my mother told me that my first name is Spanish, & we speak Spanish, so i know that "triste" means "sad" in Spanish, but obviously the same word means the same thing in every romance language. i've seen it referred to as Italian, Portuguese, French, etc, but based on the fact i stated above, i feel that it would be more accurate to call it a Latin name just to cover all those bases. i hated my name as a child, because nobody else had it; i love it now for the same reason! it does, however, irk me that some people (lots of people) have SO much trouble w/ it. i've been called Trisha, Patricia, Tristan, Kristen, Christa, Crystal, Triska, Tatianna, Theresa, Tish, Trish, Trishka, Tristianna, Tanisha; i mean you name it! some people only need to be corrected one or two times, while others never do get it right. my family nickname since i was a baby has been TT (for the 2 Ts in my name) & most of my friends & family members also shorten the name to "Tris". throughout my school-age years, the kids called me "Triscuit Biscuit". :) i always liked that one! one other thing that has irked me over the years though is that people have a tendency to argue w/ me over the origin of my name; they'll ask me where it comes from & if i say it's Spanish, they'll tell me that it's in fact French or Italian. Some also argue that it's Welsh or otherwise Celtic & not Latin at all, but clearly the name has an entirely different meaning & derivation in those languages. I still love my name despite the dubiety some people find in naming a kid "sad", but the name Trista isn't unique in that sense; the name Dolores means "pains" in Spanish also. i don't think my name is a bad omen though; i'm a very happy woman!

Trist means sad in norwegian...