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Info on the name Sultana?
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:43 am
There's a grandmother on my family tree named Sultana from generations ago, and I love the sound of it, but no one that I know of has named after her. Is this a sephardi name? Has anyone ever heard of it? Is it the old version of malka? TIA!
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amother
NeonBlue


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:44 am
I have a grandmother with that name. Yes, Sephardi. And yes, it's Malka.
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:46 am
Don't Brits call raisins "sultanas?"
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:50 am
amother [ NeonBlue ] wrote:
I have a grandmother with that name. Yes, Sephardi. And yes, it's Malka.

Is it unaccepted for ashkenazim to give sephardi names..? Is that crazy or do people do that?
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Elfrida




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:51 am
What Americans call golden raisins are sultanas. The black ones are raisins.
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amother
DarkGreen


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:52 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Is it unaccepted for ashkenazim to give sephardi names..? Is that crazy or do people do that?


Is your family sefardi? My family is and I married ashkenazi and would totally use a sefardi name.
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amother
NeonBlue


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:54 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Is it unaccepted for ashkenazim to give sephardi names..? Is that crazy or do people do that?

Not crazy. I don't think it's Arabic like many Sephardi names. I'd say it probably comes from Spanish or something. The grandmother in my family was actually Greek!
But you can always use Malka - that's universal.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:54 am
Elfrida wrote:
What Americans call golden raisins are sultanas. The black ones are raisins.

Ugh... I don't want a name that people think means raisin lol. That kind of ruins it.
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amother
NeonBlue


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:55 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Ugh... I don't want a name that people think means raisin lol. That kind of ruins it.

It probably comes from a nicer meaning - like golden or something. I think it means queen - hence Malka.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 11:59 am
amother [ DarkGreen ] wrote:
Is your family sefardi? My family is and I married ashkenazi and would totally use a sefardi name.

I have some sephardi from a couple generations ago but wouldn't consider my family to be sephardi at all anymore, if that makes sense.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:01 pm
amother [ NeonBlue ] wrote:
It probably comes from a nicer meaning - like golden or something. I think it means queen - hence Malka.

That sounds better than raisin! I'll have to do some more research. I like more unique names, which is why I'm drawn to it more than malka, but I do have to be careful not to do something so wild that my daughter would resent it later.
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Elfrida




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:16 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Ugh... I don't want a name that people think means raisin lol. That kind of ruins it.


In the context of names I have always assumed it was the female version of Sultan, the local equivalent of king - hence Malka. I heard of it as a title rather than a name, but you get girls called Queenie, so it is obviously the same usage.

I suppose the larger and juicier golden raisins were considered superior to the little black ones, thus they got a superior name.

Having said that, I would be rather surprised if I came across anyone using the name, and it would be hard to ignore the raisin associations.
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amother
Aubergine


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:45 pm
Yes, it's Arabic. Brits will associate the name with golden raisins, but Americans won't. I would definitely translate it and use Malka, though Sultana sounds objectively pretty to me.
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amother
Opal


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:48 pm
I personally wouldn't use the name because the first thing that leaped into my mind was raisins - which is the same reaction when I heard that Gwyneth Paltrow named her girl Apple years ago.

Also the secondary meaning is the female concubine or wife of a sultan which is generally associated with Muslim kingdoms.
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:52 pm
amother [ Opal ] wrote:
I personally wouldn't use the name because the first thing that leaped into my mind was raisins - which is the same reaction when I heard that Gwyneth Paltrow named her girl Apple years ago.

Also the secondary meaning is the female concubine or wife of a sultan which is generally associated with Muslim kingdoms.

In Hebrew, fruit names are more accepted (Tamar, Einav, Shaked, Hadar).

But it only works for some fruits. I don't know anybody named Tapuz or Tapuach or Ananas.
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amother
Opal


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 12:55 pm
DrMom wrote:
In Hebrew, fruit names are more accepted (Tamar, Einav, Shaked, Hadar).

But it only works for some fruits. I don't know anybody named Tapuz or Tapuach or Ananas.


I would think it is because the names have some kind of secondary meaning so that people don't immediately associate them with the fruit the way Apple as a name in English does.

I think the analogous naming protocol would be flowers - no one thinks Rose, Lily, Daisy are strange names for girls. However other flower names would be viewed as weird like Lilac, Tulip, Begonia or Nasturtium LOL
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amother
Beige


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 1:25 pm
I have a cousin called Barley. 😳

So why not Raisin/Sultana?
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amother
Opal


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 1:30 pm
amother [ Beige ] wrote:
I have a cousin called Barley. 😳

So why not Raisin/Sultana?


This is fascinating.

Is he or she literally named Barley in English?

Is there some reason for having been given the name?

My mother was a public school teacher and she had some very strange names occasionally because the parents weren't English literate and so they had no idea that they were not using a "name" that is generally used for people.
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amother
Cinnamon


 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 1:35 pm
Sounds like a golden raisin to me, sorry.
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Rubber Ducky




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 18 2022, 1:41 pm
How about splitting the baby (figuratively) and using Malka Sultana or Sultana Malka?
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