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Originally Posted by CapoExecutor
The name Shana is actually of Yiddish and Gaelic origin that means "beautiful". Not sure what the Japanese meaning would be.
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No! Sorry mate, but you've got it entirely wrong!
The kanji is just incidentally pronounced the same way as your "Shana", but its origin is entirely different, as suggested by the kanji itself.
Since Takahashi Yashiro's whole concept of existence in the series is deeply influenced by Buddhism, "Nietono no Shana" is no different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vairocana
「遮那」- "Shana" is derived from one of the Buddhist deities "Vairocana" 「毘盧遮那佛」 (The "c" is pronounced as "ch", as seen in certain Slavic names)
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Originally Posted by wikipedia
Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of shunyata or Emptiness.
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Suits Shana and her role quite well.
「贄殿」- "Nietono", probably roughly meaning "Holy" or "Sacred". 「殿」- "dono" is a commonly used suffix (like -san, -chan, -kun, -sama, etc) reserved for honourable or venerable people/being, for example "Hime-dono" (Princess-dono). 「贄」 - "Nie" is a quite archaic word I'm not too familiar with.
So the whole thing 「贄殿遮那」"Nietono no Shana" roughly translates to "The Holy/Venerable Shana" or something like that.