Hyaena have you ever came across this as a girls name?

[louisemccrea]

Hi

Has anyone came across the name Hyaena for a girls christian name.  I have never heard this before and was wondering where it would come from i can't find anything about the name.

The only thing i can find is it means a specias family name for two breeds of Hyena's  surely no one would name there child after Hyena's lol they are not the nicest creatures.

Louise

[yonderpeasant]

there are five of them on a quick christian name search.Rang is from 1839 to 1896.someone must have thought it a good idea.

[forthefamily]

Maybe they were looking for a name that sounded like Hyena and that's how they chose to spell the name

Hyaena is Latin for Hyena but in Medieval Bestiary there were other names for Hyena.......Hiena, Hienne, Hyene, Iena, Yena, Yenne.

Forklore: Hyaenia is a stone found in the eye of the hyena and they say that if it is placed under the tongue of a man he foretells the future........pretty neat that 

mab.....just grasping at straws 

[7igerby7he7ail]

Perhaps they did it for a laugh

[Rena]

Has your family travelled?  I'm wondering if it's an attempt to convert a foreign name to English. 

For instance the English alphabet doesn't use an umlaut over a vowel such as an "a"  which gives it a phonetic sound something between an "a" and an "e"  - therefore, an "e" is inserted = "ae".   

Regarding the "a" at the end of "Hyaena" .... One side of my grandmother's family were German and  the written name Sophie is pronounced Sophia = So-fie-a  (as in fee fie fo fum I smell the blood of an Englishman :-) )

I surfed and found this:  <<My name's Hayane Marie Gonzales Aglipay, but you can call me Yane for short =) My name is actually japanese, meaning little japanese girl>>

[Ringoroses]

Is it from Scotland? I have a Hughina in my line, later shortened to Ina. Could easily be a misspelling of that by someone.  I read somewhere that adding 'ina' was quite common when converting a male name to a female name in Scotland - i.e. Donald/Donaldina, or whatever.

[louisemccrea]

Hiya

Thanks for all the theories i am looking for a cousin it is her ancestor the family were from Yorkshire but there are Scottish links too.   

It is a awful name though and the fact they kept it down the generations is odd with it being so weird. lol

Thanks Louise