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Senna



Simple botanical name Senna (SEHN-uh) is mysterious and unusual, yet sounds familiar. It has the simplicity of Jenna, but the uniqueness of Gwenna. It can be shortened to Sen, which means "one thousand" in Japanese. (Japanese parents bestowing the name Sen upon their child intend the meaning as "to live one thousand years". It can also refer to the sennin forest/mountain hermit. I named my first cat this, and she definitely suits the name.) The senna plant, specifically the Senna Alexandrina, is a flowering bush with little yellow flowers and can be found in the tropics. Lately it can be found as an ingredient in dieter's tea, laxative tea, although it has a wide array of uses. In Arabic the name  means "brilliance."

This name has been used in a few books and movies, one of which being a vampire in the Twilight series, the other a girl in K. A. Applegate's Everworld book series.



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Comments

  1. Lou @ Mer de NomsJuly 20, 2012 at 1:06 PM

    I love the name Senna, it makes me thinks of the driver Ayrton Senna.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Waltzing More Than MatildaJuly 28, 2012 at 3:38 AM

    I saw a baby girl called Senna Rae in a BA recently

    http://waltzingmorethanmatilda.com/2012/06/08/angel-and-kash-birth-announcements-from-melbourne-may/

    I can see it's very similar to popular Sienna, but I can't help being reminded that senna is used as a laxative, and unfortunately that's all I can think of!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 26, 2015 at 7:24 AM

    My name is Senna :) And i have always been happy with this name.
    Here in belgium we don't have a laxative named senna, so nothing weird over here ^^

    ReplyDelete
  4. K.archSeptember 21, 2017 at 12:59 PM

    I have just named my little girl Senna... had a few comments about the laxative which has really upset me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once Upon a Time Baby NamesSeptember 22, 2017 at 3:33 PM

      I can understand your frustration. Sometimes it seems like there is a problem with every name out there, and many names seem off-limits because of another association. I immediately think of all the little girls named Isis after the Egyptian goddess who are now getting negative reactions because of the mislabeled terrorist group name. But Senna is first and foremost a beautiful little plant, and she has literary names to back her up.

      Delete
  5. K.archSeptember 30, 2017 at 4:45 PM

    Thankyou for your response.
    I am still really struggling... now trying to think of alternatives that are similar... as she responds to Sen already... It is so hard already feel I have failed her.

    ReplyDelete
  6. K.archSeptember 30, 2017 at 6:40 PM

    Thankyou for your response.
    I am still really struggling... now trying to think of alternatives that are similar... as she responds to Sen already... It is so hard already feel I have failed her.

    ReplyDelete

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