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What would be your "Native American" name?

What unusual star trek name means light in Native American?

  • i read this on notalwaysright.com: (A female customer comes up to my register with a heap of baby books. She notices my name tag.) Customer: “That’s an unusual name. Where did your parents come up with it?” Me: “Oh, my parents are Star Trek fans. The character I’m named after happened to be a name they liked. It’s also Native American and means ‘light’.” Customer: “It’s beautiful! Do you mind if I write it down?” (Flattered, I write down my name, the pronunciation, and the definition on a slip of paper. The customer buys the baby books and leaves. Six months later another customer comes in, and sees my unusual name.) Customer #2: “Oh, so that’s where she got it.” Me: “Pardon?” Customer #2: “My sister-in-law just had a baby girl. She said she got the name from an employee in this store.” Me: “Oh, my. Well please thank her for me. It’s an honor.” (I never got to meet the next generation of my name. I will not forget the lady who bought the books and chose my name over all the others.)" and now i really want to know what his/her name is

  • Answer:

    I was curious too, so I did some research. Not surprisingly, it seems most likely that the author's mom (or the author herself) got a bit confused when it came to the exact origin of the name. It's pretty common for people to mis-attribute names or words to the wrong language, even more so before the internet. It's possible that the author is named Hikaru, Hikari, Kira, Nyota, or Miramanee. Hikaru was Sulu's given name. It's a Japanese verb related to the Japanese word for light, and it means "to shine." Hikari wasn't any character's name, but it is the Japanese word for "light" that Sulu's name Hikaru comes from. Kira, as mentioned previously, has origins in several languages. It seems to have initially come from Sanskrit, and it does mean "light." It's also found coming from Russian with the meaning "sun" and from Japanese with a meaning close to "gleam" or "glitter." Nyota is Uhura's given name, and it means "star" in Swahili. Miramanee, also previously mentioned, was the name of a Native American character that appeared in one episode (to my knowledge). While it is the name with the most direct connection to a Native American language (although which particular language the author is referring to isn't clear) I couldn't find any meaning given for this name. It's possible it was simply invented for the show.

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So funny, I just read this on notalwaysright, I immediately googled it and this was the first site I came to- thanks!

Alice

I named my daughter after the same character. The character's name is Miramanee but I spelled her name Miramony. The didn't have the internet back then to check for spelling. We were told it meant sunrise not light. Oh well. Hope this helps. You can type Miramanee into the search engine with Star Trek and you will come up with many pages.

bcky69

The only names of any well-known female Star Trek characters that seem to fit the requirements at all are either Kira (Kira Nerys, DS9) or Nyota (Nyota Uhura, Original Series). One of the meanings of Kira is "light" in several languages, but it is not popularly attributed to the language of any "Native American" nation. Nyota is a Swahili name that means "Star", which is related to the concept of light. And that's as close as I can get right now.

Sleepy_Bird

Whoever said it's "This Side of Paradise" is correct. The only Native American who was ever named in Star Trek--that is, Star Trek old enough to have 16-year-old plus working citizens named after characters--is Miramanee. This is the only name that makes sense, though I cannot find where it means "light." For those of you who want to know, it's the episode where Kirk loses his memory somewhat and thinks his name is "Kirok." He marries the princess Miramanee, but because he fails to do...something...(I haven't watched Star Trek in a very long time) the people stone him and Miramanee. She dies (somewhat melodramatically) and he is, of course, free of his obligation to her and her people, so he goes skipping off back to the Enterprise where he says something sad and poignant to bring the episode full circle.

Squoodles

You do realize there are literally hundreds of Native American Languages, don't you? Asking for a word in "native american" is like me asking you how to say cat in "European".... However, in my tribes' language, the word for light is luhx-shaud, with the "x" pronounced like a gurgly "h". The word for star is sCHoh-saud, with the CH being really sharp and glottalized.

Salish

I don't know about "Native American," but Lieutenant Uhura's name means "Freedom." In many Star Trek books, the given name for the character is "Nyota," which is "Star." But I believe the words are part of the Bantu language of Africa, rather than being Native American. The only other one I can think of is "Hikaru Sulu" - "Mr. Sulu" of the original series. "Hikaru" means "radiance" in Japanese. He was not called "Hikaru" in the original series; it was first used in a Star Trek novel by Vonda McIntyre called "The Entropy Effect." That name, in turn, comes from a VERY old Japanese novel - possibly the first novel ever written in the world - called "The Tale of Genji," written in the 12th century. The only character of Native American ancestry that I can think of off-hand is Chakotay, the first officer of the "Voyager," but I don't know if the name is a Native American word (other than being able to tell you it's not Cherokee) :-)

Funky Bird Jewish Pastafarian

Well i know that my parents got my name from star trek too, but the origin isn't 'native american' (although i am half) it's, in their usage, russian or gaelic and means sun princess so that may be what she means also. Btw, my name is kira

Kira

I'm not saying this is the answer since I am not going to look it up for you, but there was an episode of the original star trek where kirk looses his memory and marries a transplanted native American chick on another planet. If I recall correctly, her name was Miramanee ( or something close.) Look it up. I believe the episode was called This Side of Paradise ( I am such a geek) ( aaaug, geek enough that I looked up the episode, it was wrong. Now I'm going to have to do the work.... one second. )---------------------------------------… The Paradise Syndrome, I don't feel so bad since it wasn't called something like, Geeb the Idiot.

Geeb

My immediate response/thought is "Lwaxana" since it's close to "Lux," which means "light" in a lot of languages. As to "in Native American," it's possible the parents said this not knowing or mistaking the actual origin.

gardenofeden9

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