Happy Halloween!—Bat deity names

Happy Halloween! Though I already did a post about bat-related names a few years ago, I haven’t yet done one about names of gods and goddesses associated with bats. These flying creatures are so neat, and don’t deserve so much hate, fear, and prejudice.

Male:

Camazotz means “Death bat” in K’iche,’ a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. He was a monster encountered by hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque in Popol Vuh, the oldest surviving text recording K’iche’ mythology and history.

Murcielago was a Zapotec god of Death and night, represented as a bat.

Tzinacan was a Mayan and Aztec bat god, with the power to heal any sickness and to cut the silver cord of life tying the physical body to the soul.

Female:

Evaki, or Ewaki, was a goddess of night, sleep, dreams, and day, worshipped by the Bakairi people of Brazil and sometimes represented as a bat.

Leutogi was a Samoan princess who became a Polynesian goddess. She was sent to the island of Tonga to become the King’s second wife, part of a peace treaty between their countries, but wasn’t very popular with her new subjects. One day, Leutogi found a wounded baby bat and nursed him back to health till he was able to rejoin his family. The Tongans disliked her even more for this.

The bats, however, remembered her righteousness, and came to her rescue when she was falsely accused of witchcraft and being burnt at the stake. Thousands of bats flew to the scene and urinated all over the flames and the angry crowd, saving Leutogi’s life.

Leutogi was exiled to a remote, barren island, where the bats kept her company and helped her survive by bringing her food and anything else she needed. The bats made the island fertile again, and Leutogi became a goddess of bats and fertility.

Advertisement

Mirror names

Since mirrors are often used in horror movies, here’s a list of names whose meanings relate to the word “mirror.”

Aaina (F) is Urdu and Hindi.

Aina (F) is Kazakh, from Persian ayneh.

Ainash (F) is Kazakh.

Amira (F) can mean “love mirror” in Japanese. This is a completely different name from the Arabic Amira, which means “princess.”

Aýna (F) is Turkmeni.

Aynagözel (F) means “beautiful mirror” in Turkmeni.

Gulyona (F) means “rose mirror, flower mirror” in Uzbek.

Gyuzgyush (F) is Lezgian, a Northeast Caucasian language primarily spoken in Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan.

Kyouhei (M) can mean “peace mirror,” “36 square foot mirror,” “mirror army,” “mirror soldier,” “mirror design,” and “mirror pattern” in Japanese.

Oyna (F) is Uzbek.

Oynaband (F) means “decorated with mirrors” in Uzbek.

Oynagul (F) means “flower mirror, rose mirror” in Uzbek.

Oynajamol (F) means “mirror beauty” in Uzbek.

Oynaxol (F) means “mirror beauty mark” in Uzbek. X is pronounced like the guttural CH in loch and Chanukah.

Tezcatlipoca (M) means “smoking mirror” in Nahuatl. This was the name of a major Aztec god, who ruled winds, the night sky, the north, and war. He was also one of the creator gods.

Ugluspegill (M) means “owl mirror” in Icelandic. This is a rare, modern name.

Yayauhqui (U) means “black smoking mirror” in Nahuatl.

Fairy names

Since fairies seem to be fairly popular Halloween costumes, particularly for little girls, here’s a list of names with fairy-related meanings. Probably unsurprisingly, most of these names are female.

Ada (F) means “fairy” in Tagalog and Filipino. It derives from the Spanish word hada, which has the same meaning. This is completely unrelated to the European name Ada.

Älva (F) means “fairy” in Swedish. This is a modern name.

Aoibhann, Aoibheann, Aoibhín, or Aoibhinn (EE-van, EE-veen, EE-vin) (F) means “fairy queen” in Irish. The Anglicised form is Eavan.

Badiaperi (F) is Uzbek, formed from roots badia (artistic creation) and peri (fairy).

Ehuang (F) means “fairy radiance” in Chinese. This name comes from Far Eastern mythology and Chinese folk religion.

Fáta (F) means “fairy” in Hungarian.

Fay/Faye (F) is an English name, derived from Middle English faie (fairy), via Old French, and ultimately Latin Fata (the Fates). This has been used as a name since the 19th century.

Gulpari (F) means “rose fairy” and “flower fairy” in Uzbek.

Hada (F) means “fairy” in Spanish, from Latin fata.

Houria (F) means “fairy, nymph” in Moroccan and Algerian Arabic, derived from huriyya.

Hurpari (F) is Uzbek, formed by roots houri (“virgin of paradise” or “alluring girl”) and pari (fairy).

Jononpari (F) is Uzbek, formed from roots jonon (beautiful woman, darling, wonderful; also a type of musical melody) and pari.

Keijo (M) derives from Finnish keiju (fairy, elf).

Khanperi (F) means “Khan’s fairy, prince’s fairy” in Armenian. This is a rare name.

Mahpari (F) means “Moon fairy” in Persian.

Maminti (F) means “little green fairy” in Hungarian. This name was coined by 20th century writer Ervin Lázár.

Misen (F) can mean “beautiful fairy” in Japanese.

Mohipari (F) means “Moon fairy” in Uzbek.

Norika (F) can mean “flower fairy,” “excellent fairy,” “beautiful fairy,” “skilled fairy,” “good fairy,” “pleasing fairy,” “summer fairy,” reward fairy,” “fragrance fairy,” and “favourable fairy” in Japanese.

Nozpari (F) is Uzbek, derived from roots noz (whim, tenderness, flirtatiousness, fondness) and pari.

Oypari (F) means “Moon fairy” in Uzbek.

Pari (F) means “fairy” in Persian.

Paribanou (F) means “fairy lady” in Persian.

Parichehra (F) means “fairy face” in Uzbek.

Parigul (F) means “flower fairy” and “rose fairy” in Uzbek.

Parijahon (F) means “fairy of the world” in Uzbek.

Parineeti (F) means “fairy” in Hindi.

Parinoz (F) is the reverse of Nozpari.

Pariqush (F) means “fairy bird” in Uzbek.

Pariruh (F) means “fairy soul” in Uzbek.

Parisa (F) means “like a fairy” in Persian.

Parisima (F) means “fairy face” in Persian.

Parivash (F) means “fairy-like” in Uzbek.

Parizad (F) means “child of a fairy” in Persian.

Perihan (F) is a Turkish name derived from Persian, meaning “queen of the fairies.”

Sânziana (F) means “holy fairy” in Romanian. She was a fairy in Romanian mythology.

Seijuro (M) is a rare Japanese name which can mean “fairy pile of boxes son” and “fairy ten son” in Japanese.

Sen’ichi (M) can mean “one fairy” and “fairy town” in Japanese.

Senka (U) can mean “fairy fragrance,” “fairy reward,” “fairy joy,” and “fairy song” in Japanese.

Senki (F) can mean “fairy princess” in Japanese.

Senna (F) can mean “fairy apple tree” and “fairy vegetables” in Japanese.

Sennin (M) means “immortal mountain fairy” in Japanese.

Shaperai (F) means “fairy” in Pashto.

Shixian (F) can mean “stone fairy” in Chinese.

Sítheach (M) is a rare Irish name meaning “fairy-like, mysterious” or “peaceful.”

Soni (F) can mean “fairy princess” in Japanese.

Tiên (F) means “fairy, immortal, transcendent, celestial being” in Vietnamese.

Tünde (F) means “fairy” in Hungarian. Poet Mihály Vörösmarty coined this name in the 19th century.

Tündér (F) also means “fairy” in Hungarian.

Uriye (F) is Crimean Tatar, from Arabic huriyya (fairy).

Vila (F) means “fairy” in Serbian. This is a rare name.

Vilina (F) is a rare Russian, Bulgarian, and Croatian name derived from Slavic root vila (fairy).

Xian (F) can mean “fairy” in Chinese.

Zana (F) means “fairy” in Albanian.

Doll and puppet names

Dolls and puppets have a long tradition in horror movies and stories. Who wouldn’t be frightened by a doll or puppet coming to life and committing deranged acts, particularly when that doll or puppet already looks really creepy and lifelike?

Aldjya (F) means “doll” in Kabyle, a Berber language of Algeria.

Bê (F) means “doll” in Vietnamese.

Hiina (F) can mean “hina doll” in Japanese. This doll is displayed during the holiday Hinamatsuri (Doll’s Day or Girls’ Day), celebrated on 3 March and dating to at least 1625.

Hinako (F) can mean “doll child,” “doll happiness,” “doll rainbow,” and “doll chrysanthemum” in Japanese.

Hinari (F) can mean “doll pear” in Japanese. A lot of the Kanji used together in the same names seem rather strange to me, but it’s not my language to understand on a deep, personal level, even as a longtime Nipponophile. These Kanji combinations probably make perfect sense to the Japanese.

Kotohina (F) can combine Kanji for “doll” and koto (a musical instrument similar to a harp).

Mahina (F) can mean “real, genuine doll,” “dance doll,” and “fullness doll” in Japanese. This is also a Hawaiian name meaning “moon, month,” and the name of a Hawaiian lunar goddess, from Proto–Polynesian *masina.

Maňuška (F) means “puppet” in Slovak, though it’s usually only used as a nickname for Mária and Emanuela.

Nenetl (F) means “doll” in Nahuatl.

Poppet (U) is an extremely rare English name derived from Middle English popet (a small doll or child). I’ve only come across one real person (who lived to adulthood) with this name, Poppet John, daughter of Welsh painter Augustus John and second wife of Dutch painter Willem Jilts Pol.

Welf (M) means “puppet, whelp” in Medieval German.

Gourd names

Since the wonderful month of October has begun, let’s get started celebrating Halloween-themed names! I’ve used up a lot of great Halloweeny names in prior years, but there are still a few stones left unturned.

Gourds are a natural association with the autumn harvest in many parts of the world, and they’re often part of pumpkin displays and Halloween decoration, both inside the home and outside. While the words for “gourd” in these languages aren’t used as names to my knowledge, they do sound enough like names to work in another language. And as always, they might sound better on a pet, doll, or stuffed animal.

You might recognise a few of these names from my pumpkin names post a few years ago. The word for “pumpkin” and “gourd” is one and the same in some languages.

Baqsha is Kazakh.

Cabaza is Galician.

Calabaza is Spanish.

Carbassa is Catalan.

Guguri is Amharic.

Gurda is Polish. This sounds very close to the real name Gerda.

Gurî is Kurdish.

Kabak is Turkish.

Kadu is Tajik.

Kahue means “the gourd” in Hawaiian. This is a unisex name.

Kalabaza is Basque.

Karavila is Sinhalese.

Kibuyu is Swahili.

Kratuna is Bulgarian.

Lota is Gujarati.

Mara is Thai. This word has a totally different etymology than the Hebrew name meaning “bitter.”

Mohope is Southern Sotho.

Pagure is Albanian.

Tekvica is Slovak.

Tikva is Bosnian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Croatian. This has a completely different etymology than the Hebrew word/name meaning “hope.”

Tykva is Russian and Ukrainian.

‘Umeke is Hawaiian.