Raina - my name - is also a US English corruption of the name of the Irish Gaelic name Áine {pronounced 'Awnya'}. Áine is the Irish Goddess of youth, fertility, the Moon, the harvest, Midsummer, sovereignty and myriad other things.
Why did I give this name to my daughter? Raina means:Queen (from reine; french, or any Latin language)Joy; song (from rina; Hebrew)Pure; clean (רֵיינָא in Yiddish)Rain (english)Rhine, the river (from Рейн russian)Paradise (as comments suggest from ray in bulgarian)Peaceful sky (tahitian)Night ( रैना in Hindi/Urdu)Wise ライナ or らいな (on this website, in Japanese, from 怜 (rei) meaning "wise" and 奈 (na), a phonetic character. According to japanesenames.info, when they use chinese characters, the same phonetic name can have so many different meanings, since you can write the characters differently. The sound Rain can also be:蕾 bud; 莉 jasmine; 萊 grass; 菜 greens... Plus the sound na can be: 那 beautiful; 愛 love; 夏summer; 渚 beach; 桃 peach; 奈 apple tree- but this is on the web-i don't specialize in Asian languages- and I already see the apple tree translation is identical to the name particle translation..)My partner speaks Arabic. Although Raina does not have a particular meaning rooted in Arabic, راينا CAN be easily pronounced - and I confirm it does not have any vulgar meaning in Arabic.So you see, Raina is a truly universal and international name with a nice meaning on almost any continent. A good choice in this era of globalisation. It is not too tricky to pronounce either in Europe or in the US- but ONE of her (European) teachers did pronounce it like Rhinoceros, instead of Rain-a, which makes me wonder if it was the best choice after all. My second worry is that it is not as unisex as "Raine" - which would ease her life once the time comes to fill in job applications. But should a queen be worried by job apps anyway...One user's comment here said it means sun. I can't find a confirmation for that. Do you mean it is from English for "Ray", like a ray of sunlight?
I have a friend with a young daughter who was named Raina. She told me it meant the moments just after a rainstorm. You know, the clean smell, the sun peeks through the clouds, a rainbow in the sky, the birds start to chirp, everything seems so clean, fresh and renewed. That will always be my favorite definition.I haven't seen her in years but I always think of her when it rains.
Raina Troy was a main character on the American TV series "Shark", portrayed by Sophina Brown.
― Anonymous User 1/30/2011
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Raina Hein, a contestant on the TV series "America's Next Top Model".
― Anonymous User 1/30/2011
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I think this is a sweet name and suits that of a sweet little girl, because I know a little girl with this name and she is more than sweet, and so smart and charismatic. But it can remind you of a rainy day. I like saying this name and hearing it, so it's a good choice.
― Anonymous User 5/16/2010
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My friend is pregnant with her first child and the name 'Raina' has been decided to give her. Personally I think it is very interesting, and beautiful.
Raina Petkoff is the heroine of George Bernard Shaw's comedic play "Arms and the Man" (1894), set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885. Shaw specifically notes that her name is pronounced "rah-EE-na". She is a young, aristocratic Bulgarian woman. One night, a Swiss soldier climbs into her bedroom, seeking refuge from the battle raging outside. She hides him, even though she thinks he is a coward. Later, they fall in love.
― Anonymous User 8/29/2008
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Love this name, it's pretty and just different enough from Rain that the child wouldn't be teased. I also love the nickname, Rainie. :D
In addition to "queen" and "paradise", I've seen Raina on another website with the meaning "peaceful". I also associate it with the English word rain.
― Anonymous User 9/5/2006
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The Bulgarian "Raina Yakimova", who was born on 15th December, 1934, in Burgas, Bulgaria, known as "Raina Kabaivanska", is one of the most famous Bulgarian opera singers. In the 2nd half of the 20th century she was one of the most popular soprano singers. Some of her roles are in "Otello", "Don Carlo", "La Traviata", "Il Trovatore", "La Forza del Destino", "Tosca", "Roberto Devereux", "Rienzi", "Queen of Spades", "Capriccio", "La Verstalle".
The Bulgarian name "Raina" (also written "Rayna" in the site) has nothing to do with "Regina"! "Raina" originates from the Bulgarian word "rai" meaning "paradise" as a noun ("rai" is pronounced [rai], where [ai] is a DIPHTHONG, not [rai] with a stress on the "a", like the Italian television). Most probably the confusion comes from the pronunciation of "rai" - the fact that people who see the name written "Raina" or "Rayna" pronounce it [raina] with a stress on the "i" or on the "a", but not [raina] with the DIPHTHONG [ai], in which case the stress falls on the whole "rai".