What's in a name...

We did not know what sex the baby was going to be so we had thought up a few names for both sexes. I was playing around with changing the spelling of our parent’s names similar to what my mom did to get my middle name Bernae (her mom’s name was Bernice). I liked the idea of this because it seemed like a nice way to honor our parents so Dorian came from combining Dora and Dian. Glenn liked the name because he said it was a nice musical mode.

For a middle name we thought it would be nice to find a Maori word that would fit. We found the word Tihore in a book of Maori songs. At first we thought it was the word for Kingfisher, Glenn’s favorite bird, but learned later that the word for Kingfisher was Kotare. We prefered Tihore and liked the meaning, clearing skies. Here is the song that we found the word:

Tihore
Tihore mai te rangi Clear the sky
Tihore mai clear away
Mao mao mao te ua let the rain stop
Whitt mai te ra and the sun shine.

E rere kotare ki runga puwharawhara Fly kingfisher on to a bush
Rur parihau hai mate I te ua ruffle the rain drops from your
Ruru parihau kat mate I te ua wings lest you catch a chill.

Tihore mai te rangi Clear the sky
Tihore mai clear away
Mao mao mao te ua let the rain stop
Whiti mai te ra and the sun shine.
Mao mao mao te ua
Whiti mai te ra

E rere e noke mai I to pokurua Flee worm from your borrow
Kai ki I te wai kai mate I te ua it might fill with water and
Kai ki I te wai kai mate I te ua. you will drown.

Tihore mai te rangi tihore mai Clear the sky
Mao mao mao te ua clear away
Whiti mai te ra let the rain stop
Mao mao mao te ua and the sun shine.
Whiti mai te ra
e….i…e
whit mai te ra
e…i….e
whiti mai te ra