What does my name, Therneau, mean?
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Let me start with where my name comes from.
Therneau is a French surname given to me by my Afrikaans grandmother as a first name. I always found this interesting since generally the parents choose the name. Anyway, @lizelle will probably ask ouma (grandmother) and she can let me know why ouma chose it.
Now, if you understand how conservative the old afrikaans folks were your imagination as to why she would pick a name like that, for her afrikaans grandson, can start running wild.
Afrikaners tend to be very conservative people and so too are the names. Boys, like me, tend to be named things like Jan, Pieter, Koos, Hennie etc. Simple, straight forward names.
Anyway, when people ask me about my name I always like telling them that the theory is this:
I think my afrikaans grandmother had a french lover somewhere along the way ;) That's why she insisted on naming me Therneau.
Those that understand how conservative the afrikaans folk can be tend to have a good chuckle at my theory.
Ok, so on to the topic. What does my name mean?
Well, I have absolutely no idea. Therefore, I figured I would make up my own little glorious meaning.
So here goes.
The meaning of Therneau
Born under the brightest star, seen from many a galaxy away. Its light shining so bright that not even the Gods can look directly upon it.
Pretty cool, right? Hell yes, that's what my name means!
Ok, ok. So perhaps it's a little overboard but hey, why not?
If you don't know the meaning of your name, or even if you do, make up your own if you want to! You can make it as cool, or as uncool as you want. It's your name after all :) Unless you love the known version of it.
So what does your name mean?
Cheers
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Great to know what a name means and feels like!
Apparently a submission from South Africa for the meaning of Lizelle was Consecrated to God, but I quite like the following alternate meaning:
L is for lively, your life is full of energy!
I is for infinite, are your possibilities
Z is for zest, your zeal for life.
E is for enthusiasm, in even the most dire circumstances
L is for love, your love of life!
L is for loyalty, that you show.
E is for extra, those little things you do!
That sounds wonderful @lizelle :)
I'm glad you went on a bit of a search :)
Haha nice one bad boy, I tell you this much yours is one of the harder names to remember in terms of spelling I usually need to look at it 6 times before addressing you.. ;) Cheer$;) @theneveau I mean @therneau ;P
Haha, yeah man. Definitely not one of the easiest names. There's probably only like 2 people who have ever managed to guess it right (without seeing the spelling)
A name is a name at the end of the day, I agree.
Meanwhile, I wrote on the same subject, although from a different angle. I will appreciate your thoughts on it.
Cool, had a read. A different angle indeed.
Mine was more of a "just having some fun" kinda approach and yours was more a philisophical view. Well done piece :)
True. And thanks for the actually following up and reading my post. Much obliged.
So glad you found the meaning, now the reasoning @therneau
Nice that your gran broke away, found a name she enjoyed, must have convinced your folks along the way that change is as good as a holiday.
Hehe, the reasoning, hmmm. I just figured it sounds good and it kinda fits in with such a bold name choice :)
This was an enjoyable read and I love your meaning.
The Christian meaning of Hope because that is my "Hope"
I found this on the internet:
I love your meaning much more. Sunday blessings!
Ahh, brilliant! I guess your google skills are better than mine :D Thanks Hope :)
Lovely meaning with regards to your name. Thanks for the comment and search. Much appreciated
That is a pretty impressive meaning - I always struggle with the pronunciation in my head when I read it though.
Just think of thermo and change the m to an n. That's obviously not the proper french pronunciation but hey, we're in South Africa and that's the way we pronounce it :)
Haha - well thanks for sorting that out LOL
He he, I like your style ;) My name means friend in French, I think!
Cool, thank you :)
So another Frenchy I see. Hmmm, I never knew sweetpea was of French origin :D
Therneau apparently was Oupa's grandmother's maiden name & I was always told she was of German origin. Ouma cannot remember all those details but I will check with a long lost cousin's son who has been researching the family tree.
I think the name Lizelle is derived from Elizabeth but will check it out. Like the idea to make up my own meaning if I can't find one!
South African's really are a mix of blood lines, your linage sounds similar to mine, my grandmother (on my Dad's side) was Afrikaans with French linage by what we were told, his father came out during the Boer war from England.
My mother's dad was Afrikaans and my gran a Scot, when they met apparently neither could converse in the others language. Being South Africa they spoke both Afrikaans and English when we were children, however we were brought up with English as the home language.
I wish I could find the old bible my mothers mom kept that had most of our history from that side, but alas I was not the one to inherit the book and have no clue who in the family received it.
That's so weird @joanstewart, my great grandpa Saunders apparently was a Scot and married an Afrikaans speaking lady, neither could speak each other's language :):) Must be many such cases back then! Most South Africans are from a real mixed bag.
Ahhh, cool. Thank you.
I've trawled the internet trying to find the meaning of therneau but no luck. Sooo I'll just stick with my version ;)
This is just such an awesome idea. We should all come up with our own name meanings. I also battle with mine as it's just the female version of Justin and that's not very inspiring at all.
Lol, I'm sure you can work on a Joan of Ark version as inspiration...