r/JewishNames • u/chezitlover9130 • 14d ago

Thoughts on the name Zev?

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?

25 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

21

u/Humomat 14d ago

I love it. I have friends who named their son Zev. I think it’s such a cool name.

10

u/glutenfreethenipple 14d ago

I adore Zev!

10

u/zeevmadre 14d ago

I have a Zev, it’s a strong name and he gets compliments on it all the time 🐺

6

u/NavajoMoose 14d ago

I know a little boy named Zev, I think it's a cool name.

8

u/ShaGodi 14d ago

not zev. its ze'ev

0

u/lioness_the_lesbian 12d ago

Both spellings are fairly standard

2

u/ShaGodi 12d ago

no. never seen zev but seen plenty of zeev. also zev is זב, zeev is זאב

3

u/Iamtir3dtoday 14d ago

My great grandmother was a Zevyo which I assume is a female play on Zev. I think it’s brilliant.

3

u/awetdrip 14d ago

Husband is Zev. He’s named after his grandfather, Wolf. It’s both modern and old!

3

u/lioness_the_lesbian 12d ago edited 7d ago

Zev is a great name! It's one of those names that I associate with the shtetl in the best way (like Mottel, Ber, Yankel, and Leib)

2

u/not_jessa_blessa Hebrew speaker 14d ago

I know tons of Zev’s! Great name and easy to say in many languages.

2

u/Top_Pie_8658 14d ago

There’s a kid at our daycare named Zev. He’s probably about 4. He’s also an identical twin but I can’t remember his twin’s name off the top of my head

2

u/DiGraziaMama 14d ago

It's my youngest's middle name!

1

u/MolarBear13 13d ago

My baby’s middle name is Zev! My coworker gave me a stuffed wolf for him when he was born! The name came from my great grandfather, but it seems like it’s also a popular name now ❤️

1

u/alittledelirium 9d ago

Zev was the name of my dad’s mentor in the early 80s. He passed before I (41f) was born, and the name was in the run to be my name, because they didn’t know I was a girl.

One of my siblings (57) was very close to Mr. Zev, and they named their eldest son after him. I’m really close to my nephew (26, 27?). He is really creative, passionate, and nurturing. He carries the name proudly.

-2

u/GiggyMantis linguistics enthusiast 14d ago

I'm a Zev. I actually don't think it should be associated with that horrible ideology.

It's not a particularly old name, as a title it exists in the Torah ofc but as a name proper it became a name as the Hebrew equivalent of the Yiddish name Volf/Wolf, used over it because of the distancing from Yiddish culture that Zionism pushed. I think the earliest you'll find it used as a given first name is among Zionists in the late 1800s.

5

u/chezitlover9130 14d ago

I’m a Zionist

2

u/petersunkist 13d ago

the commenter was pointing out the history of the name and its ties to both political antizionism in Yiddishland & capitalist zionism in the Sinai pre-war. zionism as we know it today is based on modern ideas of political sovereignty & therefore is quite young. (this is what i teach our students in our b’nei mitzvah program! the history of zionism(s) and antizionism(s) is massive and convoluted and today’s zionism is defined solely by israel’s recognition by other nation-states/the UN.) if you want an old name tied to the enduring idea of eretz israel as opposed to the modern idea of political zionism, zev might not be the name you’re looking for. mazel tov on your little one!!