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Where I got the info
in reply to a message by Array
Well in "Puffy, Xena, Quentin, and Uma" by Joal Ryan, she says that Kayla is Yiddish, meaning "laurel crown" or it's a variation of Katherine. In Bruce Lansky's "35,000+ Baby Names", he says that Kaila is Hebrew meaning "laurel; crown" and Kaela is Hebrew, Arabic meaning "beloved sweetheart" (and yes he does call it a short form of Kalila or Kelila). For Kayla he says it's Arabic or Hebrew "laurel; crown".And that's just Kayla and 2 name books! I also got some of my stuff off all kinds of websites. I'm having a ball going through my database and changing things to what I find here, but I am gonna ask about some of it just to see what you all have seen/heard.Let's see Lansky has:
Kaelyn as an American combo of Kae + Lynn;
Kalyn, Kaylin as american alternate form of Kaylyn
Kayleen, Kaylene is Hebrew, beloved, sweetheart or alternate form of Kayla
Kaylyn is American combo of Kay + Lynn Kailee, Kailey as American familiar forms of Kaila
Kaley as an american alternatate form of Caley, Kaylee
Kaylee is american form of Kayla
Kayleigh is american alternate form of KayleeAll other spellings are listed under these or not at all -- and I didn't even check the C page! LOLRyan only has Kayla, Kayli, and Kaylyn listed as separate names; the others just variants under them. Kayli says English, variation of Kayla "laurel crown" and Kaylyn says English, combination of Kay and Lynn.So which spelling of which name would be closest to the original?
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There probably isn't an original spelling, unfortunately! Names like Kaylyn etc get invented and reinvented by people all the time. Kayley is the original Gaelic name, so that's about as original as you'll get - the others are all composites (Kayley & Lyn = Kaylyn) or elaborations (Kayley to Kayla or Kayleigh, etc). :-)
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