Life in Peru

Quechua girl names

The most popular post on this blog remains “Looking for names of Inca princesses”, which I wrote when we first found out our baby was going to be a girl. We had already picked Brianna for the first name, but I wanted a native or Quechua name as well.

Since then I’ve learned a lot about Quechua girl names. My students made me a list of Quechua names:

• Urpi (Dove)
• Illary (Rainbow)
• Tica (Flower)
• Saywa
• Illa
• Killa
• K’antu (the national flower of Peru)
• Kusi
• Mayu

Probably the most common Quechua girl name I’ve heard here in Cusco is Chaska. If you like names of famous people, you can choose Q’orianka, after Peruvian-American actress Q’orianka Kilcher. Site friend Amazilia posted this link to Quechua names in the comments of my “Looking for names of Inca princesses” post.

Patricia wanted to pick a unique name though, and found Nayaraq on this list of Quechua names. So we settled on “Brianna Nayaraq”.

Brianna Nayaraq

Nayaraq means “who has many desires”. I hope she will grow up with the desire to make Peru an even better place.

I’m very happy we picked a name that will remind our daughter of her heritage as well as the great history and culture of Peru. Of course we also like the way it sounds, plus we can use “Naya” or “Yara” for a nickname

July 2, 2009 - Posted by wwelvaert | Life in Peru | culture, girl names, nayaraq, Peru, Quechua, quechua girl name