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I was glad to see my first name Saana finally on the main database (yay!). However, I'm really baffled by the description "Finnish short form of SUSANNA", since no source I've read (and I've been going through a lot, since the meaning of my name has obviously interested me) has ever suggested Saana has anything to do with Susanna. Instead, they have all stated that Saana comes from the Finnish fell called Saana (what the etymology for the fell's name is might be more unclear), and that it became popular because it reminded Jaana, a common Finnish name, and also because some other nature-y names like Inari (a lake in Lapland) and Salla (also a fell in Lapland) were becoming popular. The Finnish name Bible, aka Kustaa Vilkuna's book on names, also agrees with this explanation.
Also, Saana isn't grouped with Susanna and its variants on the name day calendar (Saana's name day is on 17th Oct and Susanna's 11th Aug). Related names are paired together in the name calendar, I can't think of any cases where related names wouldn't have their name days on the same day.
So where is the information that says Saana is derived from Susanna coming from? Does anyone have any info on this? Mike C?
Apologies if I appear too hysterical, but this is a really sore spot for me!
Also, Saana isn't grouped with Susanna and its variants on the name day calendar (Saana's name day is on 17th Oct and Susanna's 11th Aug). Related names are paired together in the name calendar, I can't think of any cases where related names wouldn't have their name days on the same day.
So where is the information that says Saana is derived from Susanna coming from? Does anyone have any info on this? Mike C?
Apologies if I appear too hysterical, but this is a really sore spot for me!
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Replies
I would think that Mike got the info about Saana being a shortened form of Susanna from the source lilolaf mentioned, with the source page giving no source (apart from statistical sources) to back it up while the source page for Sanna has one.
I would agree that Saana is derived from the Finnish fell of the same name and looking at the statistics via http://verkkopalvelu.vrk.fi/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3:
-1899: less than 5 women with Saana as either their first or one of their middle names
1900-1919: none
1920-1939: none
1940-1959: none
1960-1979: 262 women
1980-1999: 1,667 women
2000-2009: 1,591 women/girls
2010-2015: 806 girls
...it pretty much backs up what Louska said in her comment about Saana.
Right now, Mike's doing an update on the main database, so you can submit a correction (at http://www.behindthename.com/submit/submit.php) for Mike to look at and (hopefully) update with the more correct info that your sources say.
I would agree that Saana is derived from the Finnish fell of the same name and looking at the statistics via http://verkkopalvelu.vrk.fi/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3:
-1899: less than 5 women with Saana as either their first or one of their middle names
1900-1919: none
1920-1939: none
1940-1959: none
1960-1979: 262 women
1980-1999: 1,667 women
2000-2009: 1,591 women/girls
2010-2015: 806 girls
...it pretty much backs up what Louska said in her comment about Saana.
Right now, Mike's doing an update on the main database, so you can submit a correction (at http://www.behindthename.com/submit/submit.php) for Mike to look at and (hopefully) update with the more correct info that your sources say.
This message was edited 2/18/2016, 6:43 PM
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Thank you for the correction link! I've stumbled upon it before and thought it was only for correcting submitted names, not the names on the database (which seems silly in retrospect).
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On http://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Saana it says that it is a variant of Sanna which is a short form of Susanna, a pet form of Alexandra and from Swedish Sann meaning "true, truthful".
This message was edited 2/18/2016, 6:05 PM
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I found that after posting too. My problem with NordicNames.de is that I find the site super unreliable, at least when it comes to Finnish names. They have a bunch of names they claim are "Finnish variant of X", when there's absolutely no proof that the name has been used by Finnish people, ever. So for me, if I find some information on NN.de, fine, but I'm not going to believe any of it before I find the same information somewhere else.
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nordicnames.de is not that bad actually. The authors of that site cite their sources (and often provide different sources with diverging explanations). One has to be careful when they either give as source "Own estimate" or give no source at all.
With some names I have also the problem that they may occur in (prescriptive?) name books, but I cannot find any evidence of use. The Sami namedays are an example of this.
All in all: It does not make any sense to copy names and explanations from another website without own thought and judgement.
With some names I have also the problem that they may occur in (prescriptive?) name books, but I cannot find any evidence of use. The Sami namedays are an example of this.
All in all: It does not make any sense to copy names and explanations from another website without own thought and judgement.
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I see your name means (From the name of a mountain in northern Finland.) It looks like it did end up getting edited which is great! Yay!
This message was edited 3/18/2016, 9:14 PM
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