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What is the most universal name?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
Lee.
Doesn't really exist in the Slavic countries, so I wouldn't say it's universal.
Nonexistent in neither Scandinavian nor middle-eastern countries.
Nonexistent in South Asia.
There are also a few names that independently exist in different languages; i.e. one is not a translation of the other, such as "Yuri" in Russian and Japanese, or "Naomi" in Hebrew and Japanese. Similarly, the surname "Lee" in English is not related to "Lee" in East Asian languages like Chinese or Korean.
(A sillier puzzle: Find names for which you get a different name by spelling it backwards, like "Ari" and "Ira" or "Linus" and "Sunil". No, Utah Mormon names like "Nevaeh" don't count, they do that sort of thing on purpose.)
Oh thats a cool game.
Misa/ Asim. Alsi/ Isla. Otto/ Otto. Amias/ Saima.
Otto/Otto
Wait a minute...
Anna/Anna
Hannah/Hannah
Thought Id just slip it in there
We've been duped!
I know a couple of Yoshi's (Japanese) and the first time I met a German Joshi (pronounced "Yoshi"), I thought he had a Japanese name for some reason until I realised it's short for Joshua. Also, I thought Naomi was an exclusively Japanese name, today I learned, thanks!
My mum's name is Ira and she thought it would be cute to name me Ari. Most people I meet agree.
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Hard to say. Like, do "Ivan", "Giovanni" and "John" count as the same, or different names? What about Latin "Amanda" (to be loved) vs. Japanese 愛/Ai (love)? How do we even count this?
Ivan, Giovanni, John, Jean, Shaun, Sean, Shane, Zane, Ian, Jan, Yves, Juan, Johannes, Yohan, and more...
The name means "gift". Pretty universal.
Everyone is saying it means "gift" but Wikipedia (as well as an embroidery my grandma gave me when I was young!) says it comes from Yohanan/Johanan יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān), which means "YHWH (Yahweh/God) is gracious", with gracious being used in the form of "merciful" or "forgiving".
Which can kind of mean the same thing but is also different enough. Johnathan, however, does mean "God has given".
TIL that John and Johnathan are not different versions of the same name!
Ironically, all the variations you mentioned do not have the gift part, except for the letter 'n' :)
They all originate from Johnathan, which in Hebrew means, literally "God gave", the "Joh" part meaning "God", and "Nathan" meaning "gave".
Wait, does that mean, Joe Biden is literally a God Emperor? Or does Joseph have other roots?
Origin: Diminutive of Joseph Meaning: "Jehovah increases"
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Despite how many forms it takes, it isn't very common in the muslim world or asia which make up for a vast proportion of the world. So many of the names variations are within Europe.
I'm sure "gift" as a name is popular in those regions, too, even if it doesn't stem from the same root.
Theodore, Mateo, matthew, jonathan, jesse, gia, Anjali, Doris. Theres like 30 more, I didnt notice a super common asian name, anjali is fairly common in india. But yeah name meaning gift is probably up there.
John the Baptist is considered a prophet also in Islam, so local variations of the name John are not so infrequent in Muslim countries, at least according to Wikipedia, see Yahya.
Also yahya in arabic
يحيى
[X] Shaaauuuuuun!
Names with the same meaning is an interesting one. Id say that counts, I hadnt even thought about that!
I'd also allow variations of the name, John is Yuhanna in arabic.
I don't know the answer, but at least this gives us some way to actually count this:
- check which languages encompass 90% (or more) of the native speakers of Earth
- check the most names that fit 90% (or more) of the native speakers of each language
- sum up names across languages that you deemed to be "the same", like John and Yuhanna
There'll be a tiny bit of error there, but given that you're focusing only on the most common name, I guess that it's fine.
I wonder if there's some previous research on that. Digging further yielded nothing for me. (You got me curious, too.)
Yeah that sounds like a very reasonable approach. Ofc I'm not gonna do it lol.
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Probably any form of Maria, which is for both male/female. There are many documented usages of the name BCE.
The most common first name in the world is Maria, and the most common last name in the world is Wang. Erfo the most common name in the world is Maria Wang.
Joseph/ Yousuf, Daniel/ Danyal. Again anything universal is Abrahamic just bc of what high proportion of the world is Christian/ Muslim/ Jew.
I’d assume Mary/Mariam/Maria is more common because there are fewer options for women
I find that Ana beats out Maria only because only the english spell it/pronounce it different (Hanna). Everyone else does Ana.
But Mary has an absurd higher usage.
Yep thats absolutely right. Elena too, behind Maria ofc.
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India and China each have around 1.4 billion people (source). The next nearest country is the US with ~340 million. Which is a pretty major drop off. So, I would start by looking at common names in either China or India.
The most common Indian names are Hindu names which are isolated in India. Similarly the most common names in China are isolated there. Hence my argument for Abrahamic religions.
Anna
Probably Universal.
"My name is Universal Soldier. "
Technically correct
I don't know about first names, but as for middle names, I've noticed a 75% chance your middle name will be James if you're a guy and Marie if you're a woman. I also attended school somewhere where, I kid you not, every shop owner and public service manager was named either John or Julie.
On the other hand, if your parents give you the middle name of Wayne, an FBI file is opened immediately.
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Mary
You.
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this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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