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Carrie-Annehttp://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.comWriter of historical fiction sagas and series, with elements of women's fiction, romance, and Bildungsroman. Born in the wrong generation on several fronts.

A to Z reflections 2023

May 7, 2023 by Carrie-Anne

This was my tenth year doing the A to Z Challenge with this blog, and my twelfth with two blogs. For the sixth year in a row, I had a fairly simple theme instead of a research-heavy one like I used to, and I only began researching, writing, and editing my posts in March. Not only that, I waited until the second half of March to begin. However, this year’s theme was too important and timely for me to feel disappointed; on the contrary, doing anything other than Persian names would’ve felt wrong.

One of the gifts for winning NaNo 2022 was a free title setup from IngramSpark, and though I knew I had no chance of coming anywhere close to finishing my radical rewrite of my WIP by 15 March, I just had to see how much I could accomplish by the deadline.

In years prior, I put my posts together many months in advance, sometimes as early as July and August. My initial plan was to research, write, and edit my posts in December 2022, due to the promised threat of the classic WordPress editor being retired on the last day of that year. However, to everyone’s great relief, the classic editor will be retained through at least 2024. Thus, I was able to push off my posts for a few more months.

Someday I do hope to resume my former habit of putting my posts together many months in advance, and returning to more research-heavy themes on my names blog. There’s just such a theme I’ve been wanting to do here since 2017, and I’ve not forgotten about it. Until such time, it’ll remain a secret.

As always, I featured both female and male names on each day, except when I could find zero Persian names for one of those categories, and alternated which sex each post started with. I also featured many unisex names, which are common in Persian. Though I used to feature six each when I did names from a particular language or era, I’ve now abandoned that habit. If I find more than six great, interesting, or noteworthy names, why not include them all? And there are also some days where I unfortunately just couldn’t find more than a few, or could only find one.

Since Persian doesn’t have a W or X, those had to be wildcard days. Though Dari Persian, spoken in Afghanistan, does have a W, there are no names starting with that letter. In the interests of staying as close to my theme as possible, I chose names from Arabic and Azeri. The cultural osmosis between those peoples goes back over a thousand years.

I initially hoped to feature Persian-specific names only, but that soon proved very difficult to adhere to. Because of so much cultural osmosis, primarily via the Islamic conquest, many Persian names are shared in common with Arabic. Oftentimes, the thing that makes a name of Arabic origin specifically Persian is the spelling. E.g., W becomes V, and Q becomes GH or K.

Post recap:

The Zs of Persian names

April 30, 2023 by Carrie-Anne

Female names:

Zabana means “flame” (from a candle).

Zahra means “bright, shining, brilliant” in Arabic.

Zakieh is the Persian form of the Arabic name Zakiyya, which means “pure.”

Zana means “woman.”

Zanera means “wise, intelligent, sensible.”

Zarnish means “flower.”

Zarsa means “like gold.”

Zeinab/Zeynab is the Persian form of the Arabic name Zaynab, which is of uncertain etymology. It may mean “beauty,” from the word zayn, or derive from the name of a fragrant, flowering tree. This name also might derive from the Greek name Zenobia (life of Zeus).

Zhaleh/Zhala/Zheela means “dew,” “hail,” or “hoarfrost.”

Ziba means “beautiful.”

Zinat means “ornament.”

Zohreh means Venus (the planet), and derives from the Arabic root zahara (to shine).

Male names:

Zahir means “helper, supporter” in Arabic.

Zaran means “golden.”

Zaroun/Zaroon means “victor.”

Unisex names:

Zamindar means “landowner.”

The Ys of Persian names

April 29, 2023 by Carrie-Anne

Male names:

Yaghoub is the Persian form of Jakob, which derives from the Hebrew name Ya’akov. Though traditional etymology claims this name means “heel” and “supplanter,” many modern Biblical scholars believe it comes from Semitic roots meaning “may God protect.”

Yahya is the Persian, Arabic, and Turkish form of John, which derives from the Hebrew name Yochanan and means “God is gracious.”

Yazdan means “angel” or “divinity.”

Yousef is the Persian form of Joseph, which derives from the Hebrew name Yosef and means “he will add.”

Female names:

Yagana/Yeganeh means “unique.”

Yakhan may mean “ruby.”

Yana means “doer of good deeds” and derives from Avestan, Persia’s ancient language.

Yasamin/Yasaman means “jasmine.”

The Xes of Azeri names

April 28, 2023 by Carrie-Anne

Since the Persian alphabet lacks a letter X, today will be another wildcard day. I chose Azeri names on account of the long historical and cultural relationship between the two peoples. Iran and Azerbaijan share part of their border, and because most of the people who live in the northwesternmost region of the country are Azeris, that region is called Azerbaijan. It was only in 1918 that that name was also applied to the newly-founded neighbouring country (which Persia protested).

X is pronounced like the guttural CH in “loch” and Chanukah, and Ə ə is pronounced like the A in “cat.”

Female names:

Xədicə is the Azeri form of the Arabic name Khadijah, which means “premature child.”

Xalidə is the Azeri form of the Arabic name Khalida, which means “eternal.”

Xanım means “lady, madame, woman.” It derives from the Turkish noble title hanım, the female equivalent of khan.

Xatirə is the Azeri feminine form of the Arabic name Khatir, which means “heart, idea, mind, notion.”

Male names:

Xariton is the Azeri form of the Russian name Khariton, which ultimately derives from the Greek name Chariton and means “grace, kindness.”

Xəlil is the Azeri form of the Arabic name Khalil, which means “friend.”

Xəyal means “fantasy, dream, imagination.” It derives from the Arabic word khayal.

Xviça is the Azeri form of the Georgian name Khvicha, which derives from a Mingrelian word meaning “bright, brilliant, sparkling, glittering.”

The Ws of Arabic names

April 27, 2023 by Carrie-Anne

Though the Dari Persian alphabet used in Afghanistan has the letter W (in contrast to the alphabet used in Iran), I could find no names starting with a W. When that letter does occur in a Persian name, it’s never at the beginning, and it’s not particularly common either. Hence, today will be a wildcard day.

Because of the historical and religious connection between the Persians and Arabs (albeit not always so friendly!), Arabic names seemed the logical choice for this letter.

Male names:

Wadud means “affectionate, lover.”

Wafai means “loyalty.”

Wafi means “loyal, reliable, perfect, trustworthy.”

Wafiq means “successful.”

Wahab means “giver, bestower.”

Wahb means “gift.”

Wahid means “unique, peerless.”

Wajid means “finder, perceiver” or “loving, affectionate.”

Wajih means “notable, eminent, distinguishable.”

Wali means “friend, helper, protector.”

Walid means “newborn.”

Waqar means “dignity, majesty.”

Waqas means “warrior, breaker, destroyer.”

Waqur means “calm, composed, dignified.”

Wasi means “broad-minded, learnèd, liberal.”

Wasim means “handsome.”

Wazir means “helper, assistant.”

Female names:

Wadha means “clarity, brightness.”

Wafa means “faithfulness, loyalty.”

Waliya means “companion, supporter, caretaker, custodian.”

Waniya means “soft, gentle breeze.”

Warda means “rose.” This has the same root as the Hebrew name Varda, which also means “rose.”

Wasan means “last moments before sleep.”

Widad means “love.”

Unisex names:

Wardi means “rosy, pink.”

Wiam means “harmony.”