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 🙂
Life in Peru 
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Guillermo y Rosa
http://apellidosperuanos.wordpress.com
I am wondering if you can help me! I was staying in Peru, in an Andean village a few years back, and the head of the community gave us all Quechua names in honour of our work there! I’m looking for help with the correct spelling. He named me “dreamer of the stars” which I remember being chaska cosquy, but I’m not able to find that anywhere! Did I make a mistake? Is it “chaska musquy?”
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!!!
Great!!!!
That’s nice. I am pregnant, and I would like my baby to have a quechua name too. I am glad you name your baby in Quechua. I want my baby to know about its roots as well
Thanks for visiting Rocio. I wish you all the best with your pregnancy and I hope you find a great Quechua name for your baby as well!
Kiyari means moonlight in quechua and thats what i am naming my daughter i am 21 weeks
Hi Elena. Thanks for visiting my blog and congratulations on your pregnancy. Kiyari is a beautiful Quechua name, thank you for sharing!
HEY MY NAME IS CHASKA!!!!!!! 😀
Im from Ecuador and would like my baby girl to remember its roots even though my husband is mexican. Im thinking of Illary, i really like it. Either that or a mayan name, Alitzel
im naming my baby girl Shaya is derives from Sayay which means standing tall it can also mean last one standing from what i have read. my husband is American so she will have an inca name with a american middle name Shaya Lee.
Hello! I was wondering if you could give me any other resources for Quechua names. I’ve been scouring the internet, but keep coming across the same places. Thanks!!
Sorry if this is a repost, but thanks for helping me name my new female chinchillas. Their names are Chaska, Kiyari, and Taruka (meaning “doe”). Chinchillas are from South America so I thought it would be awesome for them to have Quechua names. 🙂
I’m Peruvian and my husband is Australian. We named our baby girl (now 16 months old), Illari, which as per a friend of mine, who is a Quechua teacher in Cusco, said that meant Light of Dawn or something similar, as it’s hard to tell the real meaning. Ari means light and Illa is like dawn/sunrise/bright. We loved the name and couldn’t be happier with it. She definitely “looks like an” Illari and even though it’s hard for Australians as people who don’t know her pronounce it ILARI and we pronounce it IYARI, people who know her say it right and it means a lot to us. Hopefully it’ll remind her of her heritage and her mum’s beautiful country 🙂 Now we are pregnant with another girl and considering another Quechua name, but not sure yet!