Names of Tupi origin

What kind of language Tupi is

Old Tupi, also called Classical Tupi, was the language spoken by the Tupi peoples in the coastal regions of southern and southeastern Brazil. The written records run from the 16th century to the early 18th century, and the first grammar of the language was published in 1595. Tupi was the basis of the so-called *língua geral* (general language), which came to be spoken across much of the country, and Nheengatu is today its only living descendant (Wikipedia). The language left many marks on Brazilian Portuguese: words such as abacaxi (pineapple), jacaré (caiman), piranha and pipoca (popcorn), names of states such as Paraná, Pará and Paraíba, and names of cities such as Ubatuba and Botucatu. Personal names of Tupi origin are part of this same vocabulary. Saying that a name is of Tupi origin describes the language it comes from; it says nothing about who uses it. See all the names in this group under Tupi origin.

Indianism and the novels of José de Alencar

In the 19th century, Brazilian Romanticism created Indianism, which idealized the figure of the Indigenous person, at times as a mythical national hero, at a moment when the newly independent country was looking for an identity of its own (Wikipedia). Among the works of the movement are the three Indianist novels of José de Alencar (Wikipedia): O Guarani (1857), first published as a serial in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro, has Peri and Cecília, called Ceci, as protagonists. Iracema (1865) gives its name to the main character; in it, Moacir is the son of Iracema and Martim. Ubirajara (1874) features, besides the title character, the characters Araci and Jandira. According to Wiktionary, Iracema, Moacir and Araci were names created by Alencar for these books, and the word ubiratã appears for the first time in Iracema and Ubirajara as the name of a plant. Several Brazilian names of Tupi origin thus have a book as their source, not an old tradition of use as a personal name.

Why the meanings are debated

Alencar explained the names in the notes to his novels, but his translations do not always agree with what is known about Old Tupi. The best-known case is Iracema: the author wrote that the name means “honey lips”, from ira, “honey”, and tembe, “lips”. Wiktionary, based on Navarro, observes that in Old Tupi honey is eíra and lip is embé, and records another proposal by Navarro for the origin of the name. In addition, adapting Tupi words to Portuguese changed sounds and spellings, which leaves room for more than one reconstruction. For this reason, a name of Tupi origin can have a popular explanation, one from the author who created it and one from scholars of the language. On this site, only meanings that a reliable source supports appear, and popular explanations that dictionaries reject are not given as meanings.

What the sources say about some names

• Iara

  According to Behind the Name, it comes from Tupi y, “water”, and îara, “lady”: “lady of the waters”. Wiktionary reaches a similar sense by another route, the Nheengatu iiyara, “lady of the water”. It is also the name of a female water figure in Brazilian folklore. Yara is a variant. In the 2022 Census, 88,394 people had Iara as a first name.

• Iracema

  Two readings: Alencar's own, “honey lips”, and Navarro's, cited by Wiktionary, which proposes ira + sema, “departure of the bees”. Behind the Name adds that Alencar may have chosen the name because it is an anagram of América. In the 2022 Census, the median age of people named Iracema was 64.

• Ubirajara

  Behind the Name gives “lord of the spear”, from a word for stick or spear and another for lord. Wiktionary explains the name from ubirajara, the name of an Indigenous people now extinct, from Old Tupi ybyraîara, “bearer of the stick”, from ybyrá, “stick”, and îara, “bearer”; a chronicle from the colonial period translates the people's name as “lords of the sticks”. The name became known as the title of the 1874 novel.

• Moacir

  Alencar translated the name as “son of pain”. According to Wiktionary, he took it from the Tupi verb moasy, which Navarro translates as “to lament” or “to regret” (from asy, “pain”). Behind the Name also links the name to moaçy, “pain, sorrow”. The idea of pain has support in the sources; that of “son” is the author's. Moacyr is a variant spelling.

• Jaci

  From Old Tupi îasy, “moon”, which a colonial-period vocabulary spelled jaci (Wiktionary); Behind the Name gives the same meaning. It is used for both sexes: in the 2022 Census, 10,094 women and 6,546 men.

• Cauã and Kauã

  From Old Tupi kaûã, the name of a bird of prey, the acauã (Herpetotheres cachinnans). Wiktionary records Kauã as a variant of Cauã and says that the origin of the word kaûã itself is unknown. See Cauã and Kauã.

• Ubiratã

  Formed from ybyrá, “tree”, and atã, “hard”, according to Navarro (via Wiktionary). The word first appears in Alencar's novels as the name of a plant, and was probably created by him.

• Araci

  In the story of Ubirajara, the character introduces herself as “the star of the day”. Navarro derives the name from eíra, “bee”, and sy, “mother”; Wiktionary points to another possibility: a shortened form of kûarasy, “sun”.

• Maíra

  In Old Tupi, Maíra was the name of a mythical prophet, recorded in colonial-period sources (Wiktionary).

• Potira

  From Old Tupi potyra, “flower” (Wiktionary). Potyra is a variant spelling.

• Jurema

  From Old Tupi îurema, the name of a thorny, foul-smelling tree, from îu, “thorn”, and rema, “bad smell” (Wiktionary).

• Jandira and Tainara

  Jandira is a character in Ubirajara, but Alencar did not explain the origin of the name; Wiktionary says only that it may be Tupi. Tainara is recorded as a variant of Tainá, whose origin is uncertain; it is sometimes attributed to the Nheengatu taína, “child”.

Names of Tupi origin on this site

• IaraLady of the waters
• YaraLady of the waters
• Iracema'lips of honey', according to Alencar
• UbirajaraLord of the spear
• Moacir'son of pain', according to José de Alencar, from Old Tupi moasy…
• Moacyr'son of pain', according to José de Alencar, from Old Tupi moasy…
• JaciMoon
• CauãTupi name of the acauã, a bird of prey (Herpetotheres cachinnans)
• KauãTupi name of the acauã, a bird of prey (Herpetotheres cachinnans)
• Araci'mother of the bees', according to Navarro
• IraciFrom eíra, 'bee, honey', and sy, 'mother'
• MaíraName of a mythical prophet
• JuremaThorny tree with a bad smell
• Jandira
• Tainara

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