Category Archives: Musical Names

Jūratė

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Lithuanian
Meaning: “sea.”
(yoo-RAH-tey)

The name is derived from the Lithuanian jūra meaning, “sea.”

One of the most beautiful and romantic stories from Baltic legend has to be Jūratė and Kastytis.

According to the legend, Jūratė was a beautiful marine goddess that lived beneath the Baltic sea in an amber palace. She was the queen of the fishes and ruled over all sea-life. A fisherman by the name of Kastystis was catching too many of her fish. Out of distress, Jūratė came ashore to reprimand Kastytis, but ended up falling in love with him instaed.

Jūratė invited Kastytis to live in her amber palace and they lived in peace. When the thunder god, Perkūnas found out that the immortal sea-goddess had fallen in love with a mortal man, he was outraged, and in retribution, the chief god struck her amber palace, shattering it into tiny fragmented pieces. It is said that the amber pieces found on the shores of the Baltic are the fragments of Jūratė’s palace.

Throughout Lithuanian literary history, the story has been the subject of poems, ballads and it was even recently made into a rock opera.

The designated name-day is April 12.

An obscure Polish form is Jurata.

Sources

  1. http://www.behindthename.com/namedays/lists/lth.php

Dainora

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Lithuanian
Meaning: “wishing to sing; one who longs to sing.”
(dy-NOH-rah)

The name is composed of the Lithuanian elements, dain-(daina), meaning “song” and nor-(noras, norėti) meaning “to wish for.”

The masculine form is Dainoras.

The designated name-day is April 1.

Sources

  1. http://day.lt/vardai/Dainora
  2. http://www.behindthename.com/namedays/lists/lth.php

Rosine

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: French
(hroh-ZEEN)

The name was originally a diminutive form of Rose but has been used as an independent given name for centuries.

It was borne by a legendary Bavarian saint and she has a strong cult in Augsburg, Germany.

The designated name-day in France is March 11.

The name has also been occasionally used in German-speaking countries and in English-speaking countries. The Italian and Spanish form is Rosina, which is borne by a character in Rossini’s Opera, The Barber of Seville (1816).

Sources

  1. http://www.behindthename.com/name/rosine

Csenge

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Hungarian
Meaning: “to ring; to clang.”
(CHEN-gey)

The name is derived from the Hungarian cseng, meaning “to ring, to clang.”

As of 2008, it was the 18th most popular female name in Hungary.

Its designated name-day is February 4.

Another form is Csengele.

Sources

Shira

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: “poetry; singing.”
שִׁירָה
(SHEE-rah)

A popular name in Israel, the name comes directly from the Hebrew word meaning, “poetry; singing.”

As of 2008, Shira stood as the 2nd most popular female name among Jewish girls in Israel.

Another name which is related, but with a slightly different meaning, is Shiri שׁירי, which means, “my song.” The i-suffix in Hebrew denotes personal possession.

Emmanuel

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Gender: Masculine
Origin: Hebrew
Meaning: “God is with us.”
עִמָּנוּאֵל

The name is composed of the Hebrew elements, אֵל (‘EL), meaning “God” and עִמָּנוּ (ʻImmānū), meaning “with us”. The name is a theophoric name, mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 8:8. It subsequently appears again, in the New Testament, in Matthew, which is actually a quotation of Isaiah.

In Christian tradition, the reference to Emmanuel by Isaiah is believed to be a prophesy of the coming Messiah or Christ, many Jewish scholars disagree and believe that “Emmanuel” in Isaiah is in reference to either the son of Ahaz, Isaiah or Hezekiah. Regardless, the name has been common among both communities, and among Christians, the name is often enough bestowed upon a child borne around the Christmas season.

The name came into usage in the English speaking world the 16th-century, and has always been popular in the Latin speaking countries, especially in Spain and Portugal, and to a lesser extent, France and Italy.

In 2008, the name came in as the # 146th most popular male name, while Manuel stood in as the 186th most popular. Manuel was also the 40th most popular male name in Chile, and the 15th most popular in Spain during 2006.

The above form is used in French and English. Other forms include the following:

  • Amanuel (Aramaic)
  • Imanol (Basque)
  • Manel (Catalan/Portuguese)
  • Manuel (French/German/Italian/Portuguese/Romanian/Scandinavian/Spanish)
  • Emanuel (German/Czech/Dutch/Polish/Romanian/Scandinavian/Serbo-Croatian/Slovene)
  • Immanuel עִמָּנוּאֵל (German/Finnish/Hebrew)
  • Emmanouil Εμμανουηλ/Manouel Μανουηλ (Greek: Modern)
  • Manolis / Μανόλης (Greek: Modern)
  • Emánuel/Immánuel (Hungarian)
  • Emmanúel (Icelandic)
  • Imanuel (Indonesian)
  • Emanuele (Italian)
  • Emanuello (Italian: obscure)
  • Manuele (Italian)
  • Emmanuhel (Latin)
  • Emanuelis (Lithuanian)
  • Manwel (Maltese)
  • Manoel (Portuguese: Brazilian)
  • Enmanuèl (Provencal)
  • Manuèl (Provencal)
  • Immanuil Иммануил (Russian/Ukrainian)
  • Manolo (Spanish)

Feminine forms are:

  • Emmanuelle (French)
  • Manuela (German/Italian/Portuguese/Romanian/Spanish)
  • Emanuela/Emanuella (Italian)
  • Manwela (Maltese)
  • Manoela (Portuguese: Brazilian)
  • Emanuela (Spanish/Polish/Portuguese)
  • Emanuelita/Manuelita (Spanish/Portuguese: initially diminutives forms, used as independent given names)
  • Manola (Spanish/Portuguese)

Its designated name-days are March 26 (Finland/Italy/Sweden) and on December 25 (France)

Popular French diminutives are Manu (for both male and females) and Émane (Female), the English is usually Manny.