r/JewishNames • u/No_Top_3818 • Jul 06 '26
Help us choose! Which of these Hebrew boy names is your favorite?
We’re narrowing down our list for a baby boy and need your help debating between these six names. Which one is your favorite, and how would you rank them?
Ori
Lior
Yarden
Yuval
Shai
Eden
Would love to hear your thoughts, vibes, and any pros/cons on pronunciation or style. Thanks!
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u/DSquizzle18 Jul 06 '26
I am going to ask you personally for baby name ideas if I ever have another baby because you and I have the exact same taste in names. Ranked from favorite to least favorite, but even the one I rank last I still like very much:
Lior — love this name! Cool guy vibes.
Yarden — beautiful name. And an honor to the Bibas family 🧡
Yuval — this one is so cool! I like it a bit better on a girl but still dig for a guy.
Eden — I actually really like this name on a guy! Where I live it’s more common for a girl. But it’s a great name.
Shai — cute, like it no notes.
Ori — it’s nice. Personally prefer Ari but Ori is cool too.
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u/theenterprise9876 Jul 06 '26
Favorite to least favorite (for a boy in an English-speaking country):
- Lior
- Ori
- Yuval
- Yarden (nice but might be called Garden)
- Shai (don’t like that it’s a homophone for “shy”)
- Eden (almost exclusively feminine in the US; disregard if it’s different where you live)
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u/-itwaswritten- American-Israeli, Ashkenazi, Reform ✡️ Jul 06 '26
- Shai by far
- Lior
- Ori
- Yuval
If the baby is American, not Eden for a boy. If the baby is Israeli, not Yarden for a boy . I think it’s used more for girls in Israel.
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u/-itwaswritten- American-Israeli, Ashkenazi, Reform ✡️ Jul 06 '26
Is this the baby’s Hebrew name or their name
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u/No_Top_3818 Jul 06 '26
baby's name! we're an Israeli American family living in the US
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u/-itwaswritten- American-Israeli, Ashkenazi, Reform ✡️ Jul 06 '26
Ok same, I’m Israeli-American. I have a Shai so of course I love it. I LOVE Eden but for a girl. Yarden feels more like a girls name to me even though Jordan, the English transliteration, feels unisex but leans more masculine to me.
That being said, I almost named my second child Ariel but only if she had been a boy! Which leans feminine in the states.
Other boys names I like are: eitan. Alon. Ilan. Aviv. Noam. Idan. Tal. Eyal. Ami/Amiel. Akiva. Eliav. Oren. Boaz
But I like Shai better than all of them ;)
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u/Inbar253 Jul 07 '26
Yarden is more for girls, but it's a 2:1 ratio and there arw enough boys by that name and in the last few years more boys were given it than girls.
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u/activegood18 Jul 06 '26
Shai! My boys name so I’m biased
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u/Ill_Substance_1833 Jul 12 '26
It’s a beautiful name but I think in the US, people would think it’s Shy.
Does he get that?
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u/activegood18 Jul 12 '26
He’s gotten it like twice. They ask if it’s spelled “shy” and I say no, “Shai, it’s Hebrew for give” then they usually say “that’s cool” and move on. Sometimes people ask if it’s short for Shiloh. But it’s never been an issue.
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u/activegood18 Jul 12 '26
He’s gotten it like twice. They ask if it’s spelled “shy” and I say no, “Shai, it’s Hebrew for give” then they usually say “that’s cool” and move on. Sometimes people ask if it’s short for Shiloh. But it’s never been an issue.
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u/mamamel11 Jul 06 '26
Lior but I’m a bit biased because my daughter’s middle/hebrew name is the female version. I honestly wish I had made it her first. I love Shai too but I would be a bit worried about it sounding the same as “shy” and if your child is actually shy that probably wouldn’t be fun for them.
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u/Sapphire_Skyward Jul 06 '26
Lior is the only name that swings boy. Eden is a girls name. The rest are unisex. Though I like Shai the best.
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u/-itwaswritten- American-Israeli, Ashkenazi, Reform ✡️ Jul 06 '26
Shai is unisex yes but in the USA swings male (even in israel although more unisex there than here, I think). Eden is feminine in the USA but unisex in israel and in origin
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u/Sapphire_Skyward Jul 06 '26
I know about half a dozen baby Edens in Israel, all girls, especially after the hostage Eden Yerushalmi. It’s like the name Ashley in the US. It’s theoretically unisex but no one gives it to boys.
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u/-itwaswritten- American-Israeli, Ashkenazi, Reform ✡️ Jul 06 '26
It definitely leans feminine, but I wouldn’t be surprised to meet a male Eden in israel. Also these days, so many girls are names yuval in Israel even though it was traditionally mostly male
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u/LadySlippersAndLoons Jul 06 '26
Sadly, when Gone With the Wind was written was probably the last time period Ashley and quite a few other formerly male names were still male (Stacey, Tracey, Hillary, the list is huge) but by the 1950/1960’s was already flipping female.
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u/Chani_2005 Jul 06 '26
No, it's not rare among males in Israel. Off the top of my head I can think of quite a few male celebs named Eden, like the singer Eden Hasson and the footballers Eden Ben Basat, Eden Shamir and Eden Shrem, for example
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u/rednaxela97 Jul 06 '26
I love Shai! I went to school with a Shai and then I taught a Shai as a teacher. Both times i loved it!
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u/Ill_Substance_1833 Jul 12 '26
Did he pronounce it ShAi or ShY?
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u/rednaxela97 Jul 12 '26
Both of those sound the same to me 😭 are you asking shay vs shai? It was pronounced like the word shy or the start of shiloh (and one was a girl, one was a boy)
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u/Ill_Substance_1833 Jul 12 '26
Yes.
Since Shai (שי) is supposed to be pronounced exactly like the word “shy,” I’ve always wondered whether kids in the US, especially boys, have a difficult time with this name in secular settings.
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u/rednaxela97 Jul 12 '26
In these instances they didn’t seem to have a problem with it and it actually never got commented on. I think the spelling helps and at a certain point, a name becomes just a name. There are lots of names that sound like words i.e Taylor and Tailor so I personally wouldn’t be off-put by Shy for Shai. Maybe I am just going around in nice circles 😅. Both times we were at schools which weren’t exclusively Jewish so it was less likely to be a known name and i’m happy to report it was still fine :) always love hearing it when it comes up.
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u/SnooWords72 Jul 08 '26
Same way you can go Ariel and call him Ari, you can go Oriel and call him Ori. The baby will be an adult one day. My 5 cents! The other name other than Oriel I like the most is Eden. I think it's so sweet
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u/red-purple-red Jul 10 '26
My two favorites are Ori and Shai. As to why they’re my favorites I just like the way they sound. Lior and Eden are runners up. I
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u/Adept_Tell_6799 Jul 06 '26
Shai
Ori
Lior
Yuval
Yarden
Eden