Ayla (name)

Ayla is a common feminine given name in Turkish. In that language, it means "halo of light around the moon". Less commonly, it is also a name in other languages.

Turkish name

Ayla in Turkish means "halo of light around the moon".^[1] The name may also be encountered in other Turkic languages as, for example, an Azeri name.

Since Ayla is reserved for the feminine, it is usually synonymous with "moonlight", although it could also mean "halo" in general. "Ay" means "moon" in Turkish, so that "Ayla" means the "halo around the moon."^[2] "Ayla" also means "with the moon" as a word ("ay" + "la" where "la" is used for "ile" which means "with" in Turkish). However, in the context of given names, its meaning is halo, and can be related to names Aylin (also deriving from "ay"), Tülin, or Aylanur.

The name may have its roots in old Persian, where it means moonlight.

Non-Turkish variants

Ayla can also be seen as a variant of Hebrew name "Eilah" which means "oak tree." ^[3]

Ayla is sometimes falsely identified as a variant of feminine Arabic name "Aaliyah" meaning "sublime" or "large". "Aaliyah" is actually the female form of "Aali" and is an unrelated name. The Turkish variant of "Aaliyah" is closer to "Aliye" not "Alya." ^[4]

Ayla can be seen to bear similarities in phonetics to the word aura. Aura has its etymological roots in Greek. The Greek words aer—meaning "mist" or "air"—and aura—meaning "breeze" or "breath"—came to be connected to the concept of the east wind and dawn radiance.

People

• Ayla Algan (born 1937), a Turkish film/stage actress and singer.
• Ayla Brown (born 1988), American artist.
• Ayla Dikmen (born 1944), a Turkish singer.
• Ayla Kell, American Actress.
• Ayla (producer) (Ingo Kunzi), a German producer.
• Safiye Ayla Targan (born 1907), a singer of Turkish classical music.
• Ayla Erduran (born 1934), a Turkish violin player.
• Ayla Akat Ata, lawyer and politician.

Fictional people

• Ayla (Earth's Children)
• Ayla, played by Daryl Hannah in the 1986 film The Clan of the Cave Bear (movie) based on the novel The Clan of the Cave Bear in the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel
• Ayla Ranzz
• Ayla (Chrono Trigger), a player character in the video game Chrono Trigger

See also

• Ayla (disambiguation)
• Notable People in Turkish Wikipedia:
  • Docent Dr. Ayla Kalkandelen, scientist focusing on entomology, who named 10 taxon and after whom 5 were named.
  • Ayla Kutlu, a Turkish author.
  • Ayla Oral, a Turkish poet.
  • Ayla Karaca, a Turkish actress.
  • Ayla Erduran, violinist.

References