Response to "the names we give in Eritrea"

Little Girls From Asmara With Traditional Hairstyle (Credit: Eric Lafforgue)

By Haile Bokure

Thank you Ato Natnael Yebio for sharing your concern with us as regards to alien names which are now being given to newly born babies in Eritrea and elsewhere. The book covering the Eritrean names by the late Memhr Musa Aron could have helped without much ado when it comes to selection of names
associated with a loved ones. Following is a short note that appeared in Dehai News quite a year ago.

Modern Popular Eritrean Female Names

It happened one day I made a phone call to a very respectable Eritrean lady just to ask her if there is any other member in her family by the name "Nigisty." She said, " Oh, what do you mean? I am the only person by that name. In this response I said to her, " I bet that there is another member too." She was intrigued. And then I asked her the name of her youngest daughter. She told me that her name is SARA which means in Hebrew a queen (nigisti).

Some of us didn't realize the origins of our names and the meanings associated with them. Take a look at the popular name፡ "Mary." It is derived from Hebraic or Semitic word "merar መሪር" meaning bitter, and so
is "Martha" which is Aramaic meaning "lady or mistress. If parents were to know the meaning associated with the names, they could have restrained from giving the names to their children. No wonder, some of the Eritrean females' names are either corrupted or real Italian, Hellenistic and Hebraic names. However, the rest of Tigrigna names reflect the desire to have a peace and prosperous life after a long years of war and tribulation.

Follwing are the current popular names with "Helen" at the top of the list:-

Helen (Hellenistic or Greek) - Meaning bright.
Rahel (Hebraic- Rachel) ewe ( a kind of bird)
Ruth (Hebraic- Ruth) -friend
Eden ( Hebraic- Eden) Tigrigna Genet
Elisa (Hebraic- Alyzabyth) ትግርኛ ኤልሳበጥ Oath of God
Yordanos (Hebraic) Associated with the Jordan river meaning to descend.
Samrawit (Hebraic- Samara) Associated with Samara.
Nardos (Hebraic) A kind of good smelling tree as described in a Song of
Solomon.
Betlehm (Hebraic- (bet-house and lehm bread) the house of bread.
Deborah (Hebrew Dibora) A bee.
Naomi (Hebrew-naya'amy) Pleasantness ሓጎሳ ወይ ደስታ።
Saba ( Hebrew- Sheba or Beer Sheba a bibilical district in Judea)
Aster (Persian) star (same as astrology)
Lydia (Hellenistic, Greek) A region of Asia minor.
Lily (Latin-Lilium Flora) ኣበባ
Yohanna -ጸጋ
ሰምሃር
ሰላም
ራህዋ
ስምረት
ኣድያም
ፍኖት
ሰናይት
ልዋም
ዝያዳኩሎም
ሽዊት
ሰምሃር
ሊያ
ሳራ

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