need help

[blissurrenderd.livejournal.com]

I recently heard the name Yesenia/ Yessenia and COMPLETELY fell in love with it. It was one of those names that just hits you. The only other name that's ever done that to me was Svetlana 6 1/2 years ago, and I have a 21 month old with the name.

But, back to the point. I'm having a hard time finding the origin and meaning of the name. Some sites say it's Arabic meaning flower and others say it's Spanish, related to (and sometimes even pronounced) Jessenia.

I'm not really looking for opinions of the name, just information about it. I'm pretty sure this will be my girl name. I was going to have Alia as a middle name, but with Yesenia it gives an "ah-ah-ah" stuttering feeling, so that will probably be changed.

Also, is googling the best way to find name meanings, or is there a really great site that's easier? Thanks!

Comments

[arbus.livejournal.com]

in college i knew a girl named jesenia (pronounced yessenia) and she was latino. ive never heard of it being arabic, but that doesnt mean anything. i think its a pretty name, and the girl i knew went primarily by jessie.

[ewaeva.livejournal.com]

There are tons of sites that give you fake meanings so googling is not always reliable.
I find that the most reliable site is behindthename.com - the guy who runs it does solid research and uses real sources instead of copying from other name sites which may have wrong information.

This is what the site says:
YESENIA
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Possibly a Spanish form of JESSENIA

JESSENIA
Gender: Feminine
Meaning unknown. Possibly from the name of the species of palm tree; possibly means "flower" in Arabic.

A Spanish/Arabic connection would make sense, since Spain was Muslim for a long time during the middle ages and a lot of Arabic words have influenced Spanish. Maybe you can ask an Arabic speaker to confirm if this name is related to any Arabic word for "flower." It is a lovely name.

[blissurrenderd.livejournal.com]

Great, thanks a lot!

[kelkie.livejournal.com]

this is somewhat unrelated, but with svetlana... do you have any russian connections? cause i know it's a russian name and my boyfriend's russian :) when we eventually have babies i'd like to give them russian names or russian middle name :)

[blissurrenderd.livejournal.com]

No I don't... I'm a huge mutt so naming by that would be useless for me, lol! I just think Russian names are SOOO, SOOO pretty!

[kelkie.livejournal.com]

me too! but did you know that there aren't very many russian names? like my boyfriend, anton, told me that there are probably only like 20 or 30 names that are used for everyone!! people don't use many different names. and he knows TONS of sergeis! hehe.

[bagira.livejournal.com]

NOt to be overly rude, but your boyfriend is a tad full of it. %)))) There are certainly WAY more than 20 or 30 russian names. What he might have meant is that there are very few indigenously Russian names--i.e. those with slavic roots. Most of the names Russians give their kids are of Greek or Latin origin (like Anton, for one).

Svetlana is an indigenous slavic names, meaning "the light/radiant one." The diminutive is Sveta.

[darabelle.livejournal.com]

Show your boyfriend this:

Alexandra
Alina
Anastasia
Antonina
Anya
Basia
Danica
Daniela
Daria
Dasia
Denisa
Elena
Gabriela
Galina
Halina
Hana
Irina
Ivana
Jana
Josefa
Katerina
Katia
Lara
Larissa
Lida
Ludmila
Magdalena
Marcela
Masha
Michalina
Mira
Nadezhda
Nadia
Natalia
Natasha
Oksana
Olga
Paulina
Petrina
Raisa
Raya
Renata
Sasha
Severina
Shura
Simona
Sonia
Stanislava
Stefania
Svetlana
Tanya
Tatiana
Valentina
Valia
Vera
Verica
Veronika
Wanda

Alexi
Anatoly
Andrei
Anton
Antonin
Arkady
Artur
Boris
Casimir
Constantin
Dimitri
Gennadi
Goran
Igor
Ivan
Jerzy
Jiri
Jovan
Leonid
Lev
Lukas
Marek
Markian
Maxim
Milan
Milos
Oleg
Pavel
Roman
Sergei
Stanislav
Taras
Tomas
Vadim
Valentin
Viktor
Vladimir

[darabelle.livejournal.com]

This is what my book says about Yesenia:

YESENIA
Popularity: #302
Peak: #184 (1990s)
Style: Latino/Latina
Nicknames: Yesi
Variants: Yessenia

The name Yesenia has bloomed thanks to a pair of popular telenovelas. Actress Adela Noriega's portrayal of a passionate gypsy cemented the name's romantic image, but its sound is dreamy all on its own.

[xcuore.livejournal.com]

i pronounce Jessenia and Yessenia the same :)
i like it :)

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

A lot of Spanish words, especially ones having to do with comfort and luxury, are Arabic in origin.