[Meesh]

It's "Rajah". I've never seen it spelled "Raja" before.

Also, if you look in the credits, you'll find the proper spelling.

[Horse lover]

It's Rajah

[Princess Lydia]

Rajah is the correct way to spell it if you read the story books, and the caption on the screen you will see it spelled that way.

[Lennox Macbeth]

Rajah, though either can technically be correct. Historically speaking, historians and English-speaking authors use "Rajah" for it's phonetic value. Disney likes to borrow words that "sound" right for their series without bothering to see if they're accurate or not. In this case, they grabbed the title of a ruler for the tiger (just like a lot of people name their guard dogs "King", "Khan", etc).

ra·jah or ra·ja
n.

A prince, chief, or ruler in India or the East Indies.

[Hindi raja, from Sanskrit, king. See reg- in Indo-European Roots.]

Word History: Rajah is familiar to us from the Sanskrit raja, “king,” and maharaja, “great king.” The Sanskrit root raj-, “to rule,” comes from the Indo-European root *reg-, “to move in a straight line, direct, rule.” The same Indo-European root appears in Italic (Latin) and Celtic. Rex means “king” in Latin, coming from *reg-s, whence our regal and, through French, royal. Two of the Gaulish kings familiar to us from Caesar, Dumnorix and Vercingetorix, incorporate the Celtic word rix, “king,” in their names. (Rix also forms part of the name of that fictitious, indomitable Gaul Asterix.) Germanic at some time borrowed the Celtic word rix. It appears as reiks, “ruler,” in Gothic, as well as in older Germanic names ending in -ric, such as Alaric and Theodoric, the latter of whom has a name that is equivalent to German Dietrich, “people's king.” A derivative of Celtic rix, *rig-yo-, meaning “rule, domain,” was also borrowed into Germanic, and is the source of German Reich, “rule, empire.”


I know, I know. Enough with the etymology lecture.

[AladdinsGenie]

[Calluna]

I did a search myself, and it looks like most of the ones with "Raja" were selling Rajah toys and stuff. And all of you who've looked for Aladdin stuff on ebay know how badly the names can get butchered. I guess if they cared enough to find out the right spelling they wouldn't be selling it in the first place.

[Agent0042]

I wonder how it is that the Raja error has become so insidious? Like I said, it's the more-used verison of the name when tagged with "Aladdin," based on a Google search. I guess a lot of people just don't know the proper spelling.

[Nez]

Yeah. When people spell it as "Raja", it's a Polish/Czech name.

It would be pronounced "RYE-ah".

Believe me. I was in the high school production of "I've Never Seen Another Butterfly".

[Aurora 101]

I think It's Rajah. That's how I spell it. But I might be wrong.

[Calluna]

In the credits and most of the older toys and books, it's spelled Rajah. On some of the newer stuff they seem to spell it the other way a lot.

[Merkal]

And there are the millions who don't do their homework and just take a guess at the spelling.
Viva la Rajah

[Agent0042]

[AladdinsGenie]

It says Rajah on the credits and that is how I spell it. It honestly depends on how the company feels at the moment to determine if they spell it the right way.

[xfkirsten]

I've always spelled it Rajah, and will alwas spell it that way.

[Salukfan]

Rajah. It's been Rajah for 12 years. Disney has...problems with it. *Looks on boxart for Jasmine toddler doll and screams*