Layana

Layana Aguilar

I'm a little bit behind with 'Project Runway' this season - to be honest, I hadn't even realised that a new season was underway until I saw Kelly's post about the great names of the older models featured on episode  six over at NameFreak. It is a great bunch of names, but the one that caught my attention was one of the contestants - Layana Aguilar.

Layana was born and raised in Brazil, currently lives in New York, and has her own fashion line. Her site states that a woman who ears her designs is wearing pure confidence and delicateness. The same description could be applied to her name, which feels strong and confident, but soft at the same time.

The Layana on 'Project Runway' pronounces her name Ley-AH-na, but you could probably get away with pronouncing it Lay-AH-na if you prefer because it's uncommon enough that most people wouldn't really know what the correct pronunciation should be. Because it's so uncommon, there's very little background information to be found about this name. It doesn't seem to be a super popular Brazilian name, as it didn't appear in their top 100 girls names in 2011. Besides, I'm guessing that if it is popular in Brazil I probably would have heard the name before now.

Layana has been seen on the American charts though. It first appeared on 6 girls in 1978, then faded to pop up again in 2002. Since then it has charted every year since 2004, so far peaking at #5155 in 2009.

So should I speculate as to where this name comes from and what it means? One theory I've seen (and probably the best one) is that it comes from the Arabic name Layan, meaning 'soft, gentle'. It's also quite similar to:

• Lalana, a Sanskrit name meaning 'playing'; 
• Liana, a Hebrew name meaning 'god has answered' or a French name;  
• Lulana, reportedly a Zulu name meaning 'the winner'; 
• Ayanna, an African name meaning 'flower blossom' or Hindi name meaning 'innocent'; 
• or even Aiyana, a Native American name meaning 'forever flowering'.

I quite like the sound of Layana, although find myself saying Layani more often. I guess it just rolls off my tongue more easily. Either one is very pretty. Both were already recent newcomers to the US charts, and I can only imagine that the exposure the name Layana will now get through 'Project Runway' will boost its use. But as I'm only one episode into the season so far, I guess that's assuming that this Layana doesn't turn out to be the hated villain of the season. Although let's face it - unless the person is really, really heinous, a little villainy doesn't necessarily hurt a name whose star is on the rise.

The Cast of 'Project Runway' Season 11

Tarabella

Name inspirations can come when you least expect it - and this beauty I spotted on a personalised number plate in traffic this morning! There are many things that raced through my mind when I saw this, with the uppermost one being that this is a very pretty name.

Tarabella is a quite rare name. It has never charted in America, meaning it has never been given to more than five girls in any one year. And a quick Facebook search shows that while Tarabella is not used as a first name, it has been used as a surname in Italy. However there is no information on its origin or meaning as a surname.

As a first name, Tarabella immediately strikes one as an unusual smoosh name - a combination of the spunky Tara and the sweetly girly Bella. Bella is popularly recognised to be an Italian name meaning 'beautiful'. In recent years it has followed the extremely popular Isabella up the charts, helped largely due to the (Isa)Bella Swan character from 'Twilight'. It's currently particularly popular in Australia, America and Canada, but deceptively is even more popular than the charts tell us, because it would commonly be sued as a popular nickname for many other Bella related names.

Tara on the other hand has a couple of different origins and meanings. In Hindu mythology Tara was an astral  goddess, and her name means 'star'. There is also a goddess named Tara in Buddhist mythology. Said to be the most popular goddess in the Buddhist pantheon, Tara is considered to be the Goddess of Universal Compassion, and she represents virtuous and enlightened activity.

But perhaps the best known origin of Tara is from Irish Gaelic, where Tara means 'hill' or more elaborately 'hill where kings meet'. Ancient Tara was the site of the 'stone of destiny', on which Irish kings lived. It has been theorised that this reference is what author Margaret Mitchell had in mind when she named the famous home of Scarlett O'Hara 'Tara' in her novel 'Gone With The Wind'.

Tara enjoyed a burst of popularity after 'Gone With The Wind' was released as a movie in 1939, first entering the American charts that year. During the 70's and 80's it was a top 100 name in America. It has dropped in popularity recently (#877 in America in 2011) although you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise judging by the popularity of Tara as a character name in TV shows ranging from 'True Blood' to 'Boston Legal' to 'The United States of Tara'.

Tara also does quite well in many other countries, such as Australia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Norway and Scotland. There are however some pronunciation variations - personally we pronounce it more like Tarr-aah here in Australia, while on American TV it seems to be pronounced Tah-RAH (or even Teh-RAH). Which I guess raises the question of how one would pronounce Tarabella. Would it be Tarr-aah-bell-ah or Tah-rah-bell-ah?

Pronunciation questions aside, I feel like Tarabella would be a great way to honour a Tara and/or Bella relative. Or to honour a combination of Italian/Indian/Irish heritage, or even a belief in Buddhism or Hinduism. And of course there are the two distinct and beautiful (excuse the pun) possible meanings - 'beautiful star' or 'beautiful hill'. 'Beautiful star' in particular is an almost swoon-worthy meaning.

I can definitely see Tarabella catching on. Maybe you're looking for an alternative to Isabella, but Arabella feels too frilly or vintage for you, or you're worried about it's current rising popularity. Tarabella could be a great way to stand out from the crowd.