New Thing #6 - What's in a Name?

I've always wondered what my name would look/sound like in other languages, as well as it's meaning, at least more in depth than just "flower". So, this week, I'll be doing some internet research to see what I can dig up. I'm taking it all with a grain of salt though. You can't believe everything you read on the internet! ;-)

First, I attempted one web site called "Behind the Name: the Etymology and History of First Names." They had 50+ languages available for translation. They range from Ancient Greek to Finnish, Hawaiian, Icelandic and Yiddish, among the more boring Italian, Spanish and French. Surely I would have a few cool names that come up from that list. Nope. Not one single language has its own version of Heather. Zilch. I'm beginning to think this week may be a very short blog. I try Michelle next, to see if this website has any value at all. I have some success there. The majority of the languages had a version of Makayla though. Not exactly close to Michelle, but oh well.

Next, I search for a free site that will give me a Chinese or Japanese translation of my name. A lot of the ones I found wanted to charge me for the translation. I'm not that dedicated to the search, so I keep looking until I find one that is free. Since it is free, there's no guarantee that the characters below don't spell out "I smell like cheese" or something ridiculous, so I won't be tattooing these characters on my body any time soon. ;-)

According to the webste this is Heather in Chinese:

and this is Michelle:

and I had to find Jones on another site, so the image is smaller:

Next, Heather in Japanese:

It is pronounced: HEZAA. (Consonants are pronounced more or less the same way as in English. "A" sounds like a in father, but shorter. "E" sounds like e in met. Double vowels like "AA" are held for twice the duration of single vowels.)

Michelle:

It is pronounced "MISHERU". (Consonants are pronounced more or less the same way as in English. "I" sounds like ee in meet, but shorter. "U" sounds like oo in hook, but with less rounding of the lips. "E" sounds like e in met.)

Jones wasn't available in Japanese. And here I thought it was one of the most common last names in the world. ;-)

My next search led me to a Greek translation site and I found my Greek alternative is Hariklia. Michelle didn't have a Greek alternative.

I then found a hieroglyphics translation site. It gave the names of each individual hieroglyphic as well.

Heather is:

The first character is "Twisted Flax Wick". Awesome. Then, a Vulture, followed by some rock looking thing. The website just called it "th". Clever. Then, another Vulture, and finally Mouth.

Michelle is:

Owl, Reed Leaf, "ch", Vulture, Lion & Vulture

Jones:

Cobra, Quail Chick, Water, Vulture, Mouth (apparently mouth has more than one hieroglyphic)

Another site called it "Egyptian" which is essentially hieroglyphics, but they're slightly different:

Heather:

Michelle:

Jones:

Next, in case I'm ever stuck in Middle Earth and need to converse with some hobbits (that's a Lord of the Rings reference in case you're not a nerd like me), my name in Elvish is Lothiriel. Meaning blossom and pronounced: Loth-ear-ee-ell. Always good to know.

One website I found, Heather in Hawaiian is Hekele, but my old boss brought me back a keychain with my Hawaiian name years ago and it was Hekela. Small difference. Michelle is Mikala. So, from now on you can call me Hekela Mikala. :)

So, after nearly 15 pages of Google results, I figured this was pretty sufficient. So, next I thought I would do some fun, random name generators using "Heather Jones" as the name to use.

Star Wars name: Darex Santorini

Christmas name: Jolly Rednose

Pirate name: Deadfish of the Open Sea (WTF?)

African name: HopoTopoHopoRembe JopoNopoSumba (I should officially change my name to this!)

Spanish name: Sancha Espejo (espejo means mirror in english)

Band name: Immortal Summit

Dragon name: Athkor the Bringer-of-Ashes

Gangsta name: Phat Ho

Hippie name: Heart Moonshine

Warrior Cat name (because everyone wants to be a Warrior Cat): Pheasant paw of ThunderClan

Goddess name: Hara, Goddess of Big Cats

Hillbilly name: Clementine Honeybee Moonshine

Paintball name: Sneaky Jess (I'll have to use this when I tackle paintballing as a New Thing)

Movie Star name: Lexi Natte

Ice Cream Flavor name: Lychee Jalapeno Sherbet

Oompah-Loompah name: Goblobster Bronzed-Bonkers

Native American name: Chapawee

So, next I found that Heather means multiple things: beautiful flower, shrub, from the English word for the variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas (see where I get my tattoo from?). It is derived from Middle English "hather", and the spelling was altered in the 18th century as a result of folk etymological association with heath. It was first used as a given name in the late 19th century, though it did not become popular until the last half of the 20th century. Another site said: Flower name: an evergreen flowering plant that thrives on peaty barren lands, as in Scotland. Has an upper-class aura (sweet!). Heather is a very popular female first name and a very popular surname (source: 1990 U.S. Census). This site also has charts depicting the trend of "Heather" over the years. That's kind of boring, so I won't add it here. :)

I found this about Jones: Definition: A patronymic name meaning "son of John (God has favored or gift of God)." The most common surname in Wales. JOHNSON is a common English version of this surname. Surname Origin: Welsh, English. Alternate Surname Spellings: JOHNSON.

Another site said that Jones is the 5th most common last name in the U.S. as of 2000 (and Johnson, it's variant is #1). In 1920 Missouri was one of the states with the most Joneses. We started to take over the world at an early year. ;-)

Well, I've been doing this for awhile, and I think I accomplished what I set out to do. I hope you enjoyed reading all about my name!! ;-)