indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Feminine
Usage American (Rare), Literature
Meaning & History
The name of a princess of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) in Samuel Johnson's novella 'The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia' (1759). Its origins are uncertain, though it may be a derivative of Nicaula, the Habesha name for the queen of Sheba. Alternatively it may derive from Amharic naka "to wake" or kaye "scarlet".In the English-speaking world, it has been in occasional use from the early 1800s onwards.