The Official Nation Name Thread

[Joe Harker]

As for Americans... I suppose we could use a Spanish translation?

yes don't forget more people in america speak spanish as their first language than english

for clarification no they are not! just being saracstic

 

[Falcon02]

Another point with the whole "Our Land" depending on country...

Is what if "Our Land" doesn't have a nice ring to it...

But say... "Our Country"

or

"Fanatic Land" or something else along those lines sounds better.

With the whole "Our Land" thing... I think we should keep our options open on what exactly the phrase is, until we know what the translation actually is, and possible alternatives.

 

[LucyDuke]

With the whole "Our Land" thing... I think we should keep our options open on what exactly the phrase is, until we know what the translation actually is, and possible alternatives.

Well, translations are rarely exact anyway. There are shades of meaning in different languages that are not in other languages. The idea is what's important, whether it's our country, our land, or whatever.

 

[ice2k4]

yes don't forget more people in america speak spanish as their first language than english

Really? Most Americans speak English as a first language, although there is a great number of esl (english as a second language)

 

[Gaidynne]

yes don't forget more people in america speak spanish as their first language than english

Where on earth do you get this tidbit from? Do you have anything to back it up?

 

[Furius]

It's second most spoken... And only by 10.7% of Americans...

Since many Spanish-Speakers come across the Mexican border there is, however, a high concentration of Spanish speakers in the Southwest... 43% in New Mexico, and 34% in both California and Texas...

Due to migration it is growing at a faster rate than the english speaking population in these areas (The english speaking population remains in the overwhelming majority, nationwide, however...)

And that's my piece

 

[Macha]

What about "Nonapolyton." (Although Apolyton in Greek means ultimate.)
"Non" in Latin means "not"
Forgive my need to make a parody of Apolyton.

i second this

 

[dutchfire]

yes don't forget more people in america speak spanish as their first language than english

If you mean the continent America, then you're right.
If you mean the USA, then I doubt you are right .

 

[Vind2]

I forth the "our land" translation

 

[Byshguy]

As for Americans... I suppose we could use a Spanish translation?

Ha good call 8 )

 

[Methos]

Where on earth do you get this tidbit from? Do you have anything to back it up?

Really? Most Americans speak English as a first language, although there is a great number of esl (english as a second language)

I believe Joe Harker's remarks were being sarcastic towards this post:

As for Americans... I suppose we could use a Spanish translation?

I can understand Joe's remarks and am confused by Furius's. I take it international news portrays the US with a lot of Mexican/Spanish influence?

 

[Gaidynne]

Thank you for pointing that out, Methos.

And to JoeHarker -- My apologies for not catching the intent of your post originally.

 

[Furius]

Not really...

It was a tongue-in-cheek statement... Hence the "" Which didn't turn into a guy sticking his tongue out on this forum...

Anyway, Spanish is still the second most popular... So if we want a more exotic name for America, it would be the best one I could think of...


I'm sorry my post's tone was not clear...

 

[GeorgeOP]

Maybe we should use a Native American tongue? That would be "exotic" enough and still respectful to the people that live here.

 

[DaveShack]

You get the smiley with :p - the lower case matters.

The Native American language idea is interesting, but very difficult to do anything with, in general. However, I have one example to offer. One of the tribes (not a really good term but one most people understand) in my area of Arizona is named [wiki]Tohono O'odham[/wiki]. Roughly translated, People of the Desert. This one won't work for us because we know we're not likely to be in the desert.

 

[jdubdixon]

*hopes we pick this option and get the aztecs or mali *

If we get the Aztecs there is always the nahuatl language wich is roughly "tehuantin tlalticpactli" (auctually thats we earth but there is no word for our or land)

 

[Lockesdonkey]

If we get the Aztecs there is always the nahuatl language wich is roughly "tehuantin tlalticpactli" (auctually thats we earth but there is no word for our or land)

It doesn't have to mean literally "Our Land"; it could be "Our Country," "Our Nation," or even (taking BIG liberties with this) "People's Land," "People's Country" or "People's Nation," if that sounds better.

 

[jdubdixon]

Thats the closes I could come up with.

 

[Falcon02]

Let's not forget we should try to get something that's relatively easy to remember and type.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

That's why I think that if we do go with a translation of "Our Land", it should be fairly loose. For instance, the German for "People's Land." Volksland (if we were the Germans) looks and sounds a lot better than Unser Land (which kind of looks silly). Likewise, 我们的国 (Wǒmen de guó) is faintly ridiculous, especially in Chinese; however, 人民国 (Rénmínguó, People's Country), doesn't really. On the other hand, the Latin Terra Nostra or French Notre Terre sounds distinctly better than, say, Terre du peuple (though Terre Populaire actually has some ring to it, on second thought).