Name Forms

During my school days, deciding on a “German name” or “Spanish name” for my language classes was never straightforward. Katie could be Katharina or Catalina; Stephen could be Stefan or Esteban. Chase has no easy cognates, and, as a Middle English nickname for a hunter, its semantic matches are also rarer. Later on, I found a few, like Venancio in Spanish and its various cognates from Venantius, from Latin venans, “hunting”, but I have still had to be creative with my practice names—Urho in Finnish is a semantic step or two away, as is Portuguese Carlos. In the Goidelic languages, I at least have the use of the cognates of my middle name, Neal. Via is no easier to convert semantically—far harder, in fact. Its murky etymology leaves much to be desired, so semantic indigenization must lean on the spurious theories (viz. that the name means “wood-hard”, “St. Vouga”, “raven”, &c.), or I must simply assume a surname from elsewhere (such as Beech Bluff, home to the families of Rafe Blankenship and Kitty Bell) or otherwise be undertaken phonetically.

Nonetheless, I have always loved indigenization and preferred using other names in foreign languages. I would never expect somebody to take up an English name to speak to me in English—but what fun it is to (when appropriate) take up another name in another language, both for immersion and phonetics! Were I ever to be famous, I would hope to be known by indigenizations of my name in other languages—alas, that appears to be reserved only for monarchs, popes, and world-historical figures. Still, for reasons of work, travel, language-learning, or onomastics presentations during my linguistics courses, I have occasionally had reason to use versions of my name in other languages, which are collected below. (Some of these I did pick up studying onomastics; I did some research on martially themed names out of interest in my own). When constructing languages or advising on name-changes, I have loved and enjoyed making and bestowing names for others—hence, whenever I needed to take up or invent a name, I reached out to the relevant body or researchers to see if they were interested in sharing in the exercise.

The following list is entirely for fun—I really only use the semantic indigenizations for language learning; the phonetic ones are more useful for branding and web presence.

Language	Name-form	Notes & Development
Asturian	Venanciu Faya Semantic	Daniela Cortina of the Academy of the Asturian Language kindly aided me here, providing Venanciu as the Asturian reflex of Venantius and noting the surname Faya, meaning “beech”; this is phono-semantic, in a sense, referring both to Beech Bluff and also having a surface sound-resemblance to Via.
Bashkir	Sunarsı Yason ulı Сунарсы Ясон улы Semantic	Rezida A. Suleimanova of the Ufa Federal Research Center RAS charitably replied to my request for names with hunting themes, which, she said, were once “widespread” but now “are used extremely rarely. Some of them generally completely dropped out of the anthroponymicon”. Still, she said hunting had an “important role in the economic life of the Bashkirs” and gave examples of such names: Кейек (“wild animals”), Айыу (“bear”), Буре (“wolf”), and Сунарсы (“hunter”). What follows means “son of Jason”, my father.
Basque	Hodei Pagadi Semantic	Euskaltzaindia onomastician Mikel Gorrotxategi warmly replied, noting that Hodei (“cloud”) was a modern epicene name dating to the 1976 repeal of the ban on Basque names. He stated that the surname Pagadi is one of many Basque family names derived from “beech” (fago or pago), intended here to reflect Beech Bluff.
Breton	Neven Faouenn Semantic	The Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg obliged to respond that Neven is related to Breton neñv (“sky” in a religious sense) and could hence evoke Neal, thought to mean “cloud”. The beech-themed French surnames Faouen and Faouennec have Breton origins that would today be spelled Faouenn and Faouenneg and here reflect Beech Bluff.
Bulgarian	Slanchezar Bukovski Слънчезар Буковски Semantic	The Institute anonymously provided me several resources and answered my questions. The first names Bùko (“beech”), Slŭnchezàr (“sunrise”), Zvezdàn (“starry”), and the archaic Strèlko (“arrow”) were all deemed semantically similar to the themes of Chase, Neal, and Beech Bluff. The surnames Bùkovski and the rarer Bùkovich both refer to beech trees, and Avdzhìev is from a Turkish loanword meaning “hunter”. Язониев (Yazoniev), a patronymic for Jason, my father, would be an appropriate middle name.
Catalan	Venanci Faig Semantic	Catalan philologist Dr. Joan Anton Rabella of the Institute for Catalan Studies kindly indulged this question and affirmed this form; Venanci derives from Venantius (“hunting”). It is paired here with a surname from the beech tree (faig in Catalan) to reflect Beech Bluff, though Rabella noted several other possible beech-themed surnames, such as Fageda (“beech”) and Fatjó (“small beech”).
Cornish	Helghyer Keynfowek Semantic	Kathy Wallis referred my request for a Cornish practice name to Janet Edmondson of the Names Board of Kowethas an Yeth Kernewek, who graciously entertained my request; she proposed Helghyer (“hunter”) and Bleydh (“wolf”, found in the surname Trembleath) to reflect my first name and constructed Keynfowek to mean Beech Bluff.
Cumbraek Constructed	Hellur Mayok Semantic	My Cumbraek practice name from its creator, linguist Neil Whalley, whose kind response I appreciated; he gave Hellur and Hellidh for Chase; Skoal, Gwelidh, Cempyat, Lawr (all “champion”), Niwl (“fog”), and Cummul (“cloud”) for Neal; and connected St. Vouga to both Old Irish Fiacc but also Breton Maeoc, which he put into Cumbraek as Mayok.
Dutch	Radolf van Beukenhorst Semantic	Language consultant Aleid van de Vooren approved of Beukenhorst as a translation of Beech Bluff and sent a list of Germanic Dutch names with several excellent though uncommon ones to evoke hunting, including Brandolf (“sword-wolf”), Gerelm (“spear-helm”), Radolf (“wise wolf”) and Wolfhelm (“wolf-helm”); Radolf, cognate to the name of my great-grandfather, was the final choice.
Elfdalian	Råðuov Kuorpsker Semantic	Ulum Dalska obliged many questions on onomastics, for which I am grateful; Björn Rehnström first proposed Kuorpskereð as the nominative form of a toponym meaning “raven’s cliff”, fusing the Via–fiach folk etymology and Beech Bluff. Stefan Jacobsson subsequently responded, noting that Kuorpskereð was in the definite form but that Kuorpsker would be a more likely toponym. He noted Råðuov as cognate to my great-grandfather Rafe’s name.
Esperanto Constructed	Česnilo Via Transliteration	Česnilo is 2024 suggestion for the phonetic respelling of Chase Neal by French Esperantist Yostiano Altebrilas. Via is left unchanged and would reflect the /ˈviː.ə/ pronunciation; *Vio or *Viao could be other candidates if one prefers to use the noun ending —o. If one wanted to reflect /vaɪ/, *Vajo would be appropriate.
Estonian	Neeme Viia Phonetic	Estonian linguist Peeter Päll suggested Viia or Vija, existing Estonian surnames, on phonetic grounds, both reflecting the /ˈviː.ə/ pronunciation; the /vaɪ/ one would be more like *Vai. Neeme, which he also noted as phonetically reflecting Neal, is a particularly unique one coined in 1902, probably after the Livionian name Meeme.
Faroese	Njál Ravnsklett Semantic	Henry á Fríðriksmørk of the Faroese Language Council kindly answered my request here, suggesting Ravnsklett to mean “raven’s cliff”, fusing the Via–fiach folk etymology and Beech Bluff. Njál is the Faroese form of Neal. Jasonsson would be a patronymic middle name from my father’s name.
Friulian	Venansio Faéit Semantic	Professor Franco Finco was given my query by the Regional Agency for Friulian Language and gave a generous reply. From Latin Venantius (“hunting”), Friulian has Venansio or Nansio. For Neal (“cloud”), Caelestinus (“sky”) gives Friulian Cilistin or Silistin. For “beech”—faiâr, vespul, and rep—he noted that a beech-covered height would bear names as Faêt, Faiêt, Faéit, Vespolêt “and the like”, though they did not produce prolific surnames like Rovaretto, as had Friulian Roveréit (“oakwood”).
Hungarian	Bükkerdő Levente Semantic	Two research fellows of the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics’s Names Committee charitably produced an extraordinary reply [download] to my message, listing over forty names as they pertained to my inquiry. They considered the given name Levente (“hunter”) viable, and it was their first suggestion; other interesting but rare given names were Solymár (“falconer”) and Kartal (“eagle”). They noted Nil as a rendering of Neal. Bükkerdő they noted as a toponymic surname meaning “beech-forest”; in Hungarian, family names come before the given name.
Icelandic	Njáll Jasonarson Semantic	When I was poised to study in Iceland for a time, the Árni Magnússon Institute’s head of public relation and communication, Ingibjörg Þórisdóttir, reported that she could not find any name “suitable” to render Chase, but approved of Njáll as a rendering of Neal and Jasonarson as a patronymic to reflect my father, Jason.
Irish	Niall Mac Giolla Fheaca Semantic	On the folk etymology connecting Via to Saint Vouga, Gael Linn executive Réamonn Ó Ciaráin supposed Mac Giolla Fheaca would be an appropriate surname to reflect Cill Feaca (the Irish “St. Vogue”, with whom Vouga has been identified). Niall is equivalent to Neal.
Jämtlandic	Ulf Korpkłeppen Semantic	Mattias Persson of Jamtamot i Uppsala kindly answered that he contacted a friend of his who was an expert in the language about names of my requested meanings. Ulf means “wolf”, semantically near “hunter”; Korpkłeppen means “raven-cliff”, fusing the Via–fiach folk etymology and Beech Bluff. Ulf would be pronounced with final [f] rather than Swedish [v]; korp (“raven”) is pronounced more like [koʃp].
Japanese	Cheisu Nīru Vu~ai チェイス   ニール   ヴァイ Transliteration	My uncle, who spent two years at Hirosaki in Aomori in the mid- to late 1990s and one year at Muroran in Hokkaido starting in September 2001, studied at Hirosaki University for two years on scholarships and taught English on the JET Program in Muroran for the Muroran Board of Education at about a dozen schools. He used ヴァイ as his transliteration of Via and advised チェイス   ニール   ヴァイ for me. Uniquely, this transliteration of the last name preserves the older /vaɪ/ pronunciation, which still prevailed in my family at the time of his studies.
Jèrriais	Venance Fau Semantic	This name, the Jèrriais reflex of Venantius (“hunting”) paired with fau/fo (“beech”), was afforded to me by Geraint Jennings, the Jèrriais Promotion Officer of the Jersey Museum, who also noted fautelle (“beechmast”). In the case of Latin Caelestinus (“sky”) for Neal, he suggested using Célestîn.
Latvian	Čeiss Nīls Vija Transliteration	The Latvian Language Agency returned this official Latvianization of my name in April 2024. The valodas konsultantes (language consultants) seem to have had the /ˈviː.ə/ pronunciation in mind; the /vaɪ/ one would be more like *Vai.
Lombard	Venanzi Faedo Semantic	When asked for the Lombard forms of Venantius (“hunting”) and an appropriate toponym for a beech grove, Simona Scuri of Lombard language advocacy group Far Lombard gave this reply; she admitted, however, that she was not aware of a concrete form for Venantius, only guessing how they might appear.
Manx	Neale y Dreeym-faih Semantic	Lit. “Neal of the beech-ridge”, as kindly provided to me by Dr. Breesha Maddrell, director of Culture Vannin. Nele or Neale are both valid spellings, the latter more reflecting the Manx surname Kneale. She did note two things: firstly, that it was not common to translate surnames into Manx, and that users of the language often devised a pseudonym instead based on personal characteristics—such as Illiam Dhone—and secondly, that beech trees are an “uncommon, non-native species” on the Isle of Man.
Monégasque	Venançiu Crovu Semantic	The Monégasque forms of Venantius (“hunting”) and the Italian surname Corvo (“raven”). Claude Passet of the Académie des Langues Dialectales explained that, in practice, modern Monégasque (spoken, he mentioned, by 200) usually retains foreign names. He said the Italian forms of these names would likely be used, but that these are truly adapted into Monégasque. As for Crovu, he noted that the “u” is pronounced [ou].
North Frisian	Arfst Böökeklaf Semantic	Dr. Lena Terhart of the Nordfriisk Instituut, to which I was referred by Ilwe Boysen of Friisk Foriining, cordially answered that there were no names that meant “hunter” or “cloud”, but listed Arfst (“eagle”), Bente/Benne (possibly “bear”), Danklef/Riklef (—lef poss. “wolf”), Geike/Geie/Gerret (“spear”), and Hunne (“bear”) as first names. She noted it would be unusual to combine beech and cliff, which would result in Böökeklaf, though she gave böökebuum as meaning “beech tree” in Fering North Frisian.
Occitan	Venanç Fau Semantic	The President of the IEO, Pèire Brechet, kindly gave me this form of Latin Venantius (“hunter”), which is here paired with the Occitan surname Fau. Faiard, the Occitan form of French Fayard, is an option, though Fau has a loose resemblance to Via.
Scottish Gaelic	Niall Mac’IllFhice Semantic	On the folk etymology connecting Via to Saint Vouga, Uist musician and Gaelic teacher Gillebrìde Mac’IlleMhaoil suggested Fhice as a genitive form of Feaca (“St. Vogue”) and advised the form Mac’IllFhice (in line with his own name’s spelling) to mean “son of the follower of St. Vogue”. It could also be styled, more fully, MacGilleFhice. Niall is equivalent to Neal.
Tswana	Motsomi Moitshepi Semantic	Thapelo J. Otlogetswe graciously explained Tswana names to me in 2024 and noted motsomi, “hunter”, as well as moitshepi, “holy man”, which might reflect the St. Vouga folk etymology.