Exciting news! Chamali (who most of you will know as a long-time reader and commenter) is starting her own business in luxury handcrafted women's accessories and textile based jewellery (such as fascinators) and is looking for a name for her business.
She writes: "What I would like is to use a feminine name (either two names together or one name, from one to five syllables total). It's important to me to find something unusual, maybe something that isn't familiar to the English speaking user, but is easy enough to pronounce. That unfortunately excludes most Sri Lankan names. I am very keen to avoid going for something that is on trend because firstly, that has never been my taste, but also because I do not want to go out of date within five or ten years.
I also love word names, e.g. flower names, but most of these are unavailable as domain names on their own. Words that I want to try and evoke or associate with the name are: feminine, elegant, beautiful, creative, romantic, floral, lyrical, timeless. Names that inspire me (but are already taken!) are Marchesa (my favourite designer), Pandora and Chloe. I love how concise but timeless they are. Pandora in particular is inspired because it inspires the whole "what's in the box?" train of thought."
Names she has already considered include:
Cerisa -- a variant of cerise, but she feels there is a potential pronunciation problem.
Garita -- a short form of Margarita is Spanish for "shelter".
Sepalika -- a Sri Lankan flower (pronounced say-pah-lick-ah) but she is not sure it's accessible enough.
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Honestly, when this request first came in, my first reaction was panic. Baby names I can do, brand names are a different kettle of fish. My only frame of reference is when I named this blog — something which I really struggled with. But, then I realised that the process of naming a business is not so dissimilar from naming a baby: after all, it's a big choice which will define you and your 'creation' to the outside world, and it is difficult to change once it's been given.
Once I started to explore possibilities, I enjoyed it more and more.
Key Meaning
I started out by looking for names which were exotic, lyrical and have a meaning which epitomises what the business is about.
Atarah – My first thought was immediately Atarah, an exotic yet accesible Hebrew name meaning "crown, wreath," which is used in Proverbs is the phrases "crown of beauty," "crown of glory," and "crown of splendour." It was used as a given name from the 17th century.
Adah – Another Hebrew name meaning "adorn, to ornament." It was borne by two women in the Old Testament and readopted in the 16th century.
Adelaide – From the Old German Adalheit meaning "noble sort, noble type." Though Adelaide is a little too common for what you are looking for, the name had a number of intriguing and mellifluous variants in the Middle Ages including Aleida, Aleyda, Aleydis, Adeliza and Atheleisia. Of a similar vein is Rohesia derived from hrod "famous, glorious" and heit "sort, type," found in the forms Roseia, Roesia, Roheis, Rohais, Rohese and Roysa.
Amarantha – A name used by poet Richard Lovelace, derived from the amaranth flower, a mythical ancient Greek plant sacred to Artemis. Its name was derived from the Greek amarantos "unfading, timeless, enduring," as the flower was considered to have great resiliant and rejuvenating properties, symbolising that which never fades. Thanks to the flower, Artemis was known by the epithet Amarynthis, from which derives Amarythia, Amarinthia, Amarintha and Amarysia.
Calluna – The botanical name for heather which was coined by bonatis R. A. Salisbury from the Greek kalluno which can mean "to cleanse, to sweep clean" (which is probably what Salibury was intending as heather was once used to make brooms) but more commonly meant "beautify" to the ancient Greeks as a derivative of kallos "beauty".
Celesta / Celestria – Derived from the Latin caelestis "celestial, heavenly."
Celestine / Celestina – Two 18th century elaborations (one French, one English) of Celesta. Celestina (1791) was the title of a Cinderella-themed courtship novel by Charlotte Turner Smith.
Clarabella / Claribel – Claribel was first used by Shakespeare in The Tempest. It combines the Latin clarus "clear, bright" and bella "beauty."
Corolla – A diminutive form of Latin corona "crown, wreath, garland" essentially meaning "little crown." It is also the scientific name for the petals of a flower, making it very appropriate for a company which creates floral fascinators. Corollaria is the Latin term for a woman who sells flower-garlands (corollas).
Ismenia – An elegant exotic name, found in records in Britain in the 12th century, though not on the Continent, indicating that it is an ancient Celtic name. It could derive from the Old Welsh is "under, below" and maen "stone" but Kay Sheard put foward a very strong case that it could infact be from the Common Celtic *weso- "excellent" and *moyni- "treasure, precious object." It was used in a variety of forms in the Middle Ages including Ismena, Imayne, Imeyna, Ysmena, Ysmeina, Emayn, Emony, Emoni and Imanie.
Jessamine – The poetic form of the jasmine flower which has been used to symbolise grace and amiability. Both Jessamine and Jessamy/Jessamie have been in use since the 18th century as given names.
Kallisto – From the Greek kallistos "most beautiful." In Greek mythology, Kallisto was a beautiful Arkadian princess and hunting companion of Artemis who was transformed into a bear by Zeus (now the constellation Ursa Major) to protect her from Hera's wrath. The Latin form is Callisto, which became Calixta in Late Latin and Spanish and Calista in Italian. The modern Greek form is Kallisti.
Leinani – A pretty Hawaiian name derived from lei "garland" and nani "beauty, splendour." In a similar vein is the more familiar Leilani (lei + lani "heaven, sky").
Leviva – A later medieval spelling of the Anglo-Saxon Leofgifu, from leof "beloved, dear" and gifu "gift." It was also spelled Liviva and Liveva.
Mireia – The Catalan form of the Spanish Mireya, derived from the Latin mirar "to admire."
Zayna / Zaina – The feminine form of the Arabic Zain meaning "beauty."
Style-wise
Amphelicia – A curious medieval name which could be an elaboration of Felicia "happiness" or the Greek amphielissa "oar-swept". Also found as Amphelisia, Amphelice, Anfelisa, Amphyllis and Amfelisia.
Delphinia – From the Latin delphina "dolphin" and also reminiscent of of the delphinium plant (larkspur) and the genus of blue butterfly.
Parisa – The chic and exotic Persian name meaning "fairy-like."
Sirena – The Spanish and Italian word for 'mermaid', derived from the captivating sirens of ancient myth. The Polish form is Syrena, the French is Sirène, and the Portuguese is Sereia.
Sirona – A Celtic goddess of healing whose name (also found as Serona) means "star."
Invented
While I wouldn't personally take to manipulating words from other languages to coin names for actual little humans, creating a brand name is a completely different field; one where the possibilities are limitless. Here are some vocabulary words (and elaborations thereof) from ancient languages which aren't considered 'proper' given names.
Adornata – The feminine singular form of the Latin adornatus "adorned, decorated, embellished."
Amaranthine / Amarantina – Amaranthine or amarantine is an English adjective derived from the Greek amarántinos "of the amarath flower" (see above).
Asteia – A coining from the Greek asteios "beautiful, elegant."
Bethbiri – Beth Biri is a place in the Bible, meaning "house of creativity" or "home of the creative one" from bayith "house" and bara "shape, fashion, create."
Kosmeina – A coining from the Greek kosmein "to adorn." Similarly Cosmea/ Kosmea could be derived from the related kosmeó "to decorate, arrange, adorn."
Lota / Lotus – In Latin lōtus mean "elegant, fashionable, luxurious" and also brings to mind the beautiful lotus flower. Lota is the feminine form, which was once a girls' name in the Middle Ages as a diminutive of names ending in -ota. Being fanciful you could coin Lotina, Lotalie, Lotabella, Lotalia etc.
Melica – The Latin word meaning "lyrical" which could be made into Melicia or Meliciana.
Periscelia – A coining from the Latin periscelis "garter."
Serika / Serica – From the Greek serikos "silk" of which Sericus (fem Serica) is the Latin form. Equally attractive is the Spanish Seda "silk."
Venustata – The feminine singular form of the Latin venustatus "adorn, beautify, make lovely" ultimately derived from Venus, Roman goddess of love. Elaborations could include Vensustatia, Venustia, Venustara etc.
Second Name
If you are looking for two names to put together to complete a compound meaning, here are a few that would work well as a second name.
Belle/Bella – Perhaps a little cliche, but with a more unusual or complex first name, familiar and beautiful Bella and Belle can provide just the right grounding.
Bijou – This French word for 'jewel' is familiar yet uncommon for English-speakers.
Bay – Not only the name of a tree, Bay is also a surname derived from the Old English bēag "garland, crown, necklace, bracelet."
Celeste – An easy elegent French name meaning "heavenly."
Flora – The Roman goddess of flowers and the spring.
Fleur – The French word for 'flower' adopted as a middle name in the 19th century.
Gemma – Like Bella, Gemma (Italian for 'jewel') is a common given name but it gives weight and grounding to an uncommon name.
All the best with your new business venture, Chamali! I hope this is of use.
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