View Message

[Facts] Morenike
Wondered if anyone has any info on this name? I saw it on a programme credits and googling it quickly, it seems to be an African female name** You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them **
vote up1vote down

Replies

Morenike is a Yoruban name that means "I have someone to pet or to pamper". These links offer in English the same information that I have in my personal notes:http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/arts/article02/090906
http://www.onlinenigeria.com/nigeriannames/ad.asp?blurb=144&topic=Morenike
vote up1vote down
ThanksNames from non european cultures often have really interesting meanings, I like when 1 word manages to encompass a sentence.
vote up1vote down
Interesting.
Morenica is the name of the heroine of a Judeo-Spanish song. It means "little brown one".
vote up1vote down
Thanks that's interesting. Funny they're so similar but I don't think it's the same name as Morenike, the people I saw with the name on myspace etc were definitely of African origin.
vote up1vote down
Well, Africa's big and includes the Mediterranean countries - whose inhabitants, once they became Muslims and invaded Spain, were known as Moors. So that'll be where Mme Claire's song came from. I think it's too far North to have influenced Yoruba, especially since the meaning is so different.
vote up1vote down
Morenica is a Ladino word used as first name (it is very usual among 12th c.-15th c. Sephardic Jews). It comes from morena, "dark (haired or skinned)", with the diminutive suffix -ica. And it is the same in the actual Spanish (the use of the suffix -ico/-ica is very usual in Murcia, e.g., whereas in other dialects other suffixes are used: -uco/-uca, -illo/illa...).The formal coincidence with the Yoruba Morenike is just that, a formal coincidence.
vote up1vote down