Alta

• Alta.

Alta

1. Abbreviation of Alberta: a province of Canada.

Alta

1. A female given name from Latin possibly from Latin alta (“high”), fairly common in the United States in the nineteenth century.
   • 1870 Mary Mapes Dodge: St. Nicholas:A Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls: page 725 (Little Menan Light):

     "I'm thinkin', Marthy Ann, that as Altie's " ( she had been named Alta, for her mother ) - "close onto twelve year old, ye might be spared ter go off home- - -

2. (rare) A male given name from Latin.
3. A town with bystatus and municipality of Finnmark, Norway.
4. A census-designated place in Placer County, California, United States.

• Alta Lake

• Altagracia

• [1] U.S. Social Security Administration, accessed on December 15th, 2010: The first name Alta was included in the top 1000 female names in 1880-1956, and in the top 1000 male names in 1889, 1891, and 1895.

• lata, LATA, tala, Taal, Lata

Uncertain. There are several theories:^[1]

• Inherited from Old Norse álpt (“swan”);
• Borrowed from Finnish ala- (“low”);
• Borrowed from Northern Sami álda (“sacrificial site”).

First attested in Danish in 1520 as Althen.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈalːta], [ˈalta]

Alta

1. a town with bystatus and municipality of Finnmark, Norway
   • 1520, Sommers indtects bogh anno domini mdxx (in Danish); quoted in “Indtægts-Regnskab for Bergens Kongsgaard Sommeren 1520.”, in H[enrik] J[ørgen] Huitfeldt-Kaas, editor, Norske Regnskaber og Jordebøger fra det 16de Aarhundrede (1514-1521), volume 1, Christiania: J. Chr. Gundersens Bogtrykkeri, 1887, via National Library of Norway, page 586:

     Thenne eftherscreffne fiisk. antwardet hid Torleff Askelsen effther Henric Foss af Althen oc are Finne skat[.]

     [Denne etterskrevne fisk overleverte Torleff Askelsen hit etter Henric Foss av Alta og er finneskatt.]

     This requested fish was delivered here by Torleff Askelsen from Henric Foss of Alta and is a Finn tax.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): [ˈalːta], [ˈalta]

Alta

1. a town with bystatus and municipality of Finnmark, Norway