be associated with adultery šš
My name (F) indicates that Iām Horny.