Yaretzi?

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

On NameBerry they had a post briefly mentioning some fast-rising names in the US and one of them was Yaretzi (f).

I did a double take because I had never heard that name before, nor could I at all identify where it came from.

I Googled around, and found the following:
1. Name sites (and people explaining why they picked the name) claim that its origin is Aztec/Nahuatl. However, as a discussion on BehindTheName points out, this is doubtful because Nahuatl doesn't have an [r] sound. (Wikipedia confirms this.) The claimed meaning is "you are beloved."
2. Without exception, every Yaretzi I found had Hispanic rest of the name.
3. It is the name of a Mexican traditional dance company; the site is in Spanish which I don't speak.

Could anyone shed some light on this name, particularly Spanish speakers? My initial suspicion was that this was the name of a character on a Spanish language soap opera (as those soap operas tend to be sources of many names that rocket to popularity, and then usually just as quickly the name vanishes from the popularity list when the show goes off the air) but I couldn't find anything suggesting that when Googling in English.

My big questions are:
1. What is the REAL origin of Yaretzi (since it seems impossible for it to be Nahuatl)? Is it made up?
2. What caused the name to go from completely unknown to top 300 in 5 years in the US?
3. When did the name start getting used?

(I also kind of think it's ugly sounding. Maybe because my maiden name also has the /tz/ sound and I've always found it a bit ugly. Also, I have to concur with the most common English speaker complaint about it, which is that it sounds like Yahtzee.)

Comments

[gipro2003.livejournal.com]

While I've never heard of Yaretzi, my brother's girlfriend (who is also Hispanic) is named Yatziri. I wonder if they are of similar origin? Ironically, my dad often calls her Yahtzee.

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

That is just disrespectful, I don't think anyone should make fun of another's name. Especially if it is from another culture you may not understand. This particular name is actually a very honored name in some Central American countries.

[ma-ee-uh.livejournal.com]

Never heard this name before, but it sort of reminds me of the Spanish name Jaritza.

I just googled, and a site written in Spanish says Yaretzi is an Aztec name.

Can't tell you anything about it though, sorry.

Though re: your question #2, the same could be asked about names like Nevaeh. ;)

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

Actually Nevaeh's popularity origin is well documented. The explosion can be directly traced to the appearance of Sonny Sandoval on MTV Cribs, where he revealed his daughter's name and explained the origin (heaven backwards). Now from there it went viral, but nonetheless there is generally some original catalyst that brings a rare name to mass attention. That's why I specifically mentioned soap operas--they're a well-known source for fad names.

[ma-ee-uh.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK. You should ask this question to some folks from Latin America then.

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

It is of Mayan not Aztec origin and it means, will always be loved, though some claim it also means, desert flower. Because it is a Spanish name the y is pronounced like a j so tha name is ja-ret-see not ya-ret-see. It is quite common amonst us Hispanics. Hope that helps.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

J as in jump? Really? I'm looking at the Wikipedia page for the most common extant Mayan language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27iche%27_language) and it doesn't have the English j sound (in IPA, [dʒ]). According to Wikipedia, not all Spanish dialects have [dʒ]... those that do, it's part of "yeísmo" (another new thing to me). I wonder what the actual Mayan pronunciation is? Or maybe it's a different Mayan dialect?

This is fascinating, I'm learning a lot tonight. Thanks for the information.

Would you happen to know if something has occurred since 2006 to boost the name's profile? The name went from not on the top 1000 in 2006, to top 300 in 2011, and in 2011 it was one of the fastest rising names period (it jumped hundreds of spots). That usually indicates some definite push from somewhere... a famous person naming their baby, a character in media, an event...

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

If it was already a popular Hispanic name, the increase in immigration to the U.S. from Latin American countries could account for the increase in popularity.