438 Names Learned

GIRLS

Omotola - Yoruba, meaning "child as good as wealth" (from the book Africanism: The African Personality)

Plantsenea - I found this name featured on britishbabynames.com but did not see any information on it. She does mention that in one census the child was listed as Plascencia, which is a Spanish surname. I also found that a Plantsenea was born about 1850 in America, I believe. Let me know if you know more about this name!

Plasencia, Spain is located near Spain's western border, near Portugal.
To the south is the province of Andalucia which stretches across southern Spain.

Quantashia - I've looked and looked and so far, can still only guess at this name. And my guess is as good as anyone's. Unless, you happen to know a Quantashia. Then you can tell me how it's pronounced and how they happened to get their name. And then I will have 2 clues to go on. And that would be something. It 'appears' to have Latin roots, or, be an embellishment of Latin roots. Quant refers to quantity or amount, but depending on pronunciation, maybe the originator was going for quint or quent. Which is more specific, as in 'fifth'. The last part of the name reminds me of Anastasia and Alisha (Alicia). Perhaps the intent was to honor more than one person by mixing parts of the names together. Then the  'asia' part could just be a flourish, like what a calligrapher does with their pen to make an A extraordinary. Would it be better to associate Quantashia with 'quantum'? Is it just a fanciful spelling for a name normally written otherwise? Kwantasia, Gwen.... well maybe it doesn't come from Welsh. If I change my mind or find out more, I will let you know!! It's tempting to post a photo available on the web of someone so named in an attempt to get them here and answer my questions. But, that feels exceedingly creepy to me. So I'll leave well enough alone. But drop a penny in the mall fountain for me, please, and say 'quantashia, quantashia, fly away home, to Dellitt's cliffdwelling.blogspot.com, her mind is enquiring and just has to know!'  (to the rhythm of the rhyme Ladybug Ladybug). Thank you.



*Update!
I've thought, perhaps, 'qwen tah zha' is a way this name might be said.

well, your local mall will do if THE Mall isn't handy

Ranfurly - from the name of a place in Renfrewshire, Scotland, which also is used as part of the title for the barons of Ranfurly.

 According to Wikipedia, the Scottish place name derives from the Scottish Gaelic "Rann Feòrling". 'Rann' here may mean 'a part, or a division' while 'feòrling' is a land measurement.

Ruins of Ranfurly Castle

 According to the book "Kilbarchan: A Parish History", it first appears in a charter Robert III gave to William Cuninghame of Kilmaurs [1340-1406]. The land is referred to as Rainfarnly. It is later written as Ranfarnele, Ranforle, Ranfurle, Ranfurlie, and even Ramphorlie (in 1760).

I came up with several other ways of explaining the origin and meaning of this name, but I have not been able to determine for certain whether it is Scottish Gaelic, and if so, that it does come from those root words. If someone DOES know the certain explanation of the name, please, enlighten me!!



BOYS

calm waters in Sweden

Stellan - turns out, a fear of commitment pervades our modern world. Even in the realm of name meanings and origins. No one seems to want to say for certain where Stellan originated, how, what it means, what language it is. There is at least agreement that it is a Scandinavian name. Behind the Name suggests it may be Germanic or it may come from the Old Norse 'stilling' meaning "calm". I should add that they go so far as to say that Stellan is a boy's name used in Sweden. If you have a definite opinion on the name I would like to hear it! I want some commitment from people. Enough of this 'not knowing'. This whole post is full of names with some question as to origin and meaning (well, not Omotola, Tig, or Vicente).

this rune represents Tig
Tig's Day is what we now call
Tuesday

Tig - Old English form of the Norse "Tyr", the name given to the god of victory. Tig means 'god' and could also be used when talking about any god. In fact, there is an etymological point of origin for both tig and deity in the 'Proto-Indo-European' language, or that language from which most of the languages in Europe or that pertain to the family of languages called Indo-European, belong. Tig is also used to mean 'dog' and in fact, there is a story about the god Tig in which a wolf bites off his hand and he is thereafter referred to as "The leavings of the wolf". He also kills the dog of Hel named Garm, who also kills him (don't ask, I haven't read enough to answer the question on the tip of your tongue!) You may also find it of interest that in Old English tig also was used to mean 'ten' and was the name for the game tag (the name changed from tig to tag over time).

William the Conqueror

Vicente - Spanish form of the Latin Vincentius, from 'vincere' meaning 'to conquer'.