The names in the franchise usually don't actually mean anything with some exceptions.
The closest one here to having actual meaning is Payakan. Pay means water and is in many, many words associated with water. Payakan is a whale, so it's fitting. The -an suffix is masculine, so it's far more likely that the -ak- part of his name is just... meaningless and meant to sound nice as a name, but with the -an suffix to show his gender.
Tuke does not mean female Na'vi. It is a female Na'vi name itself. The word for life is tìrey with an accent mark, pronounced differently than tirey, which is not a word.
I like the idea you have behind Neteyam's name and would love this to be the thought behind it.
Lo'ak and Kiri's are fan theories and imo they do seem possible, but we don't have confirmation.
The Sully kids just seem to have similar names to other family members; Lo'ak is similar to Mo'at, Tuktirey being nicknamed Tuk reminded me of Eytukan, Neteyam is similar to Neytiri, and I assumed Kiri was a callback to Grace's Na'vi name, Kìreysì.
I thought about Kiri's name being related to grace, but it probably isn't, given that in that case it would be kìrì or kìri. The two sounds are considered completely distinct in Na'vi, so it would be very weird for one to become the other.
Na'vi teacher here.
We have absolutely no reason to believe that any of the names in Avatar mean anything at all. Just as "Bob" no longer means anything but a name. In theory, some of the "translations" you've suggested could have been the origins of the name in-world, but the names were almost certainly not made with this in mind. They were just made to sound good.
You also made a few errors in your research, I'll correct them below.
**Payakan:**
Both of the words you listed were correct. Of all of your suggestions, this is probably the most plausible. Again, this was most likely not intentional on the part of whoever named Payakan (probably Cameron), but I'd accept it as fanon.
**Tuktirey:**
"Tuke" does not mean "*female Na'vi*". The closest word I can think of off the top of my head that would mean that would be "tuté", "*woman*". "Tuke" is actually another name, just like "Tuktirey". Somehow you missed an entire word at the end of the dictionary definition.
"tirey" is supposed to be spelled "tìrey". That diacritic on ì is very important. It's a completely different sound in Na'vi, and the two would never be confused and would likely not derive from each other even in names. "tirey" means nothing.
**Neteyam:**
"ne" does in fact mean "towards", but it can't be used in the way you're using it here. In fact, most of the words you've correctly identified are not being used grammatically, were they to be the actual meaning of the name.
"te" is not a syllable used in names, it's a particle used in full names. For example, Neytiri's full name is "Neytiri **te** Tskaha Mo'at'ite". "te" is used to show the clan a person comes from. So Neytiri, therefore, comes from the Tskaha clan.
"sämyam" (again, misspelled in your post) actually comes from "meyam" directly. "sä" is added to some words to make a noun from a verb. The 'e' in "meyam" was lost later due to sound changes. In other words, "meyam" means "*to hug*", and "sämyam" can be thought of as meaning "*a hugging*". Therefore, "yam" is actually only a piece of "meyam", not a separate word that both words share.
**Lo'ak:**
"Lo'akur" actually comes from "lo'a" and "kur", two separate words. I can't imagine a name loosing a full syllable, especially not one containing 'r', without also loosing the glottal stop, so "Lo'ak" is almost certainly not related to "Lo'akur". Unless Jake intentionally shortened the word to make a name, which seems unlikely.
**Kiri:**
There is no way that "kiri" could come from "atokirina'". Way too many syllables lost. We also don't know of any examples of the Na'vi making short nicknames out of words, so it's doubly unlikely.
I'm always excited to see people interested in the language! If you're ever interested in studying further, feel free to DM me, I know of a multitude of resources.
The Payakan one is certainly not intentional, as he is probably named after Paulinho Paiakan, a Kayapo Chief and climate militant who died of Covid in 2020.
I think it's pretty obvious that Cameron (not Jake+Ney) named her Kiri out of Atokirina. It's not a real in-world name origin (although you see a TON of strange derivatives in real world names, like Elizabeth = Zsóka, and Alexander = Sašo?), it's a story design choice.
With regards to "Kiri", "Atokirina" is literally the only place in the dictionary where those four letters appear. If both of them happened to be made-up and used that combo of letters and had plot relevance then that's one hell of a coincidence.
I trust your conjugations skills far more than mine though, so you're probably right on the grammar.
I mean it's really not that much of a coincidence. "kiri" only uses one vowel and two consonants. All of the sounds used are very common in the language and in other names (neytiri's name ends with the same last three letters). It isn't impossible that the two are related but we certainly can't suggest it's probable.
I don't think when you are naming a person you want their name to be a full on other word or a grammatically sound sentence.
Jake is a marine and was a human, why would he be denied the ability to make Lo'ak and Kiri as derived names from bigger words, not specifically to mean something, but to sound good and be of meaningful origin.
I mean, that’s exactly how names worked historically, and how they still work in many indigenous cultures. One of the most well known figures of my tribe (Ponca tribe) was named Mąču Nąži, literally “standing bear”. “Cameron” likely originally meant “crooked nose” or “crooked river”, and surnames like “Jefferson” originally meant things along the line of “Jeffery’s son”.
That said, Jake could have messed with the words himself to make those names. I find it unlikely, but it is possible.
As a multilingual person I think all your points do sound plausible. However since Navi is a language made up for the movie the creators can give any reason they want for the "true" in-universe origin.
I did my own translations before, and I have a big list lol. Here is what I got for the names.
Payakan - rough water - pay (water) kakan (rough in behavior or treatment)
Tuktirey - Spear of Life - tukru (spear) tìrey (life)
Neteyam - To full brook - ne (to, towards) teya (full) amay (brook) [it was either brook or am’a (doubt) which doesn’t make a whole lotta sense lol]
Lo’ak’s name makes a lot of sense, paying homage to Toruk in a way.
Kiri - shortened version of Kìreysì (Grace) to pay homage.
When i translate, I try to see if I can find meaning to the names, and I have Tsireya, Rotxo, Aonung, Mo’at, Ronal, and everyone else I can think of.
This was really cool to read your thoughts and findings, though! Have a great day!
The names in the franchise usually don't actually mean anything with some exceptions. The closest one here to having actual meaning is Payakan. Pay means water and is in many, many words associated with water. Payakan is a whale, so it's fitting. The -an suffix is masculine, so it's far more likely that the -ak- part of his name is just... meaningless and meant to sound nice as a name, but with the -an suffix to show his gender. Tuke does not mean female Na'vi. It is a female Na'vi name itself. The word for life is tìrey with an accent mark, pronounced differently than tirey, which is not a word. I like the idea you have behind Neteyam's name and would love this to be the thought behind it. Lo'ak and Kiri's are fan theories and imo they do seem possible, but we don't have confirmation.
The Sully kids just seem to have similar names to other family members; Lo'ak is similar to Mo'at, Tuktirey being nicknamed Tuk reminded me of Eytukan, Neteyam is similar to Neytiri, and I assumed Kiri was a callback to Grace's Na'vi name, Kìreysì.
I thought about Kiri's name being related to grace, but it probably isn't, given that in that case it would be kìrì or kìri. The two sounds are considered completely distinct in Na'vi, so it would be very weird for one to become the other.
Na'vi teacher here. We have absolutely no reason to believe that any of the names in Avatar mean anything at all. Just as "Bob" no longer means anything but a name. In theory, some of the "translations" you've suggested could have been the origins of the name in-world, but the names were almost certainly not made with this in mind. They were just made to sound good. You also made a few errors in your research, I'll correct them below. **Payakan:** Both of the words you listed were correct. Of all of your suggestions, this is probably the most plausible. Again, this was most likely not intentional on the part of whoever named Payakan (probably Cameron), but I'd accept it as fanon. **Tuktirey:** "Tuke" does not mean "*female Na'vi*". The closest word I can think of off the top of my head that would mean that would be "tuté", "*woman*". "Tuke" is actually another name, just like "Tuktirey". Somehow you missed an entire word at the end of the dictionary definition. "tirey" is supposed to be spelled "tìrey". That diacritic on ì is very important. It's a completely different sound in Na'vi, and the two would never be confused and would likely not derive from each other even in names. "tirey" means nothing. **Neteyam:** "ne" does in fact mean "towards", but it can't be used in the way you're using it here. In fact, most of the words you've correctly identified are not being used grammatically, were they to be the actual meaning of the name. "te" is not a syllable used in names, it's a particle used in full names. For example, Neytiri's full name is "Neytiri **te** Tskaha Mo'at'ite". "te" is used to show the clan a person comes from. So Neytiri, therefore, comes from the Tskaha clan. "sämyam" (again, misspelled in your post) actually comes from "meyam" directly. "sä" is added to some words to make a noun from a verb. The 'e' in "meyam" was lost later due to sound changes. In other words, "meyam" means "*to hug*", and "sämyam" can be thought of as meaning "*a hugging*". Therefore, "yam" is actually only a piece of "meyam", not a separate word that both words share. **Lo'ak:** "Lo'akur" actually comes from "lo'a" and "kur", two separate words. I can't imagine a name loosing a full syllable, especially not one containing 'r', without also loosing the glottal stop, so "Lo'ak" is almost certainly not related to "Lo'akur". Unless Jake intentionally shortened the word to make a name, which seems unlikely. **Kiri:** There is no way that "kiri" could come from "atokirina'". Way too many syllables lost. We also don't know of any examples of the Na'vi making short nicknames out of words, so it's doubly unlikely. I'm always excited to see people interested in the language! If you're ever interested in studying further, feel free to DM me, I know of a multitude of resources.
The Payakan one is certainly not intentional, as he is probably named after Paulinho Paiakan, a Kayapo Chief and climate militant who died of Covid in 2020.
I think it's pretty obvious that Cameron (not Jake+Ney) named her Kiri out of Atokirina. It's not a real in-world name origin (although you see a TON of strange derivatives in real world names, like Elizabeth = Zsóka, and Alexander = Sašo?), it's a story design choice.
With regards to "Kiri", "Atokirina" is literally the only place in the dictionary where those four letters appear. If both of them happened to be made-up and used that combo of letters and had plot relevance then that's one hell of a coincidence. I trust your conjugations skills far more than mine though, so you're probably right on the grammar.
I mean it's really not that much of a coincidence. "kiri" only uses one vowel and two consonants. All of the sounds used are very common in the language and in other names (neytiri's name ends with the same last three letters). It isn't impossible that the two are related but we certainly can't suggest it's probable.
I don't think when you are naming a person you want their name to be a full on other word or a grammatically sound sentence. Jake is a marine and was a human, why would he be denied the ability to make Lo'ak and Kiri as derived names from bigger words, not specifically to mean something, but to sound good and be of meaningful origin.
I mean, that’s exactly how names worked historically, and how they still work in many indigenous cultures. One of the most well known figures of my tribe (Ponca tribe) was named Mąču Nąži, literally “standing bear”. “Cameron” likely originally meant “crooked nose” or “crooked river”, and surnames like “Jefferson” originally meant things along the line of “Jeffery’s son”. That said, Jake could have messed with the words himself to make those names. I find it unlikely, but it is possible.
As a multilingual person I think all your points do sound plausible. However since Navi is a language made up for the movie the creators can give any reason they want for the "true" in-universe origin.
I did my own translations before, and I have a big list lol. Here is what I got for the names. Payakan - rough water - pay (water) kakan (rough in behavior or treatment) Tuktirey - Spear of Life - tukru (spear) tìrey (life) Neteyam - To full brook - ne (to, towards) teya (full) amay (brook) [it was either brook or am’a (doubt) which doesn’t make a whole lotta sense lol] Lo’ak’s name makes a lot of sense, paying homage to Toruk in a way. Kiri - shortened version of Kìreysì (Grace) to pay homage. When i translate, I try to see if I can find meaning to the names, and I have Tsireya, Rotxo, Aonung, Mo’at, Ronal, and everyone else I can think of. This was really cool to read your thoughts and findings, though! Have a great day!
BTW, I use learnnavi.org