I need to know the meaning and origin of the name Effe.  It may be
spelled slightly different.  The only hint is that it may be of
African origin.  It is sometimes used as a proper name but I also
heard that it may have some religious meaning.  Please send verifiable
source of answer (books, articles, etc.) if available.

Thank you.

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 31 Jul 2005 12:42 PDT

Do you mean that it's pronounced "ee" to rhyme with "bee," and "fay"
to rhyme with "day"?  Or do you mean something else?  The information
that nelson requested in his comment could help in this regard.

Dear Raicesenafrica, 

I haven't found any information that links this name with Africa, or
with an African origin.

The name is found to exist in Medieval and 16th-17th Scottish name
registeries, and its origin is [probably] Lowland Scots. It also
apepars, though not as frequently, in Nordic countries.

Regarding pronounciation and possible etymology: pronounciation of a
given word is culturally dependant. It is quite possible that a
certain name would be pronounced differently in different cultures,
and would be even accommodated after mass immigration. It is possible
that the meaning of the name, is the same as "Eva" (as it is
pronounced "ee-fa" in some cultures) or as the Irish "Aoife"
(pronounced ee-fa, means beautiful, radiant). I also found one claim
that the name derives from the Greek name "Euphemia" (meaning "well
spoken of"), but Krossa claims that the opposite is correct: the
Scottish name has been alglicised to "Euphemia" during the 18th
century, leaving Effe only as a nickname.

See sources: 
Sharon L. Krossa, Effe Men3eis ? Documentation 
<http://www.medievalscotland.org/namedoc/effe/> 

And : 
Sharon L. Krossa, Afraig? [draft version]
<http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women/afraig.shtml> 

Rootsweb, "Scots Spouses"
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~clendin/scotsspouses_p.htm

enealogical nickname matching
<http://search.cpan.org/src/BRIANL/Lingua-EN-Nickname-1.14/Nickname.pm> 

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search terms:
[effe euphemia], 
[Euphemia meaning name], 
[effe etymology name], 
[effe etymology],  
[Effe name swedish], 
[Effe name scandinavian], 
[Effe name nordic], 
[Effe name danish], 
[Effe name african], 
[Effe name scottish], 
[Effe name],

How does ee equate to the i in igloo?  What form of English (U.S.,
British, Aus., etc.) do you speak?