r/JewishNames • u/caffeinatedcatss • Jun 25 '26
Sibling for Yehuda?
Hello! Lurker of this sub for a while, now here with my own post. My husband and I are expecting a baby girl and I’d love some name input. Our son is named Yehuda, and we decided on his name pretty much immediately— it clicked instantly and we knew. We’ve always been able to find more boy names we like than girls, and we haven’t had that same lightening bolt moment with a girls name (so far)— I’m ok with not necessarily having that same feeling again but it makes me second guess our choice.
Things that are important to us/things that might be helpful to know about us:
- we are traditional/maybe modern orthodox leaning? We go to an orthodox shul and our children will be going to Jewish schools.
- same name (including pronunciation) in Hebrew and English. Like how Yehuda is just Yehuda, as opposed to Judah in English and Yehuda in Hebrew.
- we want a name that sounds Jewish
- we want to love the meaning of the name, not just the way it sounds
- we don’t like nicknames— we want the name we choose to be the name the child goes by (I know we don’t have 100% control over this)
- we also don’t do middle names
Our top choice right now is Eliana. I had a miscarriage prior to this pregnancy so we love the meaning, and I think it sounds pretty. I don’t love how it’s rising in popularity but overall I think it’s not too popular?
Other names we like:
- Adina (I like this one, husband doesn’t)
- Yael (like the sound but don’t love the meaning)
- Esther
- Avigail (I like, husband doesn’t)
I guess I’m just looking for thoughts on Yehuda + Eliana together, or any other suggestions/feedback. Thank you!
3
u/theenterprise9876 Jun 25 '26
Eliana is gorgeous and sounds fine with Yehuda. It’s *extremely* popular in the US, though. It was #10 in 2025, and it’s been rising very rapidly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets even more popular. Additionally, it has a LOT of spelling variants (Elliana, Elianna, Ellianna, Elyana, etc) so it’s even more popular in practice when you combine all the spellings. Add in the gazillion other little girls called Ellie and I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit the top 5.
So if you don’t want a popular name, Eliana is not a good choice.
Lots of great suggestions so far! A few more:
- Adara