She’s a Lithuanian nature name first noticed in the US thanks to a controversial reality show.
Thanks to Macie for suggesting Miglė as our Baby Name of the Day.
Back in September 2007, we were all talking about CBS’ decision to air a reality series about kids aged 8 to 15 who were sent off to live on a New Mexico ranch with minimal adult supervision. Would it be Lord of the Flies or would they succeed in creating a model society? Kid Nation lasted just one season.
The 40 kids who vied for cash prizes during the series mostly answered to pretty ordinary names: Mike and Madison, Nathan and Sophia. But there were some stand-out appellations among the cast: a boy called Pharaoh and another named Blaine. But the most arresting girl’s name was certainly Miglė.
Pronounced ME glay, the name is Lithuanian and comes from their word migla – mist. The sound and the meaning are both attractive – modern, unexpected, neither flimsy nor clunky.
Other names that mean mist include:
- Kasumi, from Japanese
- Noelani, from Hawaiian
- Terhi, from Finnish
Any of those would be stunningly unusual in the US. There’s also Misty, a Top 100 pick from 1973 through 1984. She’s since fallen completely out of favor, along with choices like Dawn and Brandy.
Back to Miglė Drąsutavičiutė, the Lithuanian-born reality star. Her IMDb profile is mostly empty, but several of the series’ tweenaged alums have set their sites on show biz careers. Should Miglė strike it big, we could meet more girls called Miglė and Miglea and choose your respelling, a cousin to other ends-in-e picks like Esme.
Or maybe another Miglė will make her name known in the English-speaking world. I can’t navigate through the Lithuanian national stats site, but she seems on trend, along with picks like Ugnė – fire and Aušra – dawn.
But chances are that this will remain a rarity, a quirky international borrowing nicely suited to those seeking a heritage pick, but tough to imagine entering into general use.
The pronunciationg given here is wrong.. the Mi- is short like in “milk”. -gle is like gleh, or french glé.
Source – my name is Migle and I find it r e a l l y annoying when people call me meeglay!
Thanks, Migle!
I thought of Muggle. It IS beautiful, but tough to wear in the English-speaking world.
Love the enchanting meaning, but like others, it reminds me a bit too much of Miguel.
I think the meaning is beautiful but Migle has kind of a harsh sound that I don’t think translates well. It is far nicer than Misty though (no offense to any Mistys). Yes, if you feel compelled to name your child after the mist, Migle would be a great option 😉
I guess I’m a fan of harsh sounds because I love Migle! What a great find. I’ll add her to the list of not-so-secret loves that include Gertrude, Dagmar, Margot, and Sigrid. That divine hard G *swoon*
OK, I’ll stop being so silly now.
I’m giggling over the Misty, Brandy, Dawn comment, and that their counterparts are popular currently in Lithuania. I’ll be humming the rest of the afternoon.
I’m glad it’s not pronounced the way I assumed, MEE-guhl — like mingle, because my first thought was of the LOTR character Sm
Ditto!
I’m an American of Lithuanian ancestry, and I think there are other names that sound better to English ears that Migle, one of which is very smiliar to Migle: Meile (May-Ley), “Love”. I’m also fond of Vaiva (Vye-vah): “rainbow”, and Niele, (NE-yeh-leh) “spring flower”.
Ooh, I’m liking these Lithuanian names!
I’ve been loving the more uncommon AY, LAY sound in names lately, however putting the G in front of it and creating the GLAY sound kinda ruins it for me. I prefer Mila or Millay.
I really like it! I’m always on the lookout for good sorta-Margaret, sorta-not names, and I think this fits! The boyfriend would NEVER go for it, but I’d love to meet one in real life, and soon.
I’m sorry but my first thought on seeing it was “Mowgli”. My second was “is this some bizarre international form of Michael” (a la Mikel, Miquel, Miguel etc). I honestly think it’s too weird for the West just yet.