Shania is a feminine given name, popularized by country and pop singer
Shania Twain
Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...
.
It is pronounced with the stress on the ''i'', as in
Mariah.
Twain, born Eilleen Regina Edwards,
adopted the surname of her stepfather, Gerald "Jerry" Twain, an
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
,
and later changed her given name to "Shania" in his honour.
Several sources contend that the name is of
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...
origin meaning "I'm on my way",
or "she is on her way".
However, Twain's biographer, Robin Eggar, writes: "There is a continuing confusion about what 'Shania' means and if indeed it is an Ojibwe word or phrase at all.
..There is no mispronounced or misheard phrase in either Ojibwe or
Cree
The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...
that comes close to meaning 'on my way.' Yet the legend of her name continues to be repeated in the media to this day."
Robin Eggar was incorrect about there being no Ojibwe phrase with a similar meaning which sounds like Shania. "Ani aya'aa", pronounced "Ah-nih Eye-uh-ah", means "someone on the way" in Ojibwe. It is therefore possible that someone with an imperfect knowledge of the Ojibwe language created Shania with the incorrect idea it would mean "she's on the way".
According to the English
onomastician Patrick Hanks
Patrick Wyndham Hanks (24 March 1940 – 1 February 2024) was an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names.
Background
Hanks was educated a ...
, the name is a recent elaboration of the given name
Shana.
Persons with this given name include:
*
Shania Collins (born 1996), African-American athlete
* , Indonesian singer and a member of the Indonesian idol group
JKT48
JKT48 ( pronounced J- K- T- 4 8 ) is Indonesia’s premier girl group, established in 2011 as the first international sister group of Japan’s AKB48. Based in Jakarta, which is the capital and largest city of Indonesia, located on the northw ...
*
Shania Hayles (born 1999), Jamaican footballer
* , Indonesian singer and former member of JKT48
*
Shania Robba (born 2001), Gibraltarian footballer
*
Shania Geiss (born 2004), German influencer
*
Shania Twain
Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...
(born 1965), Canadian singer-songwriter
See also
*
Sania
*
Sanja
*
Sanya (name) Sanya is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Sanya Richards-Ross
*Sanya Mateyas
*Sanya Tulasyan
*Sanya Dharmasakti, Prime Minister of Thailand
*Sanya Lopez (born 1996 as Shaira Lenn Osuna Roberto), Fi ...
References
{{given name
English feminine given names
Feminine given names