Having given our daughter the name Nayeli, we get a lot of interesting looks and comments. I think most people believe we just wanted to be ultra unique and picked the most crazy name we could find in "5,000 Baby Names". Sometimes we jokingly tell them that soon before she was born we played scrabble and rearranged all the letters that were left over to make a name. In reality, it has a good story behind it, so I thought I'd record it here.
On my mission in Belize I was in an area called Belmopan for nine months. In the branch there was a little girl named Nayeli. I loved the name and always remembered it. After my mission, I met Ben and since he also served among Latinos, the language and culture has always been very dear to us.
Later, when we got pregnant and were deciding on a name, I suggested the name Nayeli. Surprisingly, Ben had also encountered that name on his mission in Louisiana. And since we had wanted to give her a Latin name anyway, Nayeli seemed like a perfect fit.
Our research yielded these results:
Pronunciation: Nigh-yell-ee
Origin: Zapotec Indian (Mexico)
Meaning: "I love you" in the Zapotec Indian language
When I saw the meaning, I fell in love with the name. I've always believed in names that have a meaning. And it turns out it is a very common Mexican name. In fact one Mexican girl told us, "All the pretty girls in Mexico are named Nayeli". She probably just said it to make us feel good, but it brought a smile to my face just the same.
And as she grows the name fits her perfectly. We love our sweet daughter so much and now I can't imagine a name that would fit her better. It's true what they say- the person makes the name.
