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[Facts] Aaralyn
I suppose this is a "heads up" about a bad etymology. Babynames.com posted its Top 100 names of the year (which they collect from the names on "favorite lists" of users of their site, so it's not created from actual birth records), and the most surprising name on the list was Aaralyn. Jennifer Moss, owner of the site, says Aaralyn was added to several hundred "favorites" lists on her site this year. It is the name of a particular "Christian singer", and also of a rock band. I found the website of the singer, where it explains that Aaralyn is her stage name and her birth name was Amanda. She claims that Aaralyn "means" "with song" or "beautiful melody".There are several websites that do give one of those "meanings" for Aaralyn. This seems rather ridiculous on the face of it, especially since the linguistic origin given on those sites is "American". Babynames.com itself is undoubtedly much closer to the truth when it describes Aaralyn as probably being a modern creation of a new feminine form for Aaron. So just to check -- do any of you other experts out there know of any language where "with song" would make sense as an origin for Aaralyn? Or is that really as silly as it sounds? :)
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Aria springs to mind. On the other hand, Amhrán aláinn(ar-ON awl-in) means "beutiful song" in Irish(Gaelic/Gaeilge)..... I suppose if you were unfamiliar with the prn you would say it Aron-alan.Also I don't know if it's a long shot or not, but as I said the Irish for "song" is amhrán(ar-ON). The Irish for "a lot of" or "full" is lán(laun).
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Thanks so much! This makes it look like some writer of "Celtic fantasy" might have created the name and given it that interpretation. Though I haven't been able to find such a fictional character yet.
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Aria or air could be the musical connection to Aara, although it does look like an American offshoot of Aaron with an adopted meaning.
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I thought of Aria too. Maybe it's just an adaption of that? Lyn is a common suffix.
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Not exactly what you were asking, but I know a girl named Aara, and a google search turns up quite a few other girls named Aara. Do you think that Aara is also an attempt at a feminisation of Aaron? And do you think that Aara and Aaralyn are linked?
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Not sure, but it would seem a good guess at least that these are both created feminine forms of Aaron. But a fairly simple form like Aara may well have other origins.

This message was edited 12/12/2007, 11:29 AM

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