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Help[Facts] Jada (female)
I don't post links to my column here very often, but I think the information I found on "Jada" is appropriate for this board.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120918/LIVING/709189812
As you can see, as a female name this goes back primarily to the American soap opera actress Jada Rowland, and her name was created from the nonsense syllables "Ja-Da" in the jazz song "Ja-Da Ja-Da Jing Jing Jing". So she pronounces her name to rhyme with "Prada".
Most girls named after Ms. Rowland (who include Jada Pinkett-Smith, who later had the biggest impact on the name's use) pronounce it as if its first syllable was "Jade". This is understandable because Ms. Rowland, though beloved by her fans, wasn't famous enough to be frequently mentioned on radio and television back in her day, and so fans only saw the name written in the credits to "The Secret Storm" or "The Doctors", the two main TV shows she starred on. It was perfectly natural for most Americans back then to assume the "Jay-duh" pronunciation when they saw the name written.
In any event, I think this is a particularly interesting example of a name which was spread through people seeing it written, not hearing it pronounced, so that the common pronunciation changed from that used by the original bearer.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20120918/LIVING/709189812
As you can see, as a female name this goes back primarily to the American soap opera actress Jada Rowland, and her name was created from the nonsense syllables "Ja-Da" in the jazz song "Ja-Da Ja-Da Jing Jing Jing". So she pronounces her name to rhyme with "Prada".
Most girls named after Ms. Rowland (who include Jada Pinkett-Smith, who later had the biggest impact on the name's use) pronounce it as if its first syllable was "Jade". This is understandable because Ms. Rowland, though beloved by her fans, wasn't famous enough to be frequently mentioned on radio and television back in her day, and so fans only saw the name written in the credits to "The Secret Storm" or "The Doctors", the two main TV shows she starred on. It was perfectly natural for most Americans back then to assume the "Jay-duh" pronunciation when they saw the name written.
In any event, I think this is a particularly interesting example of a name which was spread through people seeing it written, not hearing it pronounced, so that the common pronunciation changed from that used by the original bearer.
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