If you happened to be channel surfing early Saturday morning (on the East Coast of the US, anyhow), you might’ve caught Miss World 2009, broadcast live from South Africa.
Or was that just me?
I’m not into beauty pageants, but I stopped and watched, eager to hear contestants’ names.
Sebastiane says
December 13, 2009 at 11:58 AMI am not sure how to pronounce Kaiane. I have never seen it before.
Sebastiane says
December 13, 2009 at 11:58 AMI know how to pronounce these:
Tsira-fairly popular in Georgia, pronounced TSEER-ah, it means “girl” in Georgian.
Alkisti-pretty much how its spelled ahl-KEES-tee, I believe it is the modern Greek form of Alcestes, though, I could be wrong
Alice-In Italian, this is pronounced ah-LEE-chay
Vaida-VYE-dah
Nadege (since she is from Panama, she may be pronouncing this differently, but it is a French form of the Russian Nadezhda and in French it is pronounced something like nah-DEZH).
Loredana Violeta-loh-ray-DAH-nah vioh-LEH-tah (at least that is the Italian pronunciation, I know a lot of Romanians and have never really seen it used among them, this is my first time)
Ksenia (Russia) (KSEN-yah)
Jelena (Serbia) yeh-LEY-nah
Christalla I would have never expected to see from Cyprus, it seems more like an invented name, but very interesting nontheless.
appellationmountain says
December 13, 2009 at 7:33 PMThanks, Sebastiane – sorry to put you on the spot! 🙂
Nadege from Panama surprised me, too. I had a roommate by the name years ago – she was from Haiti, and so I suppose I’ve always assumed the name was only in use amongst French speakers. I could never say her name quite exactly the way she said it, but it was lovely anyhow.
The big HUH for me was Avalon-Chanel.
Lola says
December 13, 2009 at 9:58 AMI love Glory. What a virtue, hmm? It’s a bit strong, which is why I have the softer Glorianna on my list now & again. Sweet. Leticia is another long time favorite, only the medieval Lettice enchants me more. And Ksenia! there’s one I adore but could never use myself. So pretty, but weird with the surname. 🙂
Joy says
December 12, 2009 at 5:13 PMSo many that end in -a! I love Happie (of course), as well as Lucy, Tatum, Martine and Violeta.
Eva says
December 12, 2009 at 3:05 PMA lot of these are very lovely! I have been loving Italian names lately, like Antonia and Luciana. Avalon-Chanel, Loredana Violeta, Evelyn Lucia, and Blaise on a girl are very interesting.
In Armenian, there is a girls name Kayane. It looks similar to Kaiane. Kayane is pronounced KY-uh-nay. Not sure if the pronunciation is similar or not. That is my best guess.
Eva says
December 12, 2009 at 3:20 PMOh, I also was going to say that Flavia would make a more interesting alternative to Olivia. They both share the -via ending. In my Latin textbook, there is a character named Flavia. In Latin, v’s are pronounced like w’s. So it’s pronounced FLA-wee-uh in Latin, which i think is kind of neat
appellationmountain says
December 13, 2009 at 7:34 PMI hope you’re right, Eva. It beats cayenne, as in the pepper and the Porsche!
Eva says
December 13, 2009 at 8:37 PMI just found this video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbcaWjqokE
In the very beginning, they say her name really quickly, and it sounds like ky-AH-nee, but I can’t really tell.