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Help[Facts] Romansh names
I'm very curious about Romansh given names. Romansh is a minority language of Switzerland spoken in the Grisons. I was able to collect a little list of names:
Andri - Henry
Barclamiu - Bartholomew
Curdin - Conrad
Fadri - Frederick
Gian/Gion/Jon - John
Gieri - George
Peder/Peider - Peter
Stiafen - Steven
Tumasch - Thomas
They seem very interesting and I'd love to have a good list of names as complete as possible, if possible with their English, German or Italian translations, as some of the names I found are quite indecipherable (Pirmin, Geronas, Duri, Rensch ...).
I've heard about the book "Prenums en Svizra" as a possible reference and it would be marvellous if someone here could share its contents!
Andri - Henry
Barclamiu - Bartholomew
Curdin - Conrad
Fadri - Frederick
Gian/Gion/Jon - John
Gieri - George
Peder/Peider - Peter
Stiafen - Steven
Tumasch - Thomas
They seem very interesting and I'd love to have a good list of names as complete as possible, if possible with their English, German or Italian translations, as some of the names I found are quite indecipherable (Pirmin, Geronas, Duri, Rensch ...).
I've heard about the book "Prenums en Svizra" as a possible reference and it would be marvellous if someone here could share its contents!
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Replies
As far as I know, Pirmin is not (only) a Romansh name but rather a very old and quite rare German name as well: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirmin
Some time last year, I did some research on Romansh names myself and I found
Geronas, Gironnas, Jaronas listed as Romansh forms of Hieronymus / Jerome
Duri, Durs and Durisch were listed as Romansh (short) forms of Dorian / Doriano
Some time last year, I did some research on Romansh names myself and I found
Geronas, Gironnas, Jaronas listed as Romansh forms of Hieronymus / Jerome
Duri, Durs and Durisch were listed as Romansh (short) forms of Dorian / Doriano
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It seems that the Pirmins listed in the German Wikipedia are all from Switzerland (except one who live at the Swiss frontier). And unfortunately they don't give its etymology...
The Durs-Dorian equivalence seems folk etymology. The Duden Vornamenlexikon says that it is of uncertain origin, maybe from Old High German ''thurs/turs'', demon/giant, or from ''Sankt Urs''>''Sank Turs''>''Durs''. So it probably is a regional southern Germanic name and not an actual exclusive Romansch name (it's just diffuse among Romansch people).
The Durs-Dorian equivalence seems folk etymology. The Duden Vornamenlexikon says that it is of uncertain origin, maybe from Old High German ''thurs/turs'', demon/giant, or from ''Sankt Urs''>''Sank Turs''>''Durs''. So it probably is a regional southern Germanic name and not an actual exclusive Romansch name (it's just diffuse among Romansch people).
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Here you can find popularity lists of names in Switserland (The Romansh names are the last set given):
http://www.g26.ch/texte_vornamen_01.html
Male names:
Alexander
Andri
Curdin
Corsin
Daniel
David
Diego
Elia
Fabio
Fadri
Florian
Flurin
Gian
Gianluca
Gino
Jan
Jarno
Joël
Jon
Lars
Laurin
Lauro
Leandro
Livio
Loris
Luca
Lucas
Manuel
Marco
Matteo
Mattia
Mauro
Men
Moreno
Nevio
Nico
Nino
Noah
Pascal
Rafael
Ramon
Samuel
Sandro
Silvan
Silvano
Simon
Tim
Female names:
Alessia
Alina
Anja
Anna
Annatina
Annica
Annina
Bianca
Chiara
Clara
Elena
Emma
Gianna
Giulia
Hannah
Inês
Jana
Jasmin
Jasmine
Ladina
http://www.g26.ch/texte_vornamen_01.html
Male names:
Alexander
Andri
Curdin
Corsin
Daniel
David
Diego
Elia
Fabio
Fadri
Florian
Flurin
Gian
Gianluca
Gino
Jan
Jarno
Joël
Jon
Lars
Laurin
Lauro
Leandro
Livio
Loris
Luca
Lucas
Manuel
Marco
Matteo
Mattia
Mauro
Men
Moreno
Nevio
Nico
Nino
Noah
Pascal
Rafael
Ramon
Samuel
Sandro
Silvan
Silvano
Simon
Tim
Female names:
Alessia
Alina
Anja
Anna
Annatina
Annica
Annina
Bianca
Chiara
Clara
Elena
Emma
Gianna
Giulia
Hannah
Inês
Jana
Jasmin
Jasmine
Ladina
1
Well, thank you for your competent reply!
But I think that those popularity lists are not very much useful for my purpose. Obviously, popular names in Romasch places are submerged by German and Italian names (Romansch people are a minority even in Grisons!). And even Romansch natives probably frequently use German/Italian names. This is sadly a common problem with names of minority languages. Probably, a list of the most popular 2009 names in Ireland wouldn't contain a lot of Irish Gaelic names...
The only true Romansh names in that list are, as far as I know: Andri, Curdin, Corsin, Fadri, Flurin, Gian/Jan/Jon, Laurin, Men.
The female list looks totally German/Italian.
I was able to find some traditional female names (none of them is in that list):
Barla - Barbara
Cilgia - Cecilia
Culastia - Scholastica
Madlaina/Madleina - Magdalena
Mengia - Monica
Seraina - Serena
Some other male names:
Balser/Balzer - Balthasar (from the wordpress site!)
Flurin - Florian
Geronas/Gironas/Jaronas - Jerome (from the wordpress site!)
Linard - Leonard
Murezi - Maurice
The problem of using Google is that I'm not sure if the names are real Romansh names and, more important, I don't know their meaning/translation. I can only try to extrapolate them.
Some obscure names I found are: Corsin, Duro, Hercli (reminds me of Heracles), Leci/Lezi, Men/Mian, Merens, Nazi(!), Pirmin (Firminus?), Plasch, Rest, Rensch, Zein/Sein, Balugna, Jelscha.
But I think that those popularity lists are not very much useful for my purpose. Obviously, popular names in Romasch places are submerged by German and Italian names (Romansch people are a minority even in Grisons!). And even Romansch natives probably frequently use German/Italian names. This is sadly a common problem with names of minority languages. Probably, a list of the most popular 2009 names in Ireland wouldn't contain a lot of Irish Gaelic names...
The only true Romansh names in that list are, as far as I know: Andri, Curdin, Corsin, Fadri, Flurin, Gian/Jan/Jon, Laurin, Men.
The female list looks totally German/Italian.
I was able to find some traditional female names (none of them is in that list):
Barla - Barbara
Cilgia - Cecilia
Culastia - Scholastica
Madlaina/Madleina - Magdalena
Mengia - Monica
Seraina - Serena
Some other male names:
Balser/Balzer - Balthasar (from the wordpress site!)
Flurin - Florian
Geronas/Gironas/Jaronas - Jerome (from the wordpress site!)
Linard - Leonard
Murezi - Maurice
The problem of using Google is that I'm not sure if the names are real Romansh names and, more important, I don't know their meaning/translation. I can only try to extrapolate them.
Some obscure names I found are: Corsin, Duro, Hercli (reminds me of Heracles), Leci/Lezi, Men/Mian, Merens, Nazi(!), Pirmin (Firminus?), Plasch, Rest, Rensch, Zein/Sein, Balugna, Jelscha.
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