Message: "Ilma" - Behind the Name

[Facts] Ilma

by Lily (Destry)

5/30/2011, 1:14 PM

I know that Ilma is listed here and that it means "air" in Finnish. I have some questions about this name:

1. Is it used in Finland as a name? What kind of image does it have there? New name, older name, common name etc?

2. Could it also be a form of Wilhelmina? I always thought it was.

3. When you look at the comments section people claim it means "water" in Maltese and "knowledge" in Arabic- does anyone know whether those meanings are correct?

Thanks :)

#Ilma

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- faelivrin +1

5/30/2011, 6:30 PM

Ilma does mean water in Maltese. (http://www.aboutmalta.com/language/engmal.htm)

I couldn't find anything about the Arabic meaning (made more difficult since you also have to deal with transliteration), but according to Wikipedia Ilm refers to knowledge of Islam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilm_%28Arabic%29).

- Lily (Destry)

6/4/2011, 4:16 PM

Thank you for the links! It seems to be a masculine word in Maltese, though :P

- Orsino (bananarama) +1

5/30/2011, 2:25 PM

1. Ilma is without a doubt used in Finland. Even though a Finnish user here claimed that she has yet to hear of a woman named Ilma, I did a search on Rootsweb for Finnish women named Ilma and got results. Most of the Ilmas were born around the 1910s, so I guess it must have been used most frequently them. So Ilma might be an old-fashioned name in Finland, but it's definitely been used there.

2. I suppose so, though it might be a bit of a stretch.

3. I have no idea.

This message was edited 5/30/2011, 2:26 PM

- Lily (Destry)

6/4/2011, 4:18 PM

Thank you so much! I thought it was a newer name, from looking at the comments for the name on the Ilma site.

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