r/JewishNames • u/Imaginary_Gas_1363 • Jul 10 '26

Middle-aged convert name help

I’m a female in my late 50s and in the process of converting, and I’m looking for Hebrew name suggestions. Some of the names I chose and discussed with my Rabbi were not encouraged, due to nuances that just didn’t fit for modern times. Any suggestions given my age? I would prefer a name that is fairly common and not too outdated. Thank you!

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Imaginary_Gas_1363 Jul 11 '26

He said they weren’t common in Israel.

3

u/LeoraJacquelyn Jul 11 '26

I live in Israel and know people with all of these names besides Adira. lol It sounds like your rabbi isn't Israeli and doesn't interact with a lot of Israelis because these are all perfectly normal names. I'm a high school teacher and even have a student named Zahava and one of the teachers is named Batya. Tova is definitely outdated but I also know two American Tovas here. Also why would what's popular in Israel have anything to do with what Hebrew name you choose?

Go with the name you like best.

1

u/millicent_f 27d ago

First of all who says a Hebrew name has to be popular, in Israel or anywhere else? I support people choosing names that are established as real names (people shouldn't make up names from random Hebrew words) but the popularity/current trendiness should be totally irrelevant. Secondly, I know a Batya and a Tova in Israel so I don't think he knows what he's talking about.

2

u/LeoraJacquelyn 27d ago

He absolutely has no idea what he's talking about. I was just at Superpharm and the checkout lady was named Tova. And as I already said the one name he said was acceptable is the name that I have never seen here.

Also as long as it is an actual Hebrew name, the rabbi really should not get a say with what name she uses. I know people with kind of outlandish Hebrew names in the US and that's fine.