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HelpNushi
Ok, well, I clicked on a below post about nasty comments left on the name Muhammad and accidentally went down a rabbit-hole. I got all punishingly curious about how bad the comments on Muhammad could be and went for a look... I didn't get far, because I got to this comment by an anonymous commenter:
' Top 10 most common names globally:
1. MARIA
2. NUSHI
3. MOHAMMED
4. JOSE
5. MUHAMMAD
6. MOHAMED
7. WEI
8. MOHAMMAD
9. AHMED
10. YAN
Three variations of Muhammad are in the Top 100 in England with Muhammad #7.'
Ok. Well. Let's address the elephant in the room. Nushi.
I have known many people called Maria. Many called Mohammed/Muhammad etc. One singular Yan (actually...Yann). I do find the list very, very dubious. But I was intrigued. Because... Nushi.
I did a Google search. The only search results seem to be equally dubious 'most common names' type things, and the odd thread reposting said dubious 'most common names' with people going 'Nushi? I've never met a Nushi?' and I am even more intrigued. Nushi does not figure on Wiki's (also dubious) most common names page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_given_names) OR have any notable bearers... which...yknow... you'd think it would have, being the second most common given name in the world? I get a hit for it being an Albanian or possibly Japanese surname (neither massively common or used as a first name) and a weird AI-content style thing ... sorry, I mean, eye-rollingly bad bs with pretty "meanings" from the hilariously incorrect MomJunction (https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/nushi/#:~:text=Nushi%20is%20a%20unique%20and,'%2C%20or%20'the%20moon.) saying it could mean anything from 'sugary' to 'night'.
This is sort of one for the names board, but I'm not seeking a proper etymology necessarily. Basically, what do you think is going on here? Where the hell has Nushi come from? What does it mean? Can you go further down the rabbit hole than me? It must have come from somewhere and it's been admittedly less than an hour of research but it's starting to bug me.
But secondarily - have YOU met someone called Nushi? If it's the second most common name according to this dodgy list, someone must be called it.
And thirdly - how do you feel about Nushi? How would you style it? M or F? First name or middle name? Make me some combos please... if you feel so inclined.
Personally it's a bit squishy and reminds me of sushi. I'd name a goldfish it, but only if it was the replacement one if the first one died.
' Top 10 most common names globally:
1. MARIA
2. NUSHI
3. MOHAMMED
4. JOSE
5. MUHAMMAD
6. MOHAMED
7. WEI
8. MOHAMMAD
9. AHMED
10. YAN
Three variations of Muhammad are in the Top 100 in England with Muhammad #7.'
Ok. Well. Let's address the elephant in the room. Nushi.
I have known many people called Maria. Many called Mohammed/Muhammad etc. One singular Yan (actually...Yann). I do find the list very, very dubious. But I was intrigued. Because... Nushi.
I did a Google search. The only search results seem to be equally dubious 'most common names' type things, and the odd thread reposting said dubious 'most common names' with people going 'Nushi? I've never met a Nushi?' and I am even more intrigued. Nushi does not figure on Wiki's (also dubious) most common names page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_given_names) OR have any notable bearers... which...yknow... you'd think it would have, being the second most common given name in the world? I get a hit for it being an Albanian or possibly Japanese surname (neither massively common or used as a first name) and a weird AI-content style thing ... sorry, I mean, eye-rollingly bad bs with pretty "meanings" from the hilariously incorrect MomJunction (https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/nushi/#:~:text=Nushi%20is%20a%20unique%20and,'%2C%20or%20'the%20moon.) saying it could mean anything from 'sugary' to 'night'.
This is sort of one for the names board, but I'm not seeking a proper etymology necessarily. Basically, what do you think is going on here? Where the hell has Nushi come from? What does it mean? Can you go further down the rabbit hole than me? It must have come from somewhere and it's been admittedly less than an hour of research but it's starting to bug me.
But secondarily - have YOU met someone called Nushi? If it's the second most common name according to this dodgy list, someone must be called it.
And thirdly - how do you feel about Nushi? How would you style it? M or F? First name or middle name? Make me some combos please... if you feel so inclined.
Personally it's a bit squishy and reminds me of sushi. I'd name a goldfish it, but only if it was the replacement one if the first one died.
This message was edited 10/12/2024, 3:54 PM
Replies
I wonder what’s the source for this list (if any). Maria, Mohamed and variants makes sense, possibly Jose (though it’s more likely to be all variants of Joseph across languages). I’d assume Anne/Anna and variants to be present.
I’ve never met someone named Nushi. Actually, besides Muhammad and its variants, I’ve never met anyone with any of these names.
Basically what New_Chloë said.
That anonymous commenter took the list from Forebears (https://forebears.io/earth/forenames), where Nushi is listed as the second most common name in the world, mostly used in China.
However, it is not a name. It's Chinese for "Ms., lady (女士, https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A5%B3%E5%A3%AB), so the site actually got lost in translation.
As a hypothetical name, I don't really like it since it sounds too cutesy, but it wouldn't be bad for a pet.
That anonymous commenter took the list from Forebears (https://forebears.io/earth/forenames), where Nushi is listed as the second most common name in the world, mostly used in China.
However, it is not a name. It's Chinese for "Ms., lady (女士, https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A5%B3%E5%A3%AB), so the site actually got lost in translation.
As a hypothetical name, I don't really like it since it sounds too cutesy, but it wouldn't be bad for a pet.
Thanks for finding the source - it doesn't seem very... I don't know... entirely legit, and there were some more names/'stats' on that list that raised some eyebrows (and some names missing that I'd think would be on there too, possibly) - e.g. to name a couple, Smt and I'm pretty sure Siti and Said can be a title as well as a name can't they? (I've had quite a few encounters with people/students with the 'fn' Said who've told me that's actually a formality and they go by their 'second' name).
So dodgy algorithm/ info gathering mistaking a title for a name is probably the best answer.
So dodgy algorithm/ info gathering mistaking a title for a name is probably the best answer.
I do know that 'nushi' is a title in Japanese that means master/owner/lord and shows up in the names of some dieties, like Ame-no-Minakanushi, but is not used as a human name to my knowledge.
Huh! That is quite the mystery!
I did some digging too, and found a site that claims Nushi is the second most common name in the world, and it says that it is used in China. If true, that would explain why it's such a surprise - I don't know anyone from China, so I have no idea what names are popular there.
Curiously enough, the site does not seem to know which gender Nushi should be, and also says it "could be a surname". If I look up what the most common names are in China, Nushi is suddenly nowhere to be found.
I am beginning to suspect that something was perhaps lost in translation by programs gathering up info.... After more googling, I discovered that "Nushi" might be a phonetic translation of a Mandarin word for a title that means "Miss, Ms, lady" So maybe that's what's really going on. I easily believe that there are at least 55 million Ms. Somethings in China.
If that's the case, I think Nushi is pretty cute. I'd use it as a first name. It could be really cute for a pet!
(Actually this reminds me of the time I thought I discovered a really interesting obscure name in my genealogy but it turned out to be the word "Unknown" in Dutch. LOL)
I did some digging too, and found a site that claims Nushi is the second most common name in the world, and it says that it is used in China. If true, that would explain why it's such a surprise - I don't know anyone from China, so I have no idea what names are popular there.
Curiously enough, the site does not seem to know which gender Nushi should be, and also says it "could be a surname". If I look up what the most common names are in China, Nushi is suddenly nowhere to be found.
I am beginning to suspect that something was perhaps lost in translation by programs gathering up info.... After more googling, I discovered that "Nushi" might be a phonetic translation of a Mandarin word for a title that means "Miss, Ms, lady" So maybe that's what's really going on. I easily believe that there are at least 55 million Ms. Somethings in China.
If that's the case, I think Nushi is pretty cute. I'd use it as a first name. It could be really cute for a pet!
(Actually this reminds me of the time I thought I discovered a really interesting obscure name in my genealogy but it turned out to be the word "Unknown" in Dutch. LOL)
Wow, you put in the work! Ms/Miss etc. being mistaken for a name rather than title by an algorithm makes sense, and like you said there would be a lot of people called Ms/Miss/Mrs in China.
Thanks for finding a reasonable solution to this mystery!
Thanks for finding a reasonable solution to this mystery!
Never met a Chinese person named Nushi in almost six years living there, anyway it would probably be Nu Shi and be the combination of different ideograms? According to my dictionary app there are a bunch of Chinese words corresponding to Nushi,none being very name-sounding.
Identifying which names are popular on China seems hard to pin down considering the almost infinite way you can potentially use ideograms plus people often changing their name or having their name changed by their parents, plus people using English names when interacting with foreigners.
Identifying which names are popular on China seems hard to pin down considering the almost infinite way you can potentially use ideograms plus people often changing their name or having their name changed by their parents, plus people using English names when interacting with foreigners.
I don't really like it, nor have met or known of one and yes thought of sushi