Message: "Elissa and Tiahn (or Tiarne)"

Elissa and Tiahn (or Tiarne)

by Lily (Destry)

10/27/2011, 3:11 AM

I lived in Australia for a year and there I met about 5 girls named tee-AHN. I guessed it was spelled Tiarne, but I know one of them definitely spells it Tiahn. At the time I thought it was really unusual but my Australian friend seemed to find it pretty normal so I wonder whether it's popular in Australia and where it comes from exactly. It doesn't show up in popularity stats and I'm confused I met so many.

Also does anyone know what Elissa means? And is it certain that it's from mythology? Thanks.

#Elissa #Tiahn

Replies

- Lily (Destry) +3

11/3/2011, 8:10 AM

Thank you both

too bad we still don't know about where Tiahn comes from. I'm so curious.

- Anneza +2

11/7/2011, 2:22 AM

Possibly Tiahn might be a feminine version of Tian or Tiaan, both masculine and widely used in South Africa as abbreviations of names like Christian or Sebastian. There are lots of former South Africans in Australia ...

- Amphelise (Chrisell)

11/17/2011, 8:05 AM

Yep

Tiarne, Tiahn etc are variants of Tiana.

- Lily (Destry)

11/17/2011, 2:59 AM

Thanks, that makes sense actually!

- Anneza

10/30/2011, 11:46 PM

Elissa is used as a synonym for Dido in the Aeneid, and I imagine that this was because it fits more conveniently into the rhythms of Latin poetry. I don't know where Virgil got it from, but he doesn't come across as the kind of lad who'd invent names from scratch. Since the unfortunate Phoenicians lost several rounds in ancient historical times (against the Romans and the Israelites, not to mention the odd Egyptian, Persian etc) we don't have enough written texts to do proper research. So the best bet for a name meaning might be "widowed queen ditched by boyfriend for the loftiest of moral reasons"! And the safest bet for an origin might be "literature" rather than "mythology".

- Flare En Kuldes (arwentroi)

10/27/2011, 2:25 PM

I don't have any helpful information (sorry!), but I can tell you that over the past few years I have been seeing Tiarne and variants like Tiarna, Tiarni, and Kiarna in Australian birth announcements and in name forum posts (like the ones on the Opinions board here - someone will post a class list or something). Every time I've seen those names, the kids were Australian (perhaps a few from New Zealand as well.)

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