View Message

Well, all I can do is confirm what Satu has already said :-) Raija and Tarja were very popular names in Finland from the 1950s onwards up until the 1970s. Rarely any babies are christened Raija or Tarja these days; both names are mostly considered "boring" because of their *very* overused status. The President of Finland is Mrs. Tarja Halonen, but for all I know, she hasn't received any young namesakes lately. Names ending in -ja (Anja, Aija, Arja, Erja, Tarja, Marja, Raija, Kaija, Tanja, Sonja, Katja and many, many others!) were probably originally inspired by the Russian equivalents.

---

Now Ahti then: it was the first name of the epic hero Lemminkäinen in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, but Ahti is also a prominent figure in Finnish mythology, the mighty God of the Seas or the king of the water spirits.

---

Hope this helps!

---

Lass