finnish names - the end

(1-3 by Maria Katerina, 4 via)

Today brings our last installation in the Finnish names series. I've included nature names, from divine proportions to weather events, as well as some interesting bits on Finnish naming practices. I really feel the strongest connection to this post, as we chose a Finnish nature name for our own daughter.


 It certainly makes good sense to walk the nature path if you want to go Finnish with your name selections. Roughly 85% of Finland is covered in pine, spruce and birch forests. There are 187,888 lakes, and at it's northern most, it boasts the aurora borealis, midnight sun and polar night. Finland could easily be said to be one of the most wondrous places for nature lovers. It's no surprise then that Finnish naming practices center around nature quite a lot.  

Nature names are rooted in the very tradition of Finnish surnames. Though the history and substantiality of Finnish surnames varies from East to West, surnames became more established throughout Finland in the late 19th and 20th centuries (when they were made a legal requirement in the 20th, but also, and more interestingly, during the social/politcal Fennoman movement of the 19th century.) 

During the Fennoman movement, a national identity was being proudly resurrected and sculpted anew, one that aimed to be distinct from both the Swedish and Russian influences in the country. Part of this was a major language and literature revival, which of course, affected names. Because there aren't many records of pre-Christian names in Finland, many took surnames from the natural world. So the very process of making one's surname Finnish was to take on a nature name. Currently, six of the ten most popular Finnish surnames are nature names which directly translate to: stream, peninsula, hill, wave, rapids and lake.

According to this great source, a lot of Finnish babes receive three names (in addition to surnames), with the longest middle name coming last, and many parents will call their children by their second or even third names. 

 If the sounds of Finnish names, themselves, don't appeal to you, but you (like the mind behind Japanese textile line, Mina Perhonen, "sympathize with the lifestyle and the culture of Finland"), the aforementioned naming practices could be engaged as a more subtle way of honoring the culture and beauty of Suomi while using names from virtually any language.  

So here they are, my favorite Finnish nature words:   

Hirsi - timber

Ilma - air

Multa - soil

Tuli - fire

Vesi - water

Revontulet - Aurora Borealis. Anna Emilia explained it to me:  "Repo is an old name or maybe a nickname for a fox, 'kettu'. Tuli means 'fire'. So together it is The Fire(s) of A Fox."  Thank you, Anna Emilia! Isn't this so beautiful! 

Aurinko - sun

Kuu - moon

Tähti - star

Otava - the big dipper

Tähdenlento - shooting star

Taivo - sky

Tuuli  - wind

Valo - light

Valoisa - bright

Kipinä - spark, flicker 

Salama - lightning

Sade - rain

Rae - hail

Myrsky - storm

Sumu - fog

Usva - mist

Pilvi - cloud

Lumi - snow

Lumikki - snow white

Pyry - snow shower

Myräkkä - snow storm

Hyhmä - snow floating atop water

Valli - wall of snow

Kuura - frost

Halla - frost

Kivi - stone

Vuori - mountain

Laakso - valley

Niitty - meadow


Mäki - hill






Puro - creek, brook, stream


Joki - river


Järvi - lake (so appropriate to anyone wanting to pay homage to Finland)


Meri - sea


Aalto - wave, billow  (feminine form is Aalotar)


Solina - ripple, murmur, gurgle (in the stream of life? for those who want to bestow gentleness?)


Virta - current, stream


Inari -- name of a lake in Finland


Saimaa -- fourth largest lake in all of Europe, actually. 


Enonvesi -- also name of a lake. 'uncle water'? very cool if this akin to a "father time" type thing. of course, it very well could mean simply "uncle's lake".


Orivesi -- 'stallion lake'? again, cool. 

Puutarha - garden

Kukka - flower, blossom

Kukkia - bloom

Kielo - lilly of the valley


Ruusu - rose


Terälehti - petal


Apila - clover


Puuvilla - cotton






Metsä - forrest


Ikivihreä - evergreen


Mänty - pinewood


Setri - cedar


Punapuu - sequoia 

Vanamo - Linnea

Vesa - young tree

Visa - curly birch tree

Koivu - birch tree

Varpu - twig

Haara - branch

Odake -thistle

Omena - apple

Luumu - plum

Persikka - peach

Kirsikka - cherry

Selja - berry

Hunaja - honey

Mesi - nectar

Maito - milk

Minttu - mint

Sahrami  - Saffron 

Sieni - mushroom

Joutsen - swan (the national bird)

Lintu - bird, birdie

Sulka - feather

Varpunen - sparrow

Kotka - eagel

Hirvi - elk, deer

Karhu - bear (the national animal)

Kani - rabbit

Kettu - fox

Koi - moth

Perhonen - butterflly

Susi - wolf 

Tiikeri - tiger

Tila - space


Ympyrä - circle


Kierre - spiral


Yksi - one

Kolme - three

Vappu - Mayday, a big ole Spring celebration. 

This was such a fun series. Thanks for participating with me! Any of my Finnish readers care to clarify any of the meanings I wasn't clear on? Additionally, let me know if I've got anything wrong. 

Any favorites from the list? Any creative ways to using the Finnish practices without using the names, themselves? I'd love to hear your ideas and combinations!

minä perhonen

I really like the Spring/Summer 2012 beauties from  Minä Perhonen.  One of my favorite textiles is the tree print, called Metsä, which is Finnish for "forrest".  Minä means "I", and Perhonen is "butterfly".  The Japanese designer behind the line (Akira Minagawa) chose a Finnish name for his brand because he "sympathized with the lifestyle and the culture of Finland".  


Me too, Akira.  Naturally, I thought this line a good feature amidst my series on Finnish names.


The lovely photos bring us yet more names: photographer, Norio Kidera, and model, Junko Motoyama. The film attached to this season's creations is really pretty, too.  It carries names Hiromi Chinone (hair and makeup), and model, Kiki.  And the music in the film is by group Karluv207, members Kozue and Natsuko. Interestingly appropriate (and likely no accidental selection on Akira's part) is that this Japanese musical duo plays the mandolin and the kantele, the Finnish national instrument and key player in it's Kalevala.  I think both instruments make names as lovely as their music.

Akira

Norio

Junko

Hiromi

Kiki


Kozue


Natsuko


Mandolin


Kantele

Minã

Perhonen

Metsä


With this beautiful mix of Finnish and Japanese names fueling my inspiration, I can't resist making a few combinations with one name from each language:

Kiki Elokuu


Ilta Norio 


Metsä Koemi

Suzu Laulelma (bell. song.)

Hoshi Ommel (star. stitch.)

Halu Umeko (wish. plum blossom.)

Yumi Kertova

Totta Midori (true. green)

Hiromi Mansikka 


Suvi Mandolin


Emi Apila 


Sachi Omena 


Ilo Maemi 


Sumi Perhonen 


Akeno  Kantele 


Sulka Kozue

Don't Finnish and Japanese names seem such natural pairings? Perhaps for some of the same reasons that a Japanese  line inspired so much by the culture of Finland (not to mention a blend of the countries' musical traditions) works so beautifully?

 I don't quite remember the meanings of each one of these names, but I know there are meanings there. It might be fun to look them up post-pairing, a sort of beautiful meaning-grab bag?


Don't forget to come visit me today at Design for Mankind; I'm featuring three pretty blogs from Sweden, Japan, and the U.S. 

(all images courtesy Minä Perhonen by Norio Kidera)

finnish names - part four

 Leena of Björbacka, her images are some of the warmest I've seen.

Her's was amongst the four Finnish blogs I featured last week in my debut post for Design for Mankind. Today I'd like to show a bit more of the aforementioned blogs, along with a few more I saved for this week. Today's post also brings my second list of Finnish word names, bringing this series just a few posts shy of it's completion.  

Suvi sur Levif, I'm as in love with your new blog and all the food it's bringing my way as I am with the name Suvi.

I enjoy kotipalapeli most for her family goodness and bright colors.

Minna's time of the aquarius is full of interior jewels and one lovely name, to boot. 

And the blogs I saved for today:

  

After meeting in the woods at a music festival, Saana ja Olli got together for life and business. They now make the prettiest textiles (sustainably!!!). The blog and lookbooks are a real treat. Images by Unto Rautio, and heavens, see the rest of his photography!

Jutta of kootut murut is hosting a design blog and bits of her own home, as well. I think laundry might be a pretty cheery task amidst those colors.

Illustrator, Susanna, is sharing a blog as lovely as her art, and I so love her name. I sure would love to sew up some dresses from the magazine she featured. Sew along, Susanna?  

Jennan sure makes some lovely buns and photos. 

I couldn't possibly list all the lovely Finnish blogs I fancy in one post, so expect to see the rest popping up here and there, tucked amongst other blog gems, at Design for Mankind every other Thursday.

 The word names I'm featuring today venture a bit into nature, leading us nicely toward the last remaining posts of this series, where I'll focus on more direct nature names and Finnish naming practices. 


So here they are, some Finnish words that might well appeal to those inclined toward selections of this sort. Some may be better in the middle, and as always, please correct me if I've got something wrong.  

Ainoa (the only one)

Lahja (gift)

Taika  (magic)

Aika  (time)

Aamu (morning)

Hämärä (dusk)

Ilta (evening)

Päivä (day)

Sesonki (season)

Kesä (Summer) or

Suvi (Summer)

Siski (fall)

Talvi (winter)

Kevät (spring)

Helmikuu (February)

Elokuu (August)

Syyskuu (September)

Perjantai (Friday)

Lauantai (Saturday)

Sunnuntai (Sunday)

Sininen (blue)

Vihreä (green)

Kulta (gold)

Hopea (silver)

Pronssi (bronze)

Kupari (copper)

Koru (jewel)

Helmi (pearl)

Safiiri (sapphire)

Kivi (stone)

Jalo (noble)

Jalokivi (gemstone)(I assume jalokivi translates more literally to "noble stone"? wow.)

(images: courtesy of and by each featured blogger alongside them, unless otherwise noted.)

baby alba

When I came across this beautiful family last week (thank you Leigh and Elizabeth),  I wondered about and marveled at many a thing.  When I went to the blog We Live Young to read about the home birth of their daughter--you all know I relish a great birth story-- I was equally blown away by their lives and names.  Nirrimi (sister Pixie) and Matt have so eloquently documented their journeys through pregnancy and birth, and shared bits of their exciting lives with us.   I'd say traveling the world as career photographers and film makers at the age of eighteen is pretty exciting, anyway. 

Make no doubt about it, they're young, but quite ahead of the game--no, they aren't even playing it--and show a wisdom and readiness beyond their years.  I wonder, perhaps, if this might be attributed to the pursuit and development of passionate interests as children (a luxury we often assume belongs only to adults, as our kids spend hours a day behind desks).  I wonder if it might also be attributed to seeing so much of the world so early--sewing oats by traveling to India at sixteen, rather than engaging in drug binges at twenty. from never being told "you can't", "that's just not realistic" or "this is just the way the world works; get in or get left behind." I wonder if it might come from encouragement over fear, from cups filled with as much play and beauty as competition and productivity. Then I wonder if this might be the way of coming generations, with so much information and so many resources at their fingertips, assuming we are able to let them dream and explore.  Wondering doesn't make it so, of course.  But I like this picture, just the same. 

Their beautiful new daughter's name (oh man, is she squishy)?
Alba Joy Firebrace (she took Mom's surname. )

This is one name story I can not wait to hear.  

Congratulations Nirrimi and Josh! and Welcome baby Alba! 

(images: all courtesy we live young)