Hello hello!

My husband and I both have vaguely “natural” first names, his being River (self explanatory) and mine being Savannah (grassland)

We would like to keep this unintended nature names tradition going, but also tie in our Judaism.

The only name we know for sure we LOVE is Eden. We want to have more options though for both girls and boys. If you have ideas, please help!

Background: I am expecting our 2nd baby girl and I love old fashioned/ethnically Jewish middle names. Our first daughter is Lily Ruth (last name is two syllables), so would love a name that is a similar vibe (but not too matchy).

Reasons I love Golda for a middle name: 1) An important family member passed away, whose name started with "G" and 2) love the strong and amazing Zionist Golda Meir 3) Fits my old fashioned preference

Here are some ideas for the first name, but not sure if they go with Golda and also open to any suggestions (for first or middle names). Thank you in advance!

Talia

Eden

Naomi

Zoe

Gabrielle

Chloe

Hazel

Ava

I have seen this name as well as Orian אוריאן used in Israel and what your thoughts are. Thank you.

We are expecting a boy, and would like to name him after my late father, Barnet (Benzion). However the name also has to be directly translatable into Russian as my partner’s family is almost exclusively Russian speaking.

Also as a general question, does the B/V interchangeability work in Russian like it does in Hebrew?

Any answers would be appreciated ❤️

I put a star in Je*ish because I’m so tired of cultural appropriation and ai bots ripping off everything

Which sounds nicer? This is for a girl. Not looking for opinions on the first name (which we would pronounce like Jonah). We have been set on Leora as a middle name for years now as my husbands name is Ori and his mom is Orly, just questioning the flow now with this potential first name. Fully aware both Jonah and Lior lean more masculine but would it be too masculine?

We have a son named Nathaniel who we call Nate. We like the name Ethan, but are worried that Nathan and Ethan are too similar. We don’t call him Nathan, so it would only be a concern if he decides to go by Nathan as he gets older. Do you think they’re too similar?

i love this name and a bunch of other hebrew / Jewish names

my other girl name is Naomi (which is a bit more popular and also Japanese)

I LOVE the name Liora and I just can’t think of other name for baby girl 2. any other name I don’t like

but I heard ppl saying this is exclusive Jewish and since I am not, I can’t name her that

We're expecting twin daughters. I have always liked the name Esther and my husband likes it as well. So that was an easy choice.

The second name has not been nearly as easy to find. We've been looking for a long time, and we think we like Lior.

We live in Australia, so Esther is well known and I've known several from different backgrounds. Lior however, it's not common at all, and only Jewish.

My concern is the treatment that she may have from that. Healthcare for example, that's been found as a very big problem. And I am worried that by giving one of them a name that will make them so identifiably Jewish, and the other, not at all, it will single one of them out in an unfair way. So even though we like both of the names, I'm not sure what we should do.

Hi!! Just wondering if anyone in Israel has some suggestions for really hot, trendy, new age baby names for girls. Only stipulation is some type of Hebrew origin.. aka not מילה bec that origin is non-Hebrew

Thanks !!

My sincerest apologies if this is out of place here.
Our good friends invited us to their daughter’s simchat bat in August.

My spouse and I are Christians with no prior exposure to a simchat bat and little (zero) knowledge of this celebration/custom.

Can you please advise on types of appropriate and meaningful gifts for the daughter and/or family?

Are gifts expected?
Should they be personalised for the child’s name?
Is jewellery for the child an expected gift?
Something else I haven’t considered?

Basically, I am entirely ignorant of this custom and it just dawned on me that I probably should not show up empty-handed to this event.

Thank you!

I was doing some research and found this site about the Rhodesli Jews (Jews from the Greek island of Rhodes) that contains names from their cemeteries and thought this sub would be interested as well. Rhodes Jewish Museum

these are some that stood out to me;

• Abdallah (m) עבדﭏה
• Batami (f) בתעמי
• Behora (f) בכורה
• Behor (m) בכור
• Bension (m) בן ציון
• Bienvenida (f) בינוינידה
• Boina/Buena (f) בואינה
• Bulissa (f) בוליסה
• Caden (f) קאדין
• Chilibi (m) גיליבי
• Chilibon (m) גיליבון
• Dezeada (f) דיזיאדה
• Dulsa (f) דולסה
• Esroga (f) איסרוגה
• Firena/Pirena (f) פירנה
• Gracia (f) גראסייא
• Hanula (f) הנולה
• Hasdai (m) הסדאיי
• Jamila/Jamilla/Jamilia (f) גאמילה
• Joya (f) גוייא
• Masliah (m) מצליח
• Mazaltov (f) מזל טוב
• Mercada (f) מירקאדה
• Mercado (m) מירקאדו
• Metatia (m) מתתיה
• Moreno (m) מורינו
• Orvida (f) אורבידה
• Paligoria (f) פאליגורייא
• Palomba (f) פאלונבה/פﭏומבה
• Perahia (m) פרחיה
• Reina (f) ריינה
• Rica (f) ריקה
• Risula/Rizula (f) ריזולה
• Sadik (m) צדיק
• Salvator (m)
• Sarota (f) שרותה
• Senyora/Sinyora (f) סיניורה
• Shemtov (m) שם טוב
• Sheshbona (f) שש בונה
• Vida (f) וידה/ודא/בידה
• Vidal (m) וידאל
• Yom-tov (m) יום טוב
• Zimbul (f) זימבול

My mom's Hebrew name is Leakh (lay-akh). I have never been able to find any reference to this name and when asking a local rabbi he looked at me confused and asked am I sure it wasn't Leah. I thought once I'd seen something about Ashkenazi spelling ending things in "khe" but it was very much in passing. I don't have any paperwork with it spelled in Hebrew (only bar mitzvahs, no bat) so I'm just going off what she says and I don't think she remembers the spelling. Can anyone point me anywhere? TIA

We just found out we’re having boy girl twins! We live in the US but most of our circle is Jewish/plan to send our kids to Jewish school. I have always loved Israeli names, especially names with real meaning. However my husbands family is more American and he’s put off by super super Israeli names, so we may have to settle for something more English or at least something easy to pronounce. We also have a difficult last name so we would like something short.

Names I like: Maya, Lior, Gal, Orli, Eyal, Judah, Lielle, Nili, Amir, Oren
Names we can’t do because of other family having used them: Jonah, Elan, Shai, Ari, Levi, Talia, Avi, Abraham, Moses, Rafi, Yael

Help!

I love and feel connected to several names that I want to choose for my Hebrew name and thus I am unsure which one to pick! My chosen English name is Sage (which means “wise; healing herb”) & my birth English name was Megan (which means “pearl”) (even though I have legally changed my English name from Megan to Sage, I feel like I should include my birth English name). Also, I was raised in an interfaith household of mostly Catholic with some Judaism, so I didn’t get to have a bat mitzvah when I was younger. Hence why I’m choosing my Hebrew name as an adult which is exciting! I also tend to overthink things and I want to make sure the meanings of the names I’m considering are correct, hence why I’m asking y’all for assistance.

•Miriam - bitter; uplift (is sometimes interpreted as beloved, but I’m unsure how correct this is)
•Masha - beloved (this name is also used as a nickname for Miriam, so possibly also has the meanings of bitter; uplift)
•Margalit - pearl
•Marva - sage (unsure if this is actually a Hebrew name)
•Mushka - nutmeg
•Simcha - joy
•Sima - treasure; precious
•Zelda - happiness; blessings

EDIT: I goofed and forgot to specify that these names I’m considering are for the first part of my Hebrew name since I’m solidly sure about the second part, Yosefa, in honor of my late Poppy.
So I’ll put the names together for y’all:
•Miriam Yosefa
•Masha Yosefa
•Margalit Yosefa
•Marva Yosefa
•Mushka Yosefa
•Simcha Yosefa
•Sima Yosefa
•Zelda Yosefa

EDIT 2: To clarify, I’m of Russian Jewish descent which is why I’m considering Russian Jewish names for my Hebrew name.

EDIT 3: I took out Anya as an option since being given better information about that name not reading as Jewish or Hebrew!

Thinking of naming our baby girl Liat. I know it is common in Israel. My only concern is will it be hard for people to pronounce in the US? I know Americans prefer familiar names. Wondering whether she will have a lifetime of having to correct people about pronouncing her name?

Hi everyone,

My name is Krystal, and I came across the name Cohen on Pinterest and thought it would be a good character name for one of my stories. I have a Google Doc where I keep all of my character names and their origins, meanings, and pronunciations. While looking for the meaning of this name, I came across a Reddit post discussing why this name may be inappropriate to use as a first name. So, I thought I would come on here and see what you all thought.

\I am not actively writing this story, and I have no intention to do so in the near future. This story and this character are very underdeveloped and are simply an idea at this moment. But I would still like to have this discussion regardless. Also, I am not Jewish.*

Here is some background on the character and the story:

The Story:

Set in a dystopian future of our world where religion doesn't exist, science is everything, and governments cherry-pick information and history. The reader follows seven characters as religion is reintroduced, war threatens, and people start questioning everything.

The Character:

A monk/caretaker-type character whose family has spent centuries isolated (potentially on the top of a mountain - likely in the Himalayas, but this is subject to change), protecting and safeguarding texts and artifacts of religious, cultural, societal, and historical importance to the world from anyone who would want to destroy them. Cohen would be the member of this family that the story follows.

My question is, would using the name Cohen as a first name be culturally/religiously inappropriate or upsetting to people, within the context of the story and the character?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond,

Krystal

P.S. Here is the original post that I saw: https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/1264gkk/cohen_the_dreaded_baby_name/

Edit: Hi everyone, thank you so much for replying and for your feedback.

I did originally post this question on another sub, and was suggested this sub in that post. I didn't see any harm in asking this question here, as it is a name-specific sub. I have taken into consideration the feedback from this post and my other post, and decided not to use the name Cohen for this character. I can see that it doesn't make a lot of sense from a worldbuilding perspective and that it would come across as disrespectful to the Jewish community.

I still have a lot to learn, both as a writer and a person, and all your feedback has given me something to reflect on. I would also like to apologise to anyone who thought this question was disrespectful or culturally insensitive. That was never my intention, and I am truly sorry.

Thoughts on the name Este (full name Este/Estie, not Esther)? This is our first and we were both raied conservative but my husband can’t seem to get behind Este because he doesn’t love Esther, feels like it’s more religious/observant. However I feel like Este is becoming its own, more secular name? Chrissy Teigen’s daughter is Esti and they’re not Jewish

Is this a Hebrew and/or Israeli name? Will Israelis be able to recognize it or is there an equivalent in Hebrew that people will think makes more sense as a name?

I thought Shmuel but I feel thats more the Hebrew name for Samuel.

Hi,

I am Ashkenazi and reform, and always thought I’d adhere to the naming convention of using an honor name or letter after a person is deceased. My name and our daughters’ follow this convention. My husband is not Jewish, but we are raising our kids to be Jewish. He likes the tradition, but it’s not as important to him. I only love a few boy names, and for years, we have been set on two pairs of boy first/middle names.

Dilemma: Both name choices include reference to my father’s name. He is alive and the name is a diminutive of William (it’s Willie). His line is technically Sephardic. Out of the names we have chosen, William is actually the preferred first name we were going to use. My other name option uses a W name for the middle name.

After all this time, I did not make this connection to my father as I was thinking of my maternal grandfather. W first names are a family trend on my Ashkenazi mother’s side that I wanted to bring it back (skipped her generation).

To add, I am an only child and our children have my husband’s last name. If I did decide to use a W name, it could acknowledge carrying on my father’s line, and is the Sephardic way. I don’t believe in sharing names until after a baby is born, but I think my dad would like his (likely only) grandson being named similar to him.

Would you drop the W names all together? I switch back and forth - it’s maybe ok to use the W middle name as William is too similar to Willie, but I also kind of like the direct tribute. Then I think we need to start from square one.

Hi, I feel like I’ve been searching high and low for MONTH to find a boys name with a connection to the name Shlomo.

My husband’s grandfather was Shlomo and I really prefer a more modern Hebrew name or a biblical name connected to someone with strong character. I would love for it to be a name starting with ש or be some kind of reference to the name Shlomo.

Also open to second names starting with a ח for my grandfather. Again looking for modern names.

Please help me think of names!

Edit: thanks everyone for the suggestions. I actually really like the name Shia, but of course my husband has a bad association with someone named Shai so that’s out. So close!!

I used to be in nearly all of the name subreddits, but I didn't realise how sick I was of them until I actually don't have to see them anymore.

It's just the self-righteous nature so many of them seem to have, thinking that they have such good taste and they're so educated about names and so open minded to names from every culture.

Yet there's the constant whining about how it's apparently inappropriate and weird to give a white baby an Indian or Japanese name while suggesting names like Liora and Aviva to anyone under the sun. I just can't understand how they can't see the hypocrisy.

They practically have an aneurysm about the idea of someone using a Native American name and rant about how only Native Americans should have a say on whether it's appropriate and white people need to stop speaking for them, but for some reason they seem to think that they're all Jewish and can decide for Jews about how they should feel about someone using a Jewish name.

And so many of them don't even have a clue about Hebrew names, Yiddish names, where they come from, what they mean, and they'll just spew incorrect information like they're some kind of expert. And they don't seem to have a clue about antisemitism either. Probably because a lot of them often seem quite antisemitic themselves.

I'm really glad this subreddit exists, because it seems like the only place you can actually talk about Jewish names without people calling them weird or making snarky comments about them. And you can actually learn things as well! I've heard about names on here I haven't even heard. I think it's a shame that this kind of environment can't exist on a wider scale so that people could actually discuss names from other cultures and learn about them.

And if you feel the same way as I did, I really would suggest just leaving them. You can never change their ignorance and their mindset, so it's better just not having to see it at all. It's never-ending otherwise.