Neil wrote:
Nico wrote:
I can't pick what language Vila Restal would come from.
According to my pocket Russian-English dictionary, 'vila' means
'pitchfork'.
Hey, interesting, though I doubt they knew that. Maybe if it meant picklock... :-) Can't see Vila as a son of the soil though.
Me either. but 'picklock' -> 'lockpick'... would have been fate for the poor child. ;)
It's also a Hispanic surname in the US (e.g. Bob Vila). But I doubt Terry Nation chose it for that either. Maybe he meant it as a future version of William, or was thinking subconsciously of villains and arrest...
Looking at my latest Baby Name book:
Vila: (Czech) wilful. A form of William.
On the other hand, most *short* names have probably turned up somewhere sometime. Even if the writer invents them, chances are that someone else came up with them before them. Especially if they're variants of a common current name. Soolin I haven't found anywhere though.
Meg.
Meg wrote:
Looking at my latest Baby Name book:
Vila: (Czech) wilful. A form of William.
On the other hand, most *short* names have probably turned up somewhere sometime. Even if the writer invents them, chances are that someone else came up with them before them. Especially if they're variants of a common current name. Soolin I haven't found anywhere though.
Czech eh? I've often wondered if the lower grades were moved around a lot to meet labour demands, and that's why Vila has a foreign (i.e. not obviously English) name. Another explanation would be the deliberate mixing of ethnic groups to stamp out the vestiges of nationalism to form a more homogenous Federation, though there's not much evidence for that - so few blacks or Asians.
I've often thought that Soolin was her family name, as she'd want to keep that going.
Nico
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Meg -
Nico Mody-Nikoloff