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Help[Opinions] What are traditional Australian names?
What are traditional Australian names and aboriginal names? Except Kylie.
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Here are some, although
"traditional" is a hard word to use in conjuction with Australia because we are a new country in terms of European colonisation, and colonisation managed to wipe out a lot of Aboriginal traditional tribal culture and the strict laws on Aborigines for much of the last two hundred years resulted in Aboriginal parents giving their kids European names (losing many traditional names).
Anyway...
Lowanna (still quite commonly used in Aboriginal communities, it means "girl" in a few dialects but I would be lying if I supposed which ones exactly although I do know a girl affiliated with Eora ancestry with this name)
Bindi (again, means "girl" which gives you some idea of the diversity of dialects)
Jannali (means "water" I think)
Kiah (means "beautiful place")
I know Aboriginal girls with all four of the above names but am not sure Kiah and Jannali were traditionally used as given names.
For boys, I don't know any Aboriginal names but Lachlan is as close to traditional Australian as I think you get. It has been in widespread use since Lachlan Macquarie and is definitely a classic here.
"traditional" is a hard word to use in conjuction with Australia because we are a new country in terms of European colonisation, and colonisation managed to wipe out a lot of Aboriginal traditional tribal culture and the strict laws on Aborigines for much of the last two hundred years resulted in Aboriginal parents giving their kids European names (losing many traditional names).
Anyway...
Lowanna (still quite commonly used in Aboriginal communities, it means "girl" in a few dialects but I would be lying if I supposed which ones exactly although I do know a girl affiliated with Eora ancestry with this name)
Bindi (again, means "girl" which gives you some idea of the diversity of dialects)
Jannali (means "water" I think)
Kiah (means "beautiful place")
I know Aboriginal girls with all four of the above names but am not sure Kiah and Jannali were traditionally used as given names.
For boys, I don't know any Aboriginal names but Lachlan is as close to traditional Australian as I think you get. It has been in widespread use since Lachlan Macquarie and is definitely a classic here.
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http://www.behindthename.com/top/lists/100au2006.php
...the most popualr names from 2006 in Australia.
There are some other people on here who are from Australia, they might be able to help you out more than I can.
...the most popualr names from 2006 in Australia.
There are some other people on here who are from Australia, they might be able to help you out more than I can.
This message was edited 2/24/2008, 10:20 AM
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