A to Z reflections 2020

May 12, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

This was my seventh year doing the A to Z Challenge with this blog, my ninth with two blogs. Much to my disappointment, for the third year in a row I had to suffice with a fairly simple theme, one I didn’t need to do a huge amount of research for. I remain hopeful I can return to more intensive themes in the coming years.

I didn’t start writing and researching my posts till early March. Last year, I didn’t begin writing my posts till 25 March, and had to fly through them to be finished before April started. Again, I hope I have much more lead time next year. Though I was born two weeks after my estimated due date and feel I do a lot of my best work at the last minute, procrastination isn’t a positive habit.

As always, I featured both female and male names on each day, and alternated which sex each post started with. Early on, I decided to feature six for each sex, except for a few letters with a wealth of lovely Estonian names. I didn’t want to shortchange them.

I ended up using a fair bit more names borrowed from other languages (primarily German, Scandinavian, and Russian) than I’d hoped for, but it wouldn’t have been accurate to only feature native Estonian names. The country was occupied by various foreigners for almost 700 years. Cultural osmosis was inevitable.

Unfortunately, I could only find one male Z name, and no male C names. Q, W, X, and Y had to be wildcard days.

Yet again, I seemed to have bad luck with the list. A lot of the links I clicked on never started the Challenge, or gave up very early. If you’ve not blogged in a really long time, why commit yourself to doing it six days a week for an entire month?

Early prep is so important, particularly if you’ve never done it before. When all your posts are written and edited in advance, you don’t have to stress about writing a new post every day in real time. Themes are also important. They make it easier to find topics.

Post recap:

The Zs of Estonian names

April 30, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Male:

Zinovi is adopted from the Russian name Zinoviy, a male form of the Greek name Zenobia (life of Zeus).

Female:

Žanna is adopted from the Russian name Zhanna, which in turn is a form of the French name Jeanne. It means “God is gracious.”

Zinaida is adopted from Russian, and a derivative of Zeus. In 2019, this was the 101st most popular female name in Estonia.

Zlata is adopted from Russian, and means “golden.”

Zoja is adopted from the Russian name Zoya, which means “life.”

The Vs of Estonian names

April 25, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Male:

Vahto means “foam.”

Vahur means “brave.” It was invented by Edward Börnhohe for his 1880 novel Tasuje. I have a character by this name.

Väino is the Estonian form of Finnish name Väinö, which is a diminutive of Väinämöinen (the hero of Finland’s great national epic The Kalevala). Väinä means “wide and slow-flowing river.”

Valkan means “son of a Valkyrie.”

Veljo means “brother.”

Viljar is the male form of female Finnish name Vilja, which means “grain, cereal” in Finnish and “will, intent” in Swedish.

Female:

Vaarika means “raspberry.”

Vaike means “peaceful, tranquil.”

Valve means “to guard, to watch over.”

Viire is a type of bird.

Virge means “alert.”

Virve means “shoot, sprout.” This is also a Finnish name.

The Us of Estonian names

April 24, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Female:

Uljana is adopted from Russian name Ulyana (i.e., Juliana).

Ulmi means “fantasy.”

Ulvi is of unknown etymology.

Une means “sleepy.”

Ursula is adopted from German and the Scandinavian languages. It means “little bear.”

Urve means “catkin” (a cluster of flowers with inconspicuous or no petals).

Male:

Uku, or Uko, comes from Finnish name Ukko and means “old man.” This was the Finnish god of thunder.

Üllas means “high-minded, noble.”

Ülo, Üllar, and Ülari mean “joy.” The female form is Ülle.

Urmas, or Urmo, means “frost, catkin.”

Uudo, or Udo, is a form of German name Otto (wealth, fortune).

Uuno comes from the Swedish name Uno, ultimately from Old Norse Uni (to be happy, to be satisfied).

The Ts of Estonian names

April 23, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Male:

Taido means “artistic.”

Taivo means “heavens.”

Tarmo means “energy, vigour, drive.” I have a child character by this name.

Tarvo means “power, energy.”

Tunne is the Estonian form of Karelian Finnish name Tauno, which means “modest, peaceful.” It also means “feeling, sense, sensation” in Estonian.

Tormi means “storm.”

Female:

Tähte means “star.” The Finnish form is Tähti. This is a rare name in both languages.

Taimi means “young tree, sapling” or “plant.” This is also a Finnish name. The male form is Taimo.

Talvi means “winter.” This is also a Finnish name.

Teele is the Estonian form of Adele, which means “noble.”

Terje means “mist.” The Finnish form is Terhi.

Tuule means “wind.” The Finnish form is Tuuli.

Onomastics Outside the Box

Category Archives: Estonian names

A to Z reflections 2020

The Zs of Estonian names

The Vs of Estonian names

The Us of Estonian names

The Ts of Estonian names