The news that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, collectively known as “Kimye,” have named their baby daughter North – as in North West, or “Nori” for short – may get some people thinking about sushi. Kim and a Kanye might have thought twice when naming their daughter if they knew that the name means edible seaweed in Japanese, as well as other strange things in different languages. We break it down for you:

Nori is Japanese for edible seaweed, which is often used in sushi. Edible names such as Clementine and Apple are popular in Hollywood, so little Nori will perhaps fit right in.

In Lithuanian, Nori means want, as in Tu nori (you want).

In Korean, Nori means game. ‘Yut Nori’ is a traditional board game played on Korean New Year.

Nori in Romanian is possibly the nicest translation, as it means clouds. However, when read in Romanian the accent is on the ‘o’ so the ‘i’ is silent.

In the Ngarrindjeri language, spoken by indigenous peoples in south-central Australia, Nori is the word for pelican.

In Basque, Nori means to whom. Not a very strange translation.

However, in Slovenian, Nori means crazy. “Nor” is one way to say crazy, while “Nori” is directed at a person, with the suffixes changing based on age/ gender. I’m sure Kim and Kanye would have thought twice had they known they were essentially naming their daughter ‘crazy person’!

As for the baby’s full name, North West? Well, if she was from Liverpool she would be North West of North West.

Today Translations is a London based translation company providing translation services to businesses and parents-to-be alike. Our Baby Name Audit Service will check the meaning of your baby’s name in 100 languages for £1,000 to save your children from future embarrassment.

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