The Seven Deadly Trends, Part 6: Substytutes

The letter Y is inciting the modern American baby naming imagination like no other.  Y is currently enjoying a disproportionate renaissance, and is being inserted at random to make a name one’s own.  From Alyvia to Zoey, Alyxandra to Zsophya, people are taking perfectly beautiful classics like Olivia, Zoe, Alexandra, and Sophia, and creating invented forms by using Y as a vowel (A, E, I, O, U, and now Y more than ever). Revisiting my list of common K names, let’s try trading the K for other popular letter combinations (see K Kraze.  We arrive at Shayley, Jayla, Braylin, Rylie, and Myleah.  Sound familiar?  The letter Y replaces Is and Es, and is being made to rhyme with I and E as well.  Confusion arises.  Not only are spellings no longer intuitive, but pronunciations aren’t either.  Let this be clear: misspelling a name, be it with a Y or otherwise, in no way makes a name unique.  It will make your child part of a greater trend in which Americans are distancing themselves from the English language, from “ur” instead of you’re/your, to “gr8″ in lieu of great.  Remember that a child’s name belongs on a diploma, not just in an instant message.  

Y is for the most part, but not exclusively, being relegated to girls.  According to Roy Feinson in The Secret Universe of Names, girls are thirty times as likely to have a name beginning with a Y than boys.  Whether it begins, ends, or is within the name, Y bestows a youthful feel, which can sometimes border on the infantile.  If the Greek i itself is what you’re after, the Greeks and the Welsh have a plethora of more sophisticated traditional Y names to choose from.*

 

Here’s a List of Possible Alternatives:

Ayla- Turkish, “moonlight, halo”

Betrys- Welsh form of Beatrice, “blessed voyager, bringer of joy”

Bronwyn- Welsh (traditionally this name is spelled Bronwen, but this version has entered common usage), from bron “breast” and gwen “white, fair, blessed”

Bryony- BRIE-uh-nee.  English, a type of flowering vine. 

Carys- Modern Welsh, “loved”

Delyth- Modern Welsh, “pretty”

Euphrosyne- Greek, “myrth, merriment”, one of the three graces 

Gwyneth- Welsh, “fair, blessed”

Hyacinth- English, from the flower; also derived from Greek mythology

Lydia- Greek, biblical place name

Maëlys- Breton, “chief”

Mireya- Spanish, “miraculous one”

Myrtle, Myrtille- English and French, respectively; from the plant

Nerys- Modern Welsh, related to “lord”

Olympia- Greek, from Mount Olympus

Sylvia-Ancient Roman (Silvia), “wood, forest”

Yasmin- Persian, “jasmine”

Yayoi- Japanese, “spring”

Yelenys- Hispanic rare form of Helen, “light”

Yseult-French form of Isolde, meaning “beautiful”

 

If It’s the Buoyant “ee” Ending is What You Want, Why Not Try:

Amelie- French, from the German Amalia, meaning “hard work”

Aurelie- French, from Ancient Roman Aurelia, “golden”

Bryony (see above)

Calanthe- Greek, “beautiful flower”;  a type of orchid

Calliope- Greek, “beautiful voice”

Cecily- English, from Ancient Roman Caecilia, meaning “blind, hidden meaning”

Coralie- French, “coral”

Elodie- French, from Alodia meaning “foreign riches”

Emily- English, from the Latin, “industrious”

Eulalie- French, from the Greek “well spoken”

Eugenie- French, from the Greek, “of noble birth”

Hermione- Greek, “messenger”

Hiromi- Japanese “beauty”

Ianthe, Iolanthe-Greek “violet flower”

Leilani- Hawaiian, “heavenly flowers”

Lucy- English “light”

Marjani- Swahili, “coral”

Mary- English, ultimately deriving from the Hebrew, Miryam.  Disputed meaning, “sea of bitterness” or “wished for child”

Naoki- Japanese “honest tree, joy”

Naomi- Hebrew “pleasantness”;  Japanese “honest beauty”

Noemi- French, Italian, and Czech form of the Hebrew Naomi

Ottilie- German variant of Odilia, meaning “wealth, fortune”

Penelope- Greek, “weaver, webbed eye”

Phoebe- Greek, “bright”

Ruby- English, from the red gemstone

Silvie- French form of Sylvia (see above)  

Thisbe- Greek, from the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe

Yuki- Japanese, “happiness”

This list does not take into account darling nicknames like Maisie and Millie, as I limited the list to full names recommended for the birth certificate.  A fun nickname thread will be forthcoming!

 

*For more musings on the letter, please check out what 4geeks had to say.