Ayla

We have our kitten now and her name is Ayla. It took forever to name her, but I wanted her to have a name that was a little bit nerdy and yet still pretty. I think "Ayla" does both. According to our good friends at Wikipedia, Ayla is turkish and means "circle of light around the sun or moon". Since Ayla is reserved for the feminine, it is usually synonymous with "moonlight".
Ayla is considered to have originated from the Arabic word hala (pronounced hă-lă') meaning "circle of light." The english word halo, derived from the Latin word halo meaning "radiant or golden circle," shares a similar etymology. It is also indirectly related to the English word aura which has its etymological roots in Greek and Hebrew languages. In ancient Hebrew, the word aur, meaning "illumination", but also "radiance," "happiness" and "joy," was used in the Old Testament to describe the faces of the prophets Moses and Elijah after they had spoken with God. The Greek word aer meaning "mist" or "air" and also aura meaning "breeze" or "breath" came to be connected to the concept of the Eastern Wind, Heaven and the Rising Sun. This rather tenuous connection created a whole new set of related words, including aurum meaning "gold" (hence the elemental symbol Au), the English word aureole from the diminutive of "a golden crown," meaning "radiant energy" or "halo," and the Germanic goddess Eastre whose feast was celebrated at the Spring equinox and therefore gives us "Easter". This goddess is comparable to the Roman goddess of dawn Aurora and the equivalent Greek goddess Eos.

I know...that was a lot, but I still do have a love of words, even if I did decide to do more "science-y" things with my life.

As for the nerdy part...I'm hoping most of you know. ;)

She seems to like us and is super-cute. There is something quite satisfying about having a kitten fall asleep in your lap. Anyway, I should stop going on about her- long story short, she's great and I'm so excited and I'll try and get a pic up soon.