"Tristan" now feminine given name

Mark A. Mandel mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU
Fri Feb 24 15:05:23 UTC 2006


>>> alphatwin2002 at YAHOO.COM 2/23/2006 3:55 PM >>> wrote:
>In Hans C. Andersen's tale THE SNOW QUEEN, Gerda's boyfriend is Kay.
> My name is Brenda Kaye. I don't know why my mother attached the E on the
>latter.

FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US> answered:
>>>
This probably is not [ke:], but rather [kai], which is/was a common name for
guys in northern Germany and, apparently, Denmark.
Fritz
<<<

I have a Finno-Swedish friend named Kai-Mikael. I asked him once if the
"Kai" came from Latin Gaius/Caius. He said he didn't think so, that it was
an old (North Germanic or Finnish, I forget which he said) name.

-- Mark
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]

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