How did you find your mer-name?

[Mermaid Galiana]

I still haven't found mine...and I'm feeling a little discouraged :(

[Rebekah.fish]

For now I'm just Rebekah Mermaid. Idk either. I've had sirena starfish in my brain for a few months now. But we will see. Don't be discouraged!you aren't the only one!

[Mermaid Morgann]

I used the following site, as did all the Mers in my pod- http://hasani.net.phtemp.com/water.html

Look for something that helps tell your story. I chose mine, Merin, meaning "of the sea." It is such a simple name, and yet I found that it was very beautiful and suited my personality well. My other mermaids chose Diona, "from the sacred spring," Nautia, "from the sea," and Lorelie, a play on the classic siren Lorelei. Find a name that you connect to and then do not second-guess yourself.

Best of luck!

[MerEmma]

I've been on this site for quite a while now and I still haven't decided so don't feel too discouraged LOL. I've got a few ideas I really like but I'm still a bit unsure about them...don't worry about it too much! I'm sure we'll both figure out something soon. =)

[Mermaid Galiana]

Oh wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one who is having trouble deciding a name. I wish you all the best of luck in finding your mer-names (as I do my own) and Merin is a beautiful name :)

EDIT: Well, I had a strike of inspiration and thought of a name and it clicked with me. Funny, just when I was getting discouraged I found the 'one' as if magically, and am now just waiting for the change to be official on the forums :) Galiana suits me, I think.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

For some strange reason, I find myself drawn to the color orange, even though I don't wear orange colored clothes. Have requested a name change to Mermaid Jaffa because I like orange coated chocolate, which are called Jaffas.

Another reason is there are already so many mers with real fish origins (tails) and mermaidy names, I thought I'd choose something different that isn't difficult to pronounce. And if my current fabric tails wears out, tears etc, it can be easily replaced with another tail in a diff pattern in orange.

[Adalira]

My Mermaid name is Adalira. Which actually means: Fairy Of The Harp.
The reason i loved the name is because i also love fairies and i play the harp.
So one day i was searching for fairy names online and found it on a website....the name alone is beautiful...but when i saw the meaning of the name i knew that name belonged to me.
And even though it is maybe not an official mermaid name i feel it has a very mermaidy (if that's even a word lol) sound :)
Don't rush finding your perfect mermaid name. One day it will come to you. Wether you find it searching online or wether you just simply feel it or speak it out of nowhere, read it in a book, hear it in a movie or song.
When you hear it you will know that that name belongs to you :)

[SeaGlass Siren]

erm... well i found it reading a book called driftglass.. and then i found out the other name for it was seaglass and i thought it sounded so pretty.

[SirenaBridge]

I'm still searching for my official Mer name... Any help would be appreciated! My given name is Bridgette and I'm in the Pod of the South. If any of my fellow Mers would like to send me some inspiration, I'd be delighted :) Some background info : I live by the Gulf but feel more drawn to the freshwater Springs, am a nurturing soul (work in healthcare as well), quiet yet creative and social spirit, pearl-lavender - turquoise - greens are my preferred coloring, and I have a special passion for shark conservation and education.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Well what's your mersona? Are you a pond/ swamp mermaid/ lake mermaid/ ocean mermaid?

[SeaGlass Siren]

What abound Delphinia after purple delphinium flowers? Or Veronika? Or casia after colovasia ( purple green water lily)

[SirenaBridge]

I enjoy swimming in the the Gulf of Mexico here but thrive in the freshwater Springs of Florida... I lean toward the Springs, I suppose.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Colocasia*

theres also hyacinth...

[Mermaid Meara]

Meara is the last name of my spiritual name (Marzanna Ecaterina Meara) and has 2 different meanings. Irish Meaning: The name Meara is an Irish baby name. In Irish the meaning of the name Meara is: Happy.


SoulUrge Number: 7
People with this name have a deep inner need for quiet, and a desire to understand and analyze the world they live in, and to learn the deeper truths.


Expression Number: 2
People with this name tend to be quiet, cooperative, considerate, sympathetic to others, adaptable, balanced and sometimes shy. They are trustworthy, respecting the confidences of others, and make excellent diplomats, mediators and partners. They are often very intuitive. They like detail and order, and often find change worrisome. They may sometimes feel insecure or restless.

And as a Gaelic name it means "sea" or "ocean".

[Mermaid Morgann]

The link I posted above has a variety of names about Springs or bodies of water inland. That might be a good place to look?

[SirenaBridge]

What abound Delphinia after purple delphinium flowers? Or Veronika? Or casia after colovasia ( purple green water lily)

Great suggestions, thank you!
I also like Cerulean....

[SeaGlass Siren]

coincidentally enough my mername is also my pagan name :P it just worked out like that. (just the seaglass part)

[Sherielle]

Aurelia just sort of came to me as I was thinking of names. I didn't want something that every other mermaid had and I wanted something that was pretty and rolled off the tongue when you said it.

[Starfrit]

My inspiration for my mermaid name, Starfrit, is the most glorious and mystical of all!

... I got it off a frying pan I saw in a department store.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/8ce5d5fdeb08ab19098995477c43a78f/tumblr_mt4i4pk05U1r7vgh3o1_500.gif

[Meilyn]

Mermaid Meilyn is catchy :) and it's my actual name. Another name would just be too confusing for me.

Mermaids Hannah Fraser, Mermaid Melissa, and Mermaid Kariel along with a few others use their regular names too. I love Kariel's name ♡

[PearlieMae]

My inspiration for my mermaid name, Starfrit, is the most glorious and mystical of all!

... I got it off a frying pan I saw in a department store.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/8ce5d5fdeb08ab19098995477c43a78f/tumblr_mt4i4pk05U1r7vgh3o1_500.gif

Oh yeah? Mine is from a decrepit laundromat that I wanted to photograph, and when I got around to it and went back, it was a frikkin' Dunkin Donuts!

Pearlie Mae reminds me to not pass the chance to do something awesome, because that chance might not come again.

http://media0.giphy.com/media/AbYxDs20DECQw/giphy.gif

[MerShellly]

Do you have a type of fish that you really like? Maybe you can look up the scientific name of the fish. A lot of them are too long or hard to pronounce but you may find a good one. That's the best advice I can think of :/

[Lostariel Telrunya]

I translated mine from the original Greek and Hebrew meanings into Sindarin, which is a form of Elvish from the Lord of the Rings. I have an extensive knowledge in translating into Sindarin, so I translated my own name. That is what I use for my Dungeons and Dragons character, usernames, Aliases, etc. I think, while it is a mouthful, it suits me :)

PearlieMae and Tieri: Yeah, my real name translates into 'Bush or Shrubbery'. Graceful! :)

[Cerulean]

Great suggestions, thank you!
I also like Cerulean....
Awwh, I like you too :mermaid kiss:

Anyhow on topic... I was wondering what my screenname should be for a while. I lurked the site for a few weeks before I gathered the courage to finally join so it gave me plenty of time to think about it. 'Cerulean' just so happens to be my absolute favorite color and has been since I discovered it in my big crayon box when I was like four. It was just kind of like "Oh, well thats fitting" status. It bummed me out like crazy when people seemed to all of a sudden discover that color after pokemon came around hahaha

[Mermaid Adriel]

At the beginning I put "Mermaid" with my real name, then I've mixed Adriatic and Ariel and "Adriel" came out :)

[Mermaid Wesley]

I currently use my real name "mermaid Wesley" so I don't mess up while using two names and also bc I couldn't think of anything I liked


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Varga]

I'm still thinking about it to. I kind of like my real name, Varga (which means "she wolf" in swedish) but I don't really know how it works for you people from other countries? I also use it as my modeling name so I don't know if that's positive or negative :p

Otherwise I'm thinking something Norse since my mermaid persona is swimming in the cold Baltic sea here in the European north...

[Mermaid Daenerys]

I barely needed to think - the moment I knew I needed a new name, where else to go to but the lovely, deadly ladies of A Song of Ice and Fire? (I did consider a Tail of Ice and Fire, but it might clash a bit.) Anyhow, Daenerys has been my favourite since I first read her chapters, and I decided it a) sounded sufficiently mystical and b) would help me channel a kind of badass persona I wanted for myself. Do you have any favourite characters from books or TV you could look to for inspiration?

[MermaidCecelia]

"cece" has been a nickname of mine for a long time dispite my real name being sarah. i liked the name cecelia and fiqured id pick that as a name for the mermaid persona

[Anahita]

I picked my name because it was culturally relevant. I had a few names I could have used, but I also knew a few of my friends who might actually get into mermaiding with me actually already had those names, and I didn't want to be the asshole that used their name before they got to claim it.

Besides that, Anahita was easier for non-Indo-Aryans to pronounce correctly than my birth name, and in addition to the cultural significance, it also held a strong religious and spiritual connection for me.

[Starfrit]

Oh yeah? Mine is from a decrepit laundromat that I wanted to photograph, and when I got around to it and went back, it was a frikkin' Dunkin Donuts!

Pearlie Mae reminds me to not pass the chance to do something awesome, because that chance might not come again.

http://media0.giphy.com/media/AbYxDs20DECQw/giphy.gif

http://37.media.tumblr.com/21640184658103753170de41671e5cd9/tumblr_n6x4woi97A1ru6e0oo1_400.gif

You win this round, Pearlie... This round.

[PearlieMae]

http://37.media.tumblr.com/21640184658103753170de41671e5cd9/tumblr_n6x4woi97A1ru6e0oo1_400.gif

You win this round, Pearlie... This round.

Hehehe!

[Rivertee]

Kaguria is the name of my kitsune persona, it's kanji translates to "Guardian Protector". Her story is that the godess of harvest and knowledge Inari, found a wounded fox that had escaped a fire and hunting party and was making it's way to her shrine deep in the woods. the Godess could see the heart of gold inside the creature who was willing to die to protect her home and family, taking pity on the poor thing she graced her with a human form and charged her with keeping the forest around the shrine safe and it's inhabitants peaceful.

Kaguria performed her duty faithfully for many years and with the turn of the era (she is from edo period Japan), more and more humans came to distroy her home. Once the shrine fell she fled to the seas, there she was discovered aboard a ship and thrown overboard for being a demon. By the grace of Inari a mermaid took kindness and gave her a stone of the sea that gave her the form of a mer sister.

[Mermaid Wishbone]

I know my name isn't ocean-original, but I loved watching "Wishbone" when I was younger, so... I just called myself "Mermaid Wishbone" for now! Or maybe I'll just keep it! :3

[Meghara July]

I just used my penname :) I really like July and it fits me, so I thought Mermaid July would be a good name for me if I went pro :D

[Echidna]

Mine was a nobrainer.
A snakewoman, whose vita fits me completely xD

(granted, a snaketail is just as common with european waterfolk as a fishtail, but it's not so known anymore, and "Nixe" wouldn't really set me apart from other performers.)

Now I'm just waiting for the namechange to actually happen :biting nails:

[SirenaBridge]

I'm still thinking about it to. I kind of like my real name, Varga (which means "she wolf" in swedish) but I don't really know how it works for you people from other countries? I also use it as my modeling name so I don't know if that's positive or negative :p

Otherwise I'm thinking something Norse since my mermaid persona is swimming in the cold Baltic sea here in the European north...

I like Varga! Sets you apart!

[SirenaBridge]

Awwh, I like you too :mermaid kiss:

Anyhow on topic... I was wondering what my screenname should be for a while. I lurked the site for a few weeks before I gathered the courage to finally join so it gave me plenty of time to think about it. 'Cerulean' just so happens to be my absolute favorite color and has been since I discovered it in my big crayon box when I was like four. It was just kind of like "Oh, well thats fitting" status. It bummed me out like crazy when people seemed to all of a sudden discover that color after pokemon came around hahaha

Wow you and I are way too alike already.... Cerulean .... Crayons.... Being bummed when others "all of a sudden knew what the heck cerulean was" ... Teehee

Rock on, Cerulean.

[MermaidCelesteFL]

I'm a huge fan of My Little Pony. I loved the name of the goddess/princess in the series, responsible for the rising and the setting of the sun- Celestia. But, I didn't want to come off as too much of a brony, so I cut it a little bit. I find it to be a very beautiful and graceful name.

That, and if I used my real name as my mermaid name, I might violate some sort of copyright law.

[SIF]

I'd like to point out that under Aurthurian legend names Nimue was NOT the lady of the lake, she was a sorceress...

[PearlieMae]

Nimuë was one of the Ninefold Sisterhood of Avalon and one of three who could pass between this world and the Otherworld. Depends on which accounting of Arthurian lore you ascribe to.

[Cerulean]

Wow you and I are way too alike already.... Cerulean .... Crayons.... Being bummed when others "all of a sudden knew what the heck cerulean was" ... Teehee

Rock on, Cerulean.
Yeah well..... were not faddy bandwagon jumpers like those people are hahaha. Thats really cool how its just about the same for you though. Makes me think that crayola box inspired future mers

Have a fintastic day :p

[SeaSister]

I still haven't decided on my mer-name or mersona. :( I'm sort of waiting for a name to really grab me, I guess. But it's no rush because I can't afford a tail yet, anyways (I hit the $700 mark in my tail fund recently, whoot! Only $1,900 to go for a Merbella tail :P)

I have a couple of names that I've been chewing over. One is Aearthel, which means "sea sister" in Sindarin (I'm a huge LotR fan heh). The other one is a name that struck me many years ago is Aurelia and it means "golden" in Latin. I like this name for a few reasons; for one, it translates well as an Italian name, and I LOVE Italy (I'm learning Italian and will be making my fourth trip there for a field school next month... and you wonder why it's taking me so long to save up for a tail XD). I also like it because my real name is "Leanne", so the short forms of both my own name and Aurelia is the same ("Leah"/"Lia"). Furthermore, I like that it means "golden". For some reason it also makes me think of sunlight (maybe because it's similar to Aurora, meaning dawn?) and my favourite time of day is in the late afternoon, when the sun is close to the horizon and seems to bathe everything in a beautiful golden light.

The only reason I wouldn't choose Aurelia is because I'm not sure if it really suits me personally. Aurelia sounds like such a beautiful, feminine/girly name, but I don't think I'm either of those things, really, even though I sometimes wish I was. But hey, I guess that's the point of a mersona, right? To be someone you generally aren't as your human self? Hm. I'll think about it more I guess. XD

[SeaGlass Siren]

i think another mer already has the name aurelia but i could be wrong >.>;

[SeaSister]

You're right, there is. XD But she lives in Texas, US and I live in BC so I don't think it should be a huge issue, tbh. I don't plan on going pro, in any case. And furthermore, I would probably add a surname to whichever name I pick; right now I'm leaning towards Aurelia Duskfin or something similar.

[Sherielle]

i think another mer already has the name aurelia but i could be wrong >.>;

It wouldn't surprise me. There are a lot if MERS now so it's rather hard to find a name that is truly unique.

[SeaGlass Siren]

yes that was you i remember now xD

[SeaGlass Siren]

yeah tell me about it. there's another new girl on here who's user is also Sea glass Siren, but she messaged me and apologized because she didn't know "i was here first" :P we agreed to add in colour sea glass names or play off that we were sisters :P

[SeaSister]

Aurelia, would you mind if I used the same name as you and added my own twist to it (like a mer-surname)? As I mentioned I have no intention of going pro, and I live a loooooong ways from you so I don't think we would confuse people other than on mernetwork (and I might just keep using SeaSister on here, anyways).

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Its so hard to find a unique mer name. I had thought of something orangey, so I went googling yesterday to look up orange colored flowers... None of them have easy to say names! I think I will hold off getting a mermaid name for a while.

[Sherielle]

Aurelia, would you mind if I used the same name as you and added my own twist to it (like a mer-surname)? As I mentioned I have no intention of going pro, and I live a loooooong ways from you so I don't think we would confuse people other than on mernetwork (and I might just keep using SeaSister on here, anyways).
I'm fine with that!

[SeaGlass Siren]

SO MUCH RESOLUTIONS TODAY I LOVE IT!

[SeaGlass Siren]

Its so hard to find a unique mer name. I had thought of something orangey, so I went googling yesterday to look up orange colored flowers... None of them have easy to say names! I think I will hold off getting a mermaid name for a while.
what about using a completely different language? orange flower in vietnamese is Hoa Cam. cam, cammy, camille... :P throwing it out there

[Mermaid Enhydrina]

I'm kind of late to the conversation. :P Anyhow, my mer name is the genus of a kind of sea snake. I've always leaned towards the idea of a dragon-mer for myself and I like the way Enhydrina sounds.

[Merman Dan]

When I first found MerNetwork, I went by Merman Aeolius (later Æolius), using the screen name that I first devised for AppleLink (pre-AOL) in 1985. It seemed a bit off, though, so I opted for the more succinct "Dan", truncating my muggle name as I liked the alliteration.

[Mermaid Muir]

I had been searching for a while.A little while ago I came across the name Muir. The name is Scottish for sea from the Clan Muir. I though it had a nice sound and meaning to it

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Hm. I found this on wiki... The part that I have bolded seems too close to the truth. I love weaving! I have many looms, flower looms, scarf loom, potholder loom, rigid heddle loom... And have made many woven scarves for my family.

Mermaid[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jiaolong&action=edit&section=13)]Jiaoren 蛟人 "dragon person" or 鮫人 "shark person" (cf. Japanese samebito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samebito) 鮫人) "mermaid" is a later meaning of jiao. This mythical southern mermaid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid) or merman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merman) is first recorded in the (early 6th century CE) Shuyiji 遹異記 "Records of Strange Things".

In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the kău people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls. (tr. Schafer 1967:220, cf. Eberhard 1968:378)
These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called jiaoxiao 蛟綃 "mermaid silk" or jiaonujuan 蛟女絹 "mermaid woman's silk". Schafer (1967:221) equates "jiao silk" with sea silk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_silk), the rare fabric woven from byssus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byssus) filaments produced by Pinna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinna_(genus)) "pen shell" mollusks. Chinese myths also recorded this "silk" coming from shuiyang 水羊 "water sheep" or shuican 蠶水 "water silkworm".

[Anahita]

Hm. I found this on wiki... The part that I have bolded seems too close to the truth. I love weaving! I have many looms, flower looms, scarf loom, potholder loom, rigid heddle loom... And have made many woven scarves for my family.

Mermaid[edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jiaolong&action=edit&section=13)]

Jiaoren 蛟人 "dragon person" or 鮫人 "shark person" (cf. Japanese samebito (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samebito) 鮫人) "mermaid" is a later meaning of jiao. This mythical southern mermaid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid) or merman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merman) is first recorded in the (early 6th century CE) Shuyiji 遹異記 "Records of Strange Things".
In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the kău people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls. (tr. Schafer 1967:220, cf. Eberhard 1968:378)

These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called jiaoxiao 蛟綃 "mermaid silk" or jiaonujuan 蛟女絹 "mermaid woman's silk". Schafer (1967:221) equates "jiao silk" with sea silk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_silk), the rare fabric woven from byssus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byssus) filaments produced by Pinna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinna_(genus)) "pen shell" mollusks. Chinese myths also recorded this "silk" coming from shuiyang 水羊 "water sheep" or shuican 蠶水 "water silkworm".

Hey, cool! I didn't realize that the Chinese knew of sea-silk! (Although Wikipedia just pissed me off by listing two Persian sources as "Arabia" when Qazwin and Estakhr are in Iran, and the third dude was from Spain) But I digress. I love that sea-silk is well-known outside of Persia. It means I can use it in my outfit and people won't think I'm crazy (well, maybe not real sea-silk though, because that shit is expensive. I remember it costing almost as much as a rug of comparable size. Also, I am dressed up in a mermaid tail, so maybe my crazy train already left the station....)

[Echidna]

That's a nice find, irene!

What I dislike about said wikipedia article is that they just equate 鮫人 and "mermaid".
It's sometimes really hard to find a western equivalent for certain asian terms.

鮫人 are only mentioned a handful of times throughout chinese history, usually quoting one and the same sentence from the earliest source ("In the South [China] sea, there live the jiao people just like fish. They never quit using the loom, and their tears can be pearls" is a more literal translation).

Only at one time, their appearance is described, and is plainly stated to "look like everyone else once out of the water", and bartering their wares harvested from the ocean all day (which is a strong hint these people were actually human divers).

It's a bit like when westerners translated Qilin with "unicorn".
I really doubt the 2 terms describe the same creature xD

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Thanx Caltuna! Prob not in the descriptions, but yea sometimes it gets confusing what with same or similar Chinese texts for meaning of different things!

For example, in Cantonese, depending on how you pronounce it, "Hai" can be a shoe, a prawn or a crab!
My knowledge of Qilin is that its a mythical beast with head of a lion and body of a large dog. Kinda like the Quillen in World of Warcraft.

[Echidna]

oh, warcraft xD
They actually confused liondogs and the qilin (probably on purpose, because they like to be "unique". Like when they named the Manticore mount "wyvern".)
The genuine quilin is a horned aquatic creature covered in fishscales. It's also featured in WoW, but they named it the Windsteed! lol.

anyways!
I researched the heck out of the "Jiao people", and it wasn't made easier by the fact that old Chinese words are often confused because they're all pronounced the same way and just written with different radicals.
(and in olden times, most of the populace could not read or write, even upping the confusion.)

I'm 99% sure the correct term is "鲛人" (meaning fish or shark people), and not "蛟人" (coming from the term 蛟, which is a certain kind of water/flood dragon. Note also that the wikipedia article exists only in English, not in the chinese version, which explains what a 蛟 is, but does not even mention the existence of 蛟人.
The word itself is pronounced the same.)

Trying to find more about them apart from the few sentences of the ancient sources (none of which, sadly, feature a depiction- everything I came across was fan-made of recent), one finds mostly modern interpretations influenced by western stories, and (chinese) question-answer boards, which give the impression the story, while very old, is not widely known (which wouldn't be surprising if the described sea-people were divers, as those would only ever be seen near the sea.)

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Or you could look it up in a Chinese dictionary. Curiosity is getting the better of me, I asked my friend in Singapore over fb. She's a true Chinese girl like with beliefs and can speak all of the Chinese dialects there, unlike me who grew up in Australia! I'll post her answer when I receive it.

I was thinking of using my Chinese name as my mermaid name. It means Beautiful Cloud in English. My Grandpa named me so don't ask me why I have that name!
But I found most Westerners can't say it properly and pronounce it as, Lie Yin or Lying, when its phonetic Lee Yin and spelt as Li Yin.

[Echidna]

that's a beautiful name!

I totally would have taken my chinese name as a performer name if it weren't for the pronunciation issues.
Every dialect has its own pronunciation, so not even your name would be the same (and it's worse when, for example, Cantonese "translate" a western name into their dialect, and then you read it out in mandarin and go "what's that supposed to mean?!!" until you realize you have to pronounce it in Cantonese :p ).

I have several big older chinese dictionaries, none of which have any jiao people.
They have 蛟 dragon and 鲛 shark. That's it.
Maybe an even bigger dictionary yields more results (there are also tons of dictionaries online, but one can't know with them how traditional they are.)
My best bet would be something from a really old, big book.
The newer sources will all have stuff in them that's become a thing only recently.