Shania is a feminine given name, popularized by the country and pop singer

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

. 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, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, and later changed her given name to "Shania" in his honour. Several sources contend that the name is of

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 ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

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 Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...

Patrick Hanks Patrick Hanks (born 24 March 1940) is an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He has edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names. Background Hanks was educated at Ardingly College, ...

, the name is a recent elaboration of the given name

Shana Shana or Shanna may refer to: People Shana * Shana Alexander (1925–2005), journalist * Shana Cox (born 1985), athlete * Shana Dale (born 1964), NASA deputy administrator * Shana Hiatt (born 1975), model * Shana Madoff (born 1967), compliance offi ...

. 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 (read as "J. K. T. forty-eight") is an Indonesian-Japanese Japanese idol, idol girl group whose name is derived from its based city of Jakarta and the Japanese idol group AKB48. Formed in 2011, the group is the first AKB48 sister group outs ...

Shania Hayles Shania Hayles (born 22 December 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Bristol City and the Jamaica national team. Club career Aston Villa Hayles returned to Aston Villa in July 2019 fr ...

(born 1999), Jamaican footballer * , Indonesian singer and former member of JKT48 * Shania Robba (born 2001), Gibraltarian footballer *

(born 1965), Canadian singer-songwriter

References

{{given name English feminine given names Feminine given names

See also

References