LINGUIST List 7.233

Tue Feb 13 1996

Sum: Proper names

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. MARC PICARD, Proper names summary

 Two or three weeks ago, I asked the following question:

> If I met people whose first names were Manashi, Itziar, Nouparat,
> Babrak, Ciru, Fatemeh, Mahalingam and Zeinab, what language would I expect
> each one of them to speak?

A number of people replied, and I tried to thank them all personally though
I suspect some messages got deleted inadvertently before I had a chance to
reply, and for this I apologize.
 In my effort to ask the question as succinctly as possible, I seem
to have phrased it in a way that caused some people to interpret it as a
trick question or guessing game. I asked the question in all earnestness, and
this is what I've been able to piece together from the information I
received here and elsewhere:

MANASHI Bengali
ITZIAR Basque
NOUPARAT Thai
BABRAK Pashto
CIRU Kenyan (but no specific language identified)
FATEMEH Farsi
MAHALINGAM Tamil
ZEINAB Arabic (mostly Egyptian apparently)

Marc Picard