Syn Alia

The Meaning of Syn Alia

Hi all,

I have received numerous requests to explain the meaning and origin of the name, Syn Alia, which I am happy to oblige.

When I came to the point that I wanted a name for my training endeavors, a name to encompass the trainers, and their activities, that would come as a result of writing, teaching, and training, I decided to really give the matter some thought. The name needed to have great meaning for me, as its meaning for others would be determined by the experience they had with me and my teaching. In other words, I did not want a name that brought immediate recognition, like “Cover Animal Training Enterprises”, I wanted a name that reminded me, each and every time that I saw it, of what the essence of my activities was to be. If none others knew what the meaning was, no problem. I needed to to know. (However, I do not
mind telling others).

After about 3 months of studying and contemplating words, and endless scribbling and mumbling, I decided on Syn Alia - a hybridized word stemming from SYNergistic ALlIAnces. The term evoked the certainty that humans and animals in teams are stronger together than the sum of all their members, solo. My activities were to be aimed toward developing humans and animals and their ability to form highly effective, synergistic teams.

So, imagine my surprise when, as I was walking down a street in Annapolis, Maryland (wearing one of my tee shirts with my logo and name on it), a woman hastened to intercept me, saying rather breathlessly, that “That is my name! Do you know what it means?” What she meant is that her name is Alia, and she proceeded to explain that Alia means “pilgrim” in Hebrew, and “the one that reaches the highest place” in Arabic. The hair stood up on my arms and neck, and I sincerely thanked her for sharing that with me. Another dimension of significance had been added to the name, for me, at least!

Later, talking with a friend, Debra London, I learned that there are two similar words in Hebrew, “ali YAH’” which means pilgrim, and “a LI’ uh” which means “home coming”. I decided that since my name was my creation, I would claim BOTH interpretations. Debra renamed her horse which we brought back from his trainer, “Alia” as in homecomer.

It seemed very fitting to do so and I was honored to share the name. Recently, I did a search on the Internet, and found that since my manual has been published, an Italian rock group has named themselves “Syn Alia”, showing surprisingly good taste! I am still looking into that.

But it inspired me to look for an Italian component to the name. I finally got the chance to look the name up in a LARGE Latin dictionary, where I found that Syn Alia means:

“Going a different way, together.”

I think that about says it all.

I hope that in your sharing of the origin and meaning of the name, “Syn Alia”, you will also share the vision that fuels it.

Best wishes,
Kayce

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