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From Chloe's complaint about names you don't see enough, and possibly in response to that whole thread, here is a a relatively small list of names I came across in Malawi... small in comparison to the size of the Excel spreadsheet I am hoarding. There are some absolute gems and some.... specials.

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Children sometimes have an English name and a Chichewa/Chitumbuka/Chiyao/Chitonga/other tribal language name, but this list is of the names they are best known by and recorded at school. Note that Ls and Rs are interchangeable, as is the spelling of your name (e.g. a girl wrote her name on exams on three separate occasions as Ester, Estere and Esther). Some names are Malawian-ised from the Bible (e.g. Yohane from John).

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In the local language, every syllable is pronounced with emphasis on the second-last syllable (usually), and the last syllable is always a vowel, so sometimes the pronunciation of a common English name is different. Paul, for instance, is sometimes said as Pah-OO-lo. Equally, though, names are pronounced the same in English even if they aren’t particularly local-language-friendly (e.g. Florence, Beatrice), however, sometimes an extra EEE sound for good luck is added at the end, liked Francis-y, Manis-y, Janet-y. All of these are generally said the same way in English though.

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I may put up some Chichewa names and meanings on the Name Facts boards, but I have never been to that place and it scares me.

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Here are the English (or English-inspired? Ha) names from the first batch. Ages 4 – 10:

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Girls
Agness
Alice
Alli
Amina
Annie
Bebina – not sure what this is
Bertha
Bridget
Caroline - went as Kalo (KAH-lo)
Deborah – this little girl said it Deb-OR-uh
Dorica
Doroth – sometimes English words get their last syllable ending in the long E sound lopped off because Chichewa-speakers assume it was added on. For instance, the girl I lived with was Naomi – she got called Naom.
Dyna
Edda
Edna
Eliza – this little girl pronounced it Eleeza (i is pronounced ee in the local language)
Ellen
Esnart – very common name, not sure of its origins, it’s been doing my nut in. Pronounced like EZ-nat
Estere – spelling of Esther in the Bible translation. Esther is very common and girls named Esther / Ester will get Estere (pr. ES-ter-ay) as well
Ethel
Evaleti – (all the ev- names start sounding like Eve)
Evelyn
Evilda
Faith
Febe – 90% sure this is Phoebe, but this girl gets both FAY-bee and FEE-bee
Flora
Hana – same as how I’d say Hannah
Happiness – aka Chimwemwe, local language word for Happiness
Innocesia
Janet
Joice – same pr. as Joyce, sometimes like Joyce-y
Judith
Juliet
Ketta – nickname sounds like Katie! (e = ay sound), spelled Ketti
Lilian
Margret / Magret (a = ar sound)
Martha
Mary
Mercy - aka Chifundo, Chichewa meaning
Moreen
Naomi
Olivia
Priscilla
Promise – aka Lonjezo, Chichewa meaning
Rabecca
Rachael
Ratoya
Regina
Ruthie
Sandra
Shira – i.e. Sheila
Steria – both pr. Stellia, like an elaborate Stella
Vanessa
Violeti – pr. VEE-oh-lett-ee
Yasmine – pr. Yaz-meen

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Boys
Aaron
Alfred
Alick
Amosi - pr. AH-mos(ee)
Anderson
Aulen
Austine - same as Austin
Bernard
Brian
Felix
Filisone - not sure about the origins of this one, pr. like Phil-son
Flex - derived from Felix, but said like Flex! No kidding
Frackson - extremely common, must come from a colonial surname but I've yet to look into it. Similar to Shadreck and Liston (= contraction of Livingstone, i.e. David Livingstone, I presume?)
Francis
Fredriek - said like Frederick
George
Gerald
Goodlucky - like the Nigerian president, just with a typical y/i ending
Harry
Henderson
Innocent
Jackson
John
Joseph
Kelvin - very common, sometimes said like Kevin, sometimes said like Kelvin
Klonderful - not sure
Lawrence
Manfred
Manuel
Maxwell
Mishel - pr. MISH-el
Omega
Osburn
Patrick
Paul
Peter - Chichewa equivilent is Petro, so Peters sometimes get called Petro
Philip
Precious
Shadreck - see Frackson
Sidney
Stephano - said like Stefano
Thomson
Timothy
Tony
Vincent
Watson
Wilson
Yohane - pr. yo-HAH-nee

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Bonus names:
Modesta (g), Prince (b), Carloreen (g) - comes from Caroline
Lonily (g) = Lonely
Sherrif (b), Gertrude (g), Master (b), King (b), Magdalena (g)
Emeless (g) = Aimless!
Triphonia (g) = feminine of Tryphon is my best guess, but I knew 3 of these so no idea how it's so popular
Loveness x 1294090 - very popular English form of Chichewa word for love
Vergina (g) = Virginia, I assume?
Sports (m), Because (m), Future (m), Lastone (m), Danger (m), Beauty (f)
Fostina (f), Macdonald (m), Heartson (m), Mcfully (m), Shakira (f), Funny (f)

This message was edited 3/26/2012, 6:38 PM