With so many different cultural groups in our indigenous society, speaking many, many languages, creating a list of favourite Aboriginal names for males and females is a bit of a challenge.
But thankfully, Welcome to Country website has put together a list of most popular Aboriginal boy names and Aboriginal girl names.
“There was once a time when the use of Aboriginal baby names were discouraged and not recognised on paper. During those times, Indigenous people would have one traditional name recognised by family groups and one English name for use in the wider community,” the website, which has supplied the list below, reports. But now, it says, indigenous Australian names are becoming increasingly popular.
SBS’s Karina Marlow writes how, as many of some 250 indigenous languages are becoming endangered, using traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander is a way of keeping those languages alive, as it is easier to remember the word for something if it is also the meaning of someone’s name.
The first person of the European culture to use an Aboriginal name was the chaplain from the First Fleet, who named his daughter Milbah,” according to Mom Junction.
With regards to the meanings of names, Welcome to Country further notes, “We have tried our best to match the names below with their correct language groups however for some names, it isn’t clear about which language group they originate from. It is also important to note that some names/words are present in more than one Aboriginal language group and may have different meanings.”
As for pronunciation, Mom Junction notes that Aboriginal languages usually put the accent on the first and second last syllable but also, with many of the languages having been forced into disuse, the original pronunciations may have been lost.
Having said all that, here is Welcome to Country’s Top 24 Aboriginal Names:
Aboriginal boys’ names
12. Minjarra
The name of a bush plum tree which grows in the Kimberley, in Western Australia.
11. Birrani
For the Wiradjuri peoples of New South Wales, it is a word that means boy.
10. Monaro
Giving its name to a highway, an electoral district (it includes Cooma and Jindabyne), and … a car! … Monaro means high plain in the language of the Ngarigo people of south eastern New South Wales.
9. Yarran
In Wiradjuri, it means wattle tree (also known as an acacia).
8. Tjandamurra / Jandamarra
A 2011 film about the Bunuba warrior Jandamarra, who led a revolution against the white settlers in the late 19th century in Western Australia, has made this name more popular.
7. Waru
A character in the ABC series Cleverman, Waru has different meanings in different Aboriginal languages, including fire for the WA Pintupi/Luritja and the milky way in Queensland’s Kalkadoon.
6. Iluka
A seaside town in northern New South Wales, Iluka the place is well named as it is Bunjalung for by the sea.
5. Jiemba
A heavenly name, it is the Wiradjuri for the planet Venus or ‘the laughing star’.
4. Ngarra
A name that is popular in many languages from the east coast to the west, it has many different meanings. One, from Sydney’s Dharug, is the unifying expression ‘together with you’.
3. Coen/Koen
Meaning thunder, it is the perfect name for the lead character in ABC series Cleverman.
2. Nullah
From the Dharug for war club or hunting stick, Nullah is also the name of the character played by Brandon Walters in the 2008 film Australia.
1. Jarrah
The Noongar people of south western West Australia use the word Djarraly, from which Jarrah comes, for a type of Eucalyptus tree famous for its wonderful wood.
Aboriginal girls’ names
12. Killara
If you don’t want her to leave you, call her Killara. Coming from the Dharug for permanent or always there, this girls’ name is also a Sydney suburb.
11. Medika
Said to have originated in SA, the pretty name means blossom or flower and is used for native water lilies.
10. Kylie
Would you believe, the name Kylie is a Noongar word for boomerang?
9. Tarni/Tahnee
The Adelaide-based tribes of the Kaurna people use this to mean the sound of the surf. The 2009 winner of Australia’s Next Top Model was called Tahnee Atkinson.
8. Keira
Not sure if The Bachelor‘s Keira Maguire knows that her first name means large lagoon or high mountain for the Dharawal of the Illawarra region of NSW?
7. Alira/Allira/Allyra
Like many Aboriginal words, the English transliteration of it can vary in spelling, but this name refers to the translucent gem quartz.
6. Lowanna
Like Birrani, which means boy for the Wiradjuri, Lowanna means girl but for the Gumbaynggir people of the NSW mid-north coast. Also for the Palawa people from Tasmania, it means woman.
5. Alinta
The first episode of the 1981 TV series Women of the Sun was called “Alinta: The Flame”, appropriate as Alinta, said to have come from South Australia, is an Aboriginal word for fire.
4. Yindi
Part of the band name, Yothu-Yindi, in Arnhem Land’s Yolngu, Yindi means child (Yothu means mother). The name also means sun for many Aboriginals.
3. Jedda
The name of a 1955 film by Charles Chauvel, Jedda (starring Rosalie Kunoth-Monks) told the story of an Aboriginal woman torn between two cultures. It is believed to have come from a Noongar word for little wild goose.
2. Maali/Mahlee/Marli
In Noongar, this word means black swan. In other Aboriginal languages it can mean old tree.
1. Kirra
Selected as the most popular for girls on the Welcome to Country list, the name Kirra is used by many Aboriginal peoples on the border regions of QLD and NSW, and so it is appropriate it is also the name of a beach on the border of the two states. Some of its meanings are beautiful woman, to live, boomerang and dancing leaf.
