Ina Claire in The Girl From Utah Image via WikipediBarefoot Contessa
A celebrity chef pretty much owns this miniature appellation, but once upon a time she was quite common.
Thanks to Kerri for suggesting Ina as our Baby Name of the Day.
Miniature names are very much in vogue.
I really like the name, but it is probably too similar to my Mila for me to ever use. I also love Nina – both pronounced ee-na and nee-na not the “eye” pronounciation, which sounds quite odd to me. I am a huge fan of Ina May Gaskin so that would be a very positive association for me.
My Grandmother Christina, whose family came from Scotland, was always called Ina (pronounced eye-nah). Apparently it was a very common nickname for the girls who had been named to honor male relatives (Jamesina, Thomasina etc.). I would have trouble seeing Ina as anything other than a cute nickname.
Interesting, Jen – today I think a Jamesina would be called Jamie, a Thomasina would be Tommie or Tammy … but there are so many ends-in-ina names that it makes sense.
*eeh-nah* !
I always said eeny-meeny-miny-mo!
Am I the only one who think it sounds like the start of the children’s counting out game – eeh-ha, mee-nah, my-nah, mo???!!
This is the type of name my husband usually likes, short and nickname proof, however I’d like it more if it was spelled Ena. I’m not usually fan of changing a spelling to suit a preferred pronunciation, but this would be an exception — Ina just feels incomplete.
I only like this name as EE-nah [usually with an accent aigu on the ‘I’]. The EYE-nah pronunciation is very unpleasant to me, in this and any other name [also, just EYEn, as in Caroline].
I think I prefer eye-nah to ee-nah, and she’s surprisingly pretty as a name but maybe not substantial enough as a stand alone name, but could work as a nickname for Henrietta or Marina or indeed another name.
The figure skater was actually named Ina Bauer.
I used to know a girl named Inna, pronounced Ee-na, and I believe she was of a Greek background. I think the name is pretty in a simple way without being lacy or frilly.
Typo fixed – thank you!
There are also two Irish saint Inas and one Welsh one. (There’s a saxon one too, but he’s a man!). The Irish Inas probably arose as variants of Aine or Agnes, while the Welsh might be from un ‘one’.
That’s fascinating – I didn’t even think to look.
My great aunt Nina (born around 1920) pronounced her name Nye-nah, like you mention above. It bothered her to no end to be called Nee-nah.
Funny, I have a relative with the name Ina, and she despises the name. She’d pretty much brainwashed me into believing that it is the ugliest name ever. After reading this post, though, I think I might actually like the name. Not for one of my children, though, obviously. — By the way, you mention that Ina is basically nickname-proof. I would love to read a post sometime on nicknames as a general matter. For my children, I definitely looked for names that did not have obvious nicknames attached to them. — As always, thanks for your great blog!
You’re welcome – and I’ve been thinking about the pros/cons of nicknames for some time, so I’m sure there will be a future post!
While I utterly adore Mina, Ina feels incomplete to me. I think I prefer Ee-nah to eye- nah, pronunciation wise. Eye-nah reminds me of mynah and while Dinah doesn’t bother me the same way, Ina with similar pronunciation does.* shrug* No clue why. I would rather meet an Ina than another Mia or Ava though, in that sense, Ina’s quite refreshing. It’s just not for me. 🙂
We have an older woman (70s or 80s) in our church named Ina. She is the absolute definition of sweet charm and southern grace. Normally I’d be turned away by Ina because of the way it ends a certain part of the female anatomy, but this woman just saves the name for me.
I’d never thought of the celebrity chef (probably because she really, really annoys me) as Ina, isn’t that funny? It always slips my mind that her name isn’t The Barefoot Contessa. Ha.
Ah, I never thought of the ending like that. That does ruin the name a bit – especially considering how my kids have already shortened that word. :/
Yes, there is the anatomical drawback …
I don’t know enough about the celebrity chef to have an opinion. I like her recipes, and I once received boxes of her brownie mix as a b-day gift – one of the few boxed mixes that has ever knocked the socks off what I can make from scratch. That said, if I lost my mind and decided to name a daughter after Ina Garten, I think I’d have to name her Contessa.
Ina May Gaskin is a very revered and well-known midwife. Her books are wonderful! I wonder if people call her “Ina May” or just Ina. I love the sound of the the two together. I like the name – it has a retro feel to it.
I’ve always just heard her called “Ina May.”. Love her, her books changed my life.
Ina May is my first association with the name too – having heard of her book at a recent childbirth class. I can imagine women hearing her name during pregnancy and adding it to their list. Then if they read the book and go onto have a very positive birth experience, that would give the name bonus-points for them!
I’m not familiar with the celebrity chef.
I think I like the sound better than Ivy.
Ina May Gaskin is my first and really only reference for this name, so much so that the name “Ina” feels incomplete without “May” following it!
Though I don’t have children yet, I’ve read a lot of her work in some of my research. Ina May Gaskin would make a lovely namesake for a little girl 🙂
Ina May Gaskin is my only real reference to this name as well. I gave birth to my second child four months ago via the assistance of a group of midwives. It was a very positive experience and I greatly preferred it to my previous, doctor-assisted birth. I can see people being inspired by the author, although I could also see women being being turned off the name following the pain of delivery!
Yay! Loving all this Ina May love. It’s my first (and, really, only) association with the name, as well. Hooray for midwifery!
I’m pretty sure the movie Ninotchka demonstrates that no name is nickname-proof, though I’ve never entirely understood why someone would want a name to be nickname proof.
It took me a minute to think Ana through and realize it was Anna with one less A. I was like, why would you cut the l off the end and use -that- as a name? Ina as eye-na bothers me for much the same reason: it’s more remniscent of vag- than anything more charming, and eee-na sounds like the noise a mouse makes. We have a dog named Ada. I like it. Ava and Ida and Zoe are fine, but other than that, I don’t particularly like any of the three letter names I can think of. Mae looks like a squint, though I’ve never met an unattractive Mei. I knew a Japanese boy named Ren, and I’ve always really liked that, though his sister Nene was frequently referred to as Stimpy by the Americans among us.