The Language Secretariat of Greenland

 
Extra Criteria







Matching Names

Found 1 matching names:
N
  Name European Old Spelling
  Name European Old Spelling
N
NavaranaN S Navarana
 "The One That Alternates Between Different Parties". From the Proto-Eskimo: naverar-, which in Yupik has evolved into meaning 'to exchange', 'to trade' or 'to borrow', ending with the names suffix -na. The stem might be related to 'niruver-' (niuver-), which in Greenlandic has evolved into meaning 'to trade'.

Navarana is the main character in a legend which is known among most Inuit tribes, the name depicts an activity where a person alternated between two different tribes and ended up creating disunity. In Greenland it was a woman between the Norsemen and the Greenlanders, in other Inuit tribes it was an activity between Inuit and Indians.

The name has developed different variants throughout time, such as Avranna or Aijanna in Inuvialuit and Inuinnaqtun, where the main character was a male, among Inuit in Labrador it was an Indian woman named Javraganak.

The stem nava- is also used as a name in the legend of Navagiaq, where N. travels from animal to animal as a soul and ends up crawling into a woman and become born again among humans. The ending -giaq suggests the meaning 'travel' or 'be out'.

In Iñupiaq, the shore bird 'Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)' is in some places known as navaluġauraq, perhaps due to its flying back and forth by the shore.

Number of name bearers: Navarana 65 (in Grl.). 18 (in DK).

Search Names

 
Extra Criteria