When big Saraya met little Saraya

Having lived with the name Saraya for then last 45 years, I am constantly asked, how do you pronounce it? Where is it from? What does it mean?

In answer to those questions, the first is easy, phonetically, Sa ray ah, easy right? But you would be amazed at how many people struggle with it! I even once had a teacher who refused to call me Saraya and called me Sarah.

Most people think that my name is Soraya, which is a beautiful name, but pronounced slightly differently, and most of the time when people ask me I say that my parents didn’t know how to spell!

Soraya is an Iranian name referring to the Pleiades, a star cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It has connotations meaning “rich” (I wish) and “princess” (again I wish). I believe that my name means something similar, and where the name comes from.

So when I was contacted by one of my old clients to say that they would love shoot for their little Saraya, it was a really happy surprise!

I have never ever met another Saraya, there are a few around the world, but really not many, so we are pretty unique!

I had met the parents a while ago at a shoot in my studio in North London a few years ago, and they contacted me last year when Saraya was born to book a shoot, it is always lovely for me to see past clients. (Although it does sometimes make me feel old! Especially when I see the kids growing so quickly!)

We met in a lovely park in North London, and with that gorgeous Autumn sunshine, we couldn’t help but make some lovely portraits of this smiley little lady.

At not even two, Saraya was brilliant to picture, very chatty, telling me about her favourite dinosaurs and I was so impressed with her attention span. (mum and dad helped with that too!)

It was funny for me, when mum and dad kept calling the name Saraya, I answered sometimes too! It was a first for me, to have a client with the same name! So here we are… the two Saraya’s! And I am sure we will see each other again in the future! (thank you Mummy for the image :)!

If you would like some Autumn portraits of your little one please contact me for shoot details and prices.

Lots of Love Big Saraya xxx