Many think names like
Kayla /
Kaila /
Keila / Keyla / Kaile are trendy and trashy, and so do I in most of the cases.
But it is interesting to know that these names are also valid and centuries old Yiddish names - actually, almost one thousand years old.
Origin?
Like many Yiddish names, they come from different origins and meanings.
Without any specific order:
- a Yiddish form of Kelila, a Hebrew name meaning "crown of laurel", and symbolically "perfection". Kelila is also a female form of the name Kalil, meaning "complete, whole, perfect".
- a Yiddish form of the names
Cecilia and
Celia.
- a Yiddish pet form of the name
Karolina- a Yiddish form of "geile", meaning "happy, mischievous, vivacious, playful..." in Old
German.
- a variation of the name Gella, meaning "fair haired" in Yiddish
- a Yiddish form of "geila", meaning "French, Gaul" in Old
German.
- a Yiddish pet form of the name
Michaela- in Hebrew, "kalah" means "bride, fiancee". So it could be a Yiddish form of "kalah". In this case it would be an amuletic name, to bring good luck to the girl, since the most important thing in a Jewish woman's life is marriage. [think amulet against spinsterhood]. The Kalah is also, metaphorically, the long waited for Shabbat. But if we begin with the imagery of the bride we're not finished before a long time! :)
- apparently, it would also mean "grey eyed". But I'm not sure of this one.
Spellings
The most common spellings in Polish are: Kajla, Kajle, Keyla, Keyle.
The most common spellings in
German are: Kehle, Kehla,
Kaila, Kele.
How to prononce it?
kai, kay, kai = "kie"
kej, key, kei = "kay"
keh, ke = "keh"
la = "lah"
le = "luh" or "leh"
Want examples?
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/levy/gela.html (only look at the last column that gives you the name, its variations, the place + the second column that gives you the date).
~~ Claire ~~
This message was edited 4/4/2005, 6:32 AM