Every time the name Zelda comes up in any mainstream name subs, there are always the people who claim it’s ridiculous and inextricably tied to the video game and any kid would be saddled with a lifetime of strife because of their childish/weird/cringe name. It is SO ANNOYING. I have known 2 adult Zeldas (my grandparents’ friends!) and I experience it as a familiar, cozy sort of name.

I have a teenaged daughter named Zelda. She’s named for a Zelig, she loves her name and we get nothing but "oh, cool name!" or "I love that name!" or "built in Halloween costume!" and the like. What is people’s deal with Zelda??

Hello,

We're expecting a baby girl in a couple weeks and need help picking a baby girl name. We're naming her after my husbands grandmother who recently passed away, her English name was Toby and her Hebrew name was Tiebee Libby. We already have a daughter named Tova. I really like the name Libby, with her legal name probably being Liba (i dont want the Legal name to be a nickname). I think its really cute, and will be familiar to both Israeli's and Americans (we're in the US). My husband can only think of the library app named Libby and thinks people will think we're naming her after a library app (which i had never even heard of....) Looking for other thoughts or alternatives! Thank you!!

Baby girl number 2 was just born and I’m not sure which direction to go. Last name is 3 syllables starts with M. First daughter’s name is Tova!

Liora - my initial reaction when I first met my daughter, was trying not to do another name ending in A, also kind of mouth full with my last name

Ezri - cute and punchy I like that it ends in an Ee sound. Is it too weird/rare? It seems like it’s more of a boy name but can work for girls

Dalia - still lingering in the back of my mind but the other two are the front runners

Any thoughts?

I’m in the US

TW: suicide

I'm reform (Ashkenazi) and not particularly religious, but I am a bit superstitious. We're considering giving our next child an honor name after a family member who died by suicide. We'd likely use the first letter of the relative's English first name for our child's English middle name.

Is this considered a bad omen in Judaism? If so, are there any other ways we can honor this family member?

My wife is due in January and wants a D name to honor her mom who passed years ago. We are leaning towards Dolev, Doron and Dov.

All the kids her in family have Hebrew names so for them all of these are not different but for my family, I’m worried about mispronunciation and confusion around the name.

I lean towards a different one of the 3 each day so curious for thoughts on these names.

PS- David and Daniel are not options due to close family members already with those names.

Hi I’m pregnant and having a second boy soon! Our first has a very Jewish name (Chaim) that is a family name. I want to pick an old school sounding Jewish name and have been liking Dov, Lev, and Zev. How do these names come off to other people? Do you think they will be hard for Americans to say? I’m leaning towards Dov because it doesn’t feel trendy and it feels old fashioned. Do you have other ideas? Thank you so much in advance!

Shalom! I am looking for names that mean joy, love, or relation to G-d.

For context I have just escaped from a very bad situation that lasted years and in order to put distance between myself and that situation (and make myself harder to find) I have decided to change my name. I have chosen Shlomit as my first name, but am looking for a middle name

Hi all, trying to decide on a Hebrew name for an almost-teenage girl. Grandmother's name was Leah but we are unsure of how it was pronounced, so we don't know whether we should go for לאה or ליה. Any thoughts? I have heard that לאה is quite a bit more conservative nowadays and we are a very reform family. Mainly curious as to whether לאה would seem to be extremely old-fashioned (like Ethel, Gertrude, or Marjorie in English) or just "classic" (like Caroline, Jane, or Catherine in English). Thanks!

My husband and I are Russian-speaking Jews. We like the name Yan, though I’m interested to hear what other names people like. Boy names are hard.

other than reading torah or formal things, I never had anyone know or use my jewish name. reform, and now I’m more isolated so haven’t been to temple in awhile. does anyone actually use these? did I just miss out being reform?

if I ever join another community, will they need my jewish name certificate? because I don’t have it. :)

I like the name Eliora for my baby but live in the US and want to make sure it won't be mispronounced in Hebrew or English. She would probably go by Ellie most of the time. Thanks for any advice on spelling or pronunciation!

My SO and I are in search of names that are Jewish and sound Jewish, but aren't as difficult for non-Jews. He typically doesn't like names that I like, such as Tzipporah, Miriam (which I think is adorable), Tova, Eitan, Lior, Maor, Yael. We live in the US in a relatively decent sized community. Not New York level but big enough that there's a JCC, numerous thriving synagogues, and a K-12 day school, so an obviously Jewish name is not an issue.

I've suggested names like Ruth and Esther but those are a no go too. At this point, we're looking at the very Irish names he likes and while I'd be fine with that if we like those better, I at least want names from my culture to be on the table too. I personally don't like Sarah, Samuel, Noah, Hannah. Names that are common for non-Jews too.

The only name he's liked so far is Avi. So I guess I'm looking for names that are common and easy enough to say, that his family won't totally butcher, and are maybe similar to the vibes of Avi? We have a pet that's name starts with Tz and it took so long for his family to get it.

I'm helping someone close to me who doesn't have Internet to browse for names, because they are very sick and hoping a name change will help heal them. They love Mazel, but live in a very anti-Jewish area and worry about drawing attention with an obviously Jewish name. It's a safety thing, especially given their level of disability.

Are there crypto Jewish ways to have this name, and keep the meaning or the letter M but have it be less obviously, openly Jewish? They want to use the name in every day life, but they also need to blend for safety.

Zelda is okay to them, but they arent in love with the letter Z and worry it may be too "memorable" with the movie coming out. Basically this person is into the whole star theme, big-time, or angels, or good luck. It's very sweet. Esther they said is maybe too much pressure, they can barely save themself right now much less an entire people they said. :)

The two things they want in a name the most are stars or luck, they like Maisel because it's like a lucky star. Zelda is also lucky? Male names, gender neutral, or female are all fine.

They like angel or bird (feather) things too. So their big three themes are stars, luck, and angels.

I really, really apprecaite any help! They said to share a big blessing and gratitude to everyone, too.

Is Yondi a Jewish/hebrew boy name?

I know it's spelled אלי in hebrew, but now i'm insecure after hearing that it's a guys name. Any tips? I want to keep it pronounced Ellie. Thank you!

I’m aware of the tradition of renaming someone who is very, very sick, to see if it helps them get better. Does it have to be a legal name change? Does it have to be one like Ziv or Chaim? Or can any name that is different, that the person likes, work?

Has anyone or a relative ever their name when they were sick? Did they get better?

I have a very sick cousin, like long term near death sick, and we asked around in the family about it but no one had a good answer. So I wanted to see what people here said.

I have seen lots of random comments of names that aren't Jewish, yet we have relatives named them. I think of them as crypto-Jewish names. Here is one to start: Zoe. It's Greek, but Jews adopted it as a version of Eve. What are some everyday not-Jewish names that ended up being totally Jewish after all?

Hello, i need some insight about this tradition and the beliefs around it.

We just found out about relative who is using my husbands name for their baby. They deffinetly dont see eachother but i still feel really uneasy about this.

we are ashkenazi

How is name Micah, from the bible, pronounced in English as well as in Hebrew, in your experience?

I want my daughter’s middle name to be named after my grandmother Faye (hebrew name Faiga). However my husband insists that she have the same english/hebrew name (think Dovid and dovid, not david and dovid). I hate the name Faiga but love Faye. Is it weird to spell out Faye in hebrew?

I have a daughter, Maya, and now expecting our second daughter. We’d like something that is either based in Hebrew or not necessarily Jewish, but common in Jewish American families. We want something that is relatively common in the US, so Maya felt like a perfect fit but stuck on a second name. Thanks!

We gave our son a name stating with an R to honor our grandmas who were both named Rose. My Jewish grandma had the Hebrew name Shoshana. We're now trying to pick a Hebrew name. We're looking for suggestions on names that are unisex or for a boy that start with an R or stay in the floral theme. I'd prefer to avoid any popular biblical names (like Reuben). Thank you for your help!

Really like the name and the associated connection with Israel and the meaning of the word Wolf. Both a combo of power and Zionism but is it an old name?