How popular is the baby name Pipaluk in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Pipaluk.
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I mentioned the name Navarana in the post on Greenlandic names the other day. The name means “the one that alternates between different parties” and can be traced back to the proto-Eskimo root *naverar, “to exchange,” “to trade.”
The name comes from Inuit mythology:
Navarana is the main character in a legend which is known among most Inuit tribes, the name depicts an activity where a person alternated between two different tribes and ended up creating disunity. In Greenland it was a woman between the Norsemen and the Greenlanders, in other Inuit tribes it was an activity between Inuit and Indians.
One real-life Navarana was the first wife of Danish polar explorer Peter Freuchen, who lived for many years in northern Greenland.
Navarana Freuchen was a Greenlandic Inuit woman originally known as Mequpaluk (meaning “little feather”). Around the time she married Peter, in 1911, she changed her name to Navarana — a fitting choice, given her new dual-tribe status.
The couple went on to have two children: a boy named Mequsaq (“featherlike”) in 1915, and a girl named Pipaluk (“little possession”) in 1918.
Sadly, Navarana died of the flu in 1921. But her name was passed down to at least one grandchild — Navarana, Pipaluk’s daughter with then-husband Bengt Häger (a Swedish dance promoter).
What are your thoughts on the name Navarana?
Sources:
Freuchen, Peter. Book of the Eskimos. Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Company, 1961.
Harper, Kenn. Give Me My Father’s Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo. NY: Pocket Books, 1986.
According to Statistics Greenland, the most popular baby names in the country in 2018 were Inuk & Norsaq (boy names) and Ivaana & Malu (girl names).
The year before, in 2017, the top baby names were Inuk and Pipaluk.
Greenland doesn’t release top-10 lists every year, but does occasionally put out a name report. The most recent, published in mid-2011, includes top-10 lists for five recent decades…
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1960s
Girl Names (1961-1970)
Boy Names (1961-1970)
1. Ane 2. Marie 3. Karen 4. Sofie 5. Johanne 6. Kristine 7. Margrethe 8. Dorthe 9. Else 10. Anna
1. Hans 2. Jens 3. Karl 4. Lars 5. Peter 6. Niels 7. Ole 8. Kristian 9. Jørgen 10. Johan
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1970s
Girl Names (1971-1980)
Boy Names (1971-1980)
1. Ane 2. Karen 3. Marie 4. Dorthe 5. Johanne 6. Mette 7. Naja* 8. Susanne 9. Anna 10. Sofie
1. Hans 2. Karl 3. Jens 4. Peter 5. Lars 6. Niels 7. Thomas 8. Jakob 9. Martin 10. Knud
*Naja means “younger sister (of a male)” in Greenlandic.
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1980s
Girl Names (1981-1990)
Boy Names (1981-1990)
1. Ane 2. Johanne 3. Marie 4. Karen 5. Paninnguaq* 6. Sofie 7. Louise 8. Anna 9. Nivi* 10. Naja
1. Hans 2. Karl 3. Jens 4. Malik* 5. Peter 6. Lars 7. Kristian 8. Ole 9. Thomas 10. Niels
*Paninnguaq means “little daughter,” Nivi means “girl, maiden,” and Malik means “wave.”
Top Baby Names in Greenland, 1990s
Girl Names (1991-2000)
Boy Names (1991-2000)
1. Paninnguaq 2. Ane 3. Nivi 4. Naja 5. Ivalu* 6. Pipaluk* 7. Sofie 8. Sara 9. Marie 10. Camilla
1. Malik 2. Hans 3. Karl 4. Jens 5. Peter 6. Kristian 7. Lars 8. Aputsiaq* 9. Inunnguaq* 10. Nuka*
*Ivalu means “sinew,” Pipaluk means “little possession,” Aputsiaq means “snow flake,” Inunnguaq means “little person/human being,” and Nuka means “younger brother (of a male).”
1. Malik 2. Aputsiaq 3. Minik* 4. Hans 5. Inunnguaq 6. Kristian 7. Nuka 8. Salik* 9. Peter 10. Inuk* and Ivik* (tied)
*Ivaana means “brood egg,” Naasunnguaq means “little flower,” Kimmernaq means “lingonberry,” minik is a glue-like whale oil that is used as a sealing for skin boats, Salik means “the cleanser,” Inuk means “human being” — Inunnguaq from the ’90s list is a diminutive form of Inuk — and Ivik means “(blade of) grass.”
The recent rise of Salik can be traced back to the 1980s:
In the beginning of the ’80s the artist Keld Hansen published a series of children’s books about a boy named Salik, who lived in Greenland in the 1600s. In that same period, Peter Berliner, a psychologist, did a series of radio programs where the main character was named Salik. Statistics Greenland depicted a rise in the number of boys names immediately after that.
The 2011 report includes many other Greenlandic names as well, but I’ll put those into a separate post a few days from now. Until then, which of all the above names do you like best?
P.S. Almost forgot to define Malu and Norsaq from the first sentence! Malu is a short form of Marie-Louise, and a norsaq is a harpoon-throwing stick.
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