I think Miz is water, and Nanami has something to do with beauty or something, I'm not good at Japanese nor do I speak a lot. But is that what they mean, anyone?
Yeah, all the kids from Japan have Japanese names surely, but aren't names like Shayla-Shayla spelled out phonetically, suggesting that they're "not really" Japanese even if based on Japanese names? I'm just curious.
Most people probably already know this one, but oh well-- "Ifurit" (ee-fur-eet) is literally how the Japanese would pronounce "efreet" (or "ifrit"), which are spirits from Arabic mythology. There's no special term for a female genie, but "Efreeta" (which becomes "Ifurita") seems like a logical extension. I've seen some Japanese sites actually just call her "Efreeta," which is more technically correct, I guess; but it's just weird. *chuckles*
And Diva is the Latin and Italian word for "goddess", the feminine form of the Latin word divus.
... Disney characters (Shere Khan) ...
I don't know the meaning of Shera-Shera, but Afura is sometimes used here in Portugal (as Afra) for a girl's name. It's from the Hebrew word Aphurah that means "dust".
That's very interesting actually! Probably because of the influence from Portuguese missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th Century, some Portuguese words find common usage in modern Japanese. Like "pan" (bread). I've also heard that supposedly "arigato" is Portuguese in origin.
The only problem with that is that "Sher" (typically spelled as "Shere" or "Sheer," due to pronunciation) is Hindi, not Arabic; and isn't pronounced the same way.
"Shaila" is a Hindu name meaning "living in mountains," which is actually pretty funny. The closest Arabic name is probably "Salah" (or "Sahlah"), which means something like "smooth" or "soft." (...heh.)Oh, yeah. Another contender: Ephraim's daughter was named Shera, which is Aramaic (and is a generic name that refers to a female relative).