Thursday, July 30, 2015

Mind Your Qs

I've already done name lists of the least common vowels (U, O, & I), so now it's time for the least common consonants. No surprise--it's Q (second only to U overall).
Quinn is the sole Q-name in the girls' Top 1000, and it also ranks for boys, along with Quentin, Quinten, Quintin, & Quincy.

Q is also the least common ending letter, so let's do those, too. :)

Boys:
  • Faruq (fah-ROOK, Arabic)--"one who can tell right from wrong". Also transliterated as Farooq.
  • Khaliq (KHAH-leek, Arabic)--"creator". One of the names of Allah.
  • Qadir (KAH-deer, Arabic)--"able". Another of the names of Allah.
  • Qais (kah-ees, Arabic)
  • Qasim (KAH-sim, Arabic)--"one who shares"
  • Quanah (KWAH-nah, Comanche)--"fragrant"
  • Quidel (kee-DEL, Spanish)--from Mapuche "torch"
  • Quillan (KWIL-lan, English)--from Irish patronymic, "holly"
  • Quim (KEEM, Catalan, Portuguese)--short form of Joaquim
  • Quintillus (KWIN-til-lus, Latin)--"little Quintus"
  • Quintus (KWIN-tus, Latin)--"fifth"
  • Qusay (koo-SYE, Arabic)--also transliterated as Qusai.
  • Rafiq (rah-FEEK, Arabic)--"friend"
  • Shafiq (shah-FEEK, Arabic)--"compassionate"
  • Tariq (TAH-rik, Arabic)--"one who knocks"
  • Tawfiq (taw-FEEK, Arabic)--"good luck"

Girls:
  • Qadira (kah-DEER-ah, Arabic)--feminine of Qadir
  • Qiana (kee-AH-nah, [American] English)--from the synthetic fabric
  • Quena (KWAY-nah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "woman, queen"
  • Quenilda (kwen-IL-dah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "queen-battle". Other forms include Quenell & Quenilla.
  • Queniva (KWAY-niv-ah, kwen-EE-vah, [archaic] English)--from Old English, "queen-gift"
  • Queralt (keh-RAHL, Catalan)--Marian name, from a Spanish mountain sanctuary
  • Quetzali (ket-SAH-lee, Spanish)--from Nahuatl, "feather". Also spelled Quetzalli.
  • Quezia (keh-ZEE-ah, Portuguese)--form of Keziah
  • Quintina (kwin-TEE-nah, Latin)--feminine of Quintin.
  • Quinturay (keen-too-RYE, Spanish)--from Mapuche, "seeking flowers"
  • Rahiq (rah-HEEK, Arabic)--"nectar"

Unisex:
  • Qamar (kah-MAHR, Arabic)--"moon"
  • Quinlan (KWIN-lan, English)--from Irish patronymic, "beautiful shape"

A great number of Inuit language names (Greenlandic, Inuktitut, etc) also seem to begin/end/contain Q, but verifying the accuracy of such names online, as well as pronunciation, has proven difficult. :(

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