So then what do you make of the Iranian female names Naghmeh (نقمه), Ava (آوا), Taraneh (ترانه), Fozhan (فوژان), Nava (نوا), Sowgand (سوگند), and especially Hengameh (هنگامه) ? These all have meanings which are semantically not so different from ‘neda’ and would seem to contradict your theory about the “Persian cultural construction of womanhood” – not to mention other Iranian female names which are semantically unrelated but also connote power or greatness, such as Afarin (آفرین), Akram (اکرم), Azadeh (آزاده), Shoku (شکوه), and many many others… I think that the way you have described “traditional” Iranian femininity here is inaccurately narrow, and I’m curious as to why you equate iniative and power exclusively with masculinity within this context – it sounds like an Orientalist analysis of Iranian patriarchy (typically Western Orientalists project their own culture’s ideas about women onto the “Middle East”) and I’m surprised to see an Afghan anthropologist such as yourself make similar claims.

It would be interesting to find out what meanings are acknowledged by the authors and/or possessors of the name Neda with whom you are familiar.

I haven’t had a chance to ask any of them personally yet, but I would assume it to be associated with the meanings of “sound” or “voice,” similar to some of the other names I listed at the beginning of this comment. I may be wrong, though–it’s just my guess.

Neda is a highly uncommon personal name.

Not as far as I’m aware – just offhand I know several Iranians named Neda, and to the best of my knowledge it’s a reasonably common name for Iranians both in Iran and in diaspora.