Native American Heritage- girls names!

[newmum1508]

My first baby (a girl) is due October 1st!
We are SO stuck on her name.

I’m originally Native American. I was adopted from a native children’s home in Northern New York and came to England when I was 5. Although I don’t know my family, I’d still love to honour my heritage in her name as a first or middle name. Husband also agrees!

However, many native names are very difficult to pronounce so at the moment, most of the names on our list aren’t native inspired.

we currently like:

Lilian (Lily for short)
Vivian
Etta
Ember
Elowen (a little more unusual but love the sound and meaning)
Drew
Charlotte
Hallie
Addison

for Native American inspired names, we like
Dakota (but sounds quite harsh so maybe a middle name?)

Also like Sequoia which means sparrow but I feel like most people will just associate it with the tree.

I like vintage and timeless names and also sometimes like slightly whimsical?

Another top contender for a middle name is Janis. I know it’s a very dated name and may not sound the best to people but it’s after someone so important to us so we would love to honour her.

Sorry for the lengthy post! Any suggestions I’d love to know

Our surname is a VERY common English surname

I think Lilian is really cute! I’m also having a lot of trouble on deciding on names! (But for boys)
I haven’t heard Elowen before but I actually LOVE how it sounds! Quite unusual but sounds very classy at the same time. I love the nature meaning too.

Honouring your heritage sounds like a lovely idea. I don’t know many Native American names but I like both of your choices. Dakota has a really cute tomboy sound to it. Sequoia I think sounds very pretty too.

You’ve got a really great list atm! 🤗

Do you know which tribe your ancestors belonged to? That could help in finding traditional or commonly used names in that tribe.

The Seneca tribe! I’ve had a look online throughout the past few months but Seneca names seem both impossible to pronounce and spell! It’s not an essential that we have a Native American name at all but I’d love to try to incorporate some element

Thank you! We love Elowen too! It’s one of the top contenders but I’m scared it might be too “out there”. However I’m not too keen on “El” as a nickname so I’ll have to think

Dakota is the name of a tribe rather than a given name. It was never meant to be a given name.

Yes I know! I put it on the list because it’s native inspired. Also because it’s a lot more commonly known than many of the other names :)

Why not use Seneca?

I knew a Cheyenne, lovely name.

Seneca is easy to spell and pronounce so why not?

Imo seneca sounds too much like a laxative.

Love all your other names

From a quick google, I see your point about the names being hard to pronounce! A look at famous Seneca women also didn't bring up anything special. The names I found were all standard western names like Mary and Marie.

As a previous poster said, how about Seneca as a name? It has a nice sound and is not difficult to pronounce. Dakota is nice, but it isn't your heritage and personally, if I wanted to chose something related to my ancestry, I would want just that, not the name of a tribe you are unrelated to.

Sequoia is a tree?

Etta is lovely.

How about Alliquippa? She seems to have been a powerful leader, and I think it is fairly straight forward to pronounce.

I would go with Seneca, rather than Dakota or Cheyenne which aren't your heritage. I'm sure your daughter would be proud to bear the name.

It has the Roman philosophical association too.

I like Ember Seneca Janis

Alliquippa could be shortened to Pip or Pippa which is sweet

Sequoia is beautiful

Yes I love Etta! Yeah Sequoia is a tree but in Native American languages it traditionally means sparrow . Probably wouldn’t use it though!

I love this!

My DH and DC are Sac and Fox nation, and on the nation's website there is an introduction to the language, Sauk, with names of colors, animals, etc. If I were you I'd check and see if the Seneca nation has something similar on their website where you might get inspiration.

What I would not do is give a Seneca child a name like Sequoia, which is Cherokee. The nations recognize their historical and cultural differences and if you wish to honour that you should, too.

Yes good point about being from the specific tribe. I’ve done a lot of research but don’t have family/ childhood experiences to draw on from Native American culture so it’s tricky sometimes to think of what could be a good name

Like: Charlotte

OK:
Lily
Etta - Ate a what?
Drew - blood
Vivien

No:
Vivian - boy's name
Lilian (Lily for short) - Lily is much nicer than Lilian, Lilian/Lillian
Hallie - too trendy
Ember - usually 'dying ember.
Elowen - the stress is on the 2nd syllable. Many will get it wrong.
Addison - surname. Addison Lee cabs.

Seneca makes me think of a laxative.

I never associated Etta with “Ate a”. Where I live in England everyone pronounces “ate” like “eight” not “Et”. Also oh! I’ve only ever heard of girl Vivians
We liked Lilian because we like vintage and family ties but I agree that many will probably think Lily is nicer.
I like Charlotte too, not sure where I’d place it on the list atm

@newmum1508 , I'm in England and don't know anyone who says ate as eight.
It will sound silly if your surname is something like Lamb or Pye.

I like Winona. It means 'firstborn daughter' in Dakota and Sioux.

I’m in England and I agree with OP. I’ve only ever heard a few people say “et” - most where I live in the south of England say ate. However I suppose that would be an issue depending on location