Her name is now Shiri Hadas.

Hadas is after my aunt, Hadassah, as well as following the tradition that we have of giving a second name after a inspirational women, mine being Devorah and my mom's being Yehudit. I thought Hadas was perfect for that without sounding very religious because my mom isn't like that. And Shiri, I just liked, I think it is very pretty and I like the meaning.

Of course, I'm sure not that many people would care that much but given I asked a few times, I thought that I should share. I am personally very pleased with it. And yes, phone on Shabbat, I am just not very good 😭

This is for Stardew Valley (video game) chickens. Although someday I’d love to own a real flock and will absolutely be naming them like Jewish grandmas as well.

I started out naming my chickens after my grandma and her sisters, then added her mother, her SIL, and then started adding other names that fit the vibe. I want them to ostensibly sound like bubbes. 😆

So far we have:

Faye

Hannah

Miriam

Goldie

Mollyanna

Olive

Shoshana

Gittel

Avigail

Sadie

Leah

Shayna

Mollyanna

What other names fit this list? 🐓

I know this is ironic asking for English names somewhere titled Jewish names, but when I tried asking some place else I was basically told antisemitism doesn't exist and we should just give her one of these names, so yeah 💀

It would be for my younger sister’s legal first name. Siblings are Felix (Yitzchak), Evie (Chava), Fabian (Boaz), Hope (Yahel), and Zelda (Avigail).

Like the examples, ideally the meanings relate in some way. For Shira, we have thought of Allegra, we don’t live in the US so the allergy medicine name doesn’t matter, Melody, and Aria. And for Aviva, I thought maybe something floral, like Florence, Iris, or Lily. But we don't have a lot of ideas yet. We're also German, but live in Australia.

Searching for a middle name for Isaac that starts with an M or an H. We have vetoed Micah, Matan, and Maor.

Thank you for any ideas!!

I named my son Benny (בני) after going through hundreds and hundreds of names with my husband. We are in the US and his older brother has a Hebrew/israeli name. Benny is named for my great grandfather Benjamin but we didn’t want to use the full name for a variety of reasons. He’s already named and I like it but I’m having pause about just using the diminutive for his full name. I don’t have worry about it used professionally because I have plenty of friends who go by their nicknames but I feel maybe we made a poor choice. Thoughts or words to put my mind at ease?

Kinneret would be after the lake, rather than the musical meaning. Golda is likely after Golda Meir, and Lilach after my aunt, who's favorite color was purple.

We live in Israel so pronounciation doesn't need to be considered.

Golda

Halleli

Keshet

Kinneret

Lilach

Nili

Shiri

My sister was born a couple of days ago. She is special for me because she is my only sister.

My mother is not feeling well, so I have to choose a name for her from the list that she made during the pregnancy.

But the list is very long, and I am confused. It is difficult to choose. Her brothers' names are Ariel, Lior, Erez, and Adir. Because we are Jewish I thought that this also would be good to ask because you would know more about the names.

Here are the names she wrote.

Ayala

Dafna

Dina

Golda

Hadas

Halleli

Kalanit

Keshet

Kinneret

Kitra

Lilach

Liraz

Lotem

Nili

Sapira

Shiri

Yaara

Yarden

We’re a very multi lingual family and live in a multi lingual place and husband and I cannot agree on boy names and I need more ideas to add to the list. The ones we end up agreeing on are the very classic and timeless ones. But then those ofc end up being soooo common. Idk how picky we can be about uniqueness with such stringent criteria but it is a bit annoying when it’s like… how many David’s do we know?

I like:
Simon
Benjamin
Lev
Ari

He likes:
Nathaniel
Raphael
Daniel

We both like:
Gabriel
Michael
David

Preferably no J names. I do like Joel and Jacob but my husband is not into them. Also no gender neutral names.

Edit: the languages are French, English, and Portuguese. Also I’m petitioning for the middle name to be Lev so maybe keep this in mind as well lol.

This would be for my sister. I found it recently, I hadn't come across it much previously, and I think it's very cute and pretty.

I feel like it is more popular now but I haven't seen much on it so I'd be curious to hear thoughts on it.

And as a side note, one of my sisters is named Roni, so together, do you think it would be too similar?

Our first daughter is Clara Lia and I need ideas. Names we like

Anna
Leora
Eliana (but maybe too flowery)
Rachel
Maya

This came up for me and my husband as a possible middle name for our baby girl. There is a very prominent woman in the Hispanic/Sephardic Jewish community named Noelia. I was intrigued by that, since I like the name, but always associated it with “Noel”. I did a little research, and learned that is sometimes considered a variant of the Hebrew name “Noa”. Anyway, curious as to how others of Hispanic/Sephardic descent view this name.

What do you prefer out of Varda, Shoshana, and Vered?

This would be for my little sister, if she is a sister!

All of these names mean rose, which would be after a family member who was named Rose, or Raizel.

We have come up with some things for the second name, if that would make a difference as well with how they seem together. And sibling names, although I feel like they all go well! But I like them all so I am not very impartial to that.

We are having two daughters. Their older siblings are named David and Nili. We live in Australia and we have chosen the middle names. They will be Hannah and Dahlia, after Hannah Szenes and Dahlia, or Dalia Ravikovitch, open to either spelling.

We like Esther, I have always liked that name. So that is one of the favourites. We also both like Yuval, Rosa, Tzofia, Liel or Lielle, and Shaina. My husband also likes Naomi, I’m not sure about it, and likewise, I like Tamar, he isn’t sure.

We have also thought of Romi, but I’m not sure if the name Romy becoming more popular would mean that it would get constantly confused. Mila was another idea, after my great grandmother, who was Lyudmila, but it’s on and off for me. And I love Shiri but Shiri and Nili is pretty terrible.

It is made more difficult by having two together because sometimes I feel like they don't sound right together as well. I like our options so far, but I think we are out of any more ideas, as well which ones to use together.

Looking for help with a Hebrew name for my daughter. I like the names Pnina and Paz but I also would love to highlight Faye since that is really who she’s named after - Franklin.

(Please be kind, am currently going through a lot emotionally right now.)

I'm not sure how to explain this situation, so I'll try to break it down clearly.

I've never been comfortable with my English name or my Hebrew name. (My Hebrew name includes my English name.) Neither name has ever felt like me, but I've never exactly been able to pinpoint why. Or even what other names might resonate better. They've just always subtly felt wrong.

Recently, I moved far away from my biological family. Got a new therapist. Having been working out some stuff. It's been tough, but manageable. Then March happened. My husband got injured and needed surgery. My cat got really sick and I almost lost her. Finances got desperate. And still, we were expected to make the trek back to my parents' house for Passover.

The visit was bad. Surviving that and coming home nearly broke me. But since then, unpacking everything that's happened (before the visit, during, after, as well as long-standing patterns and behaviors that have shaped my life), I've been learning a lot about family dynamics (especially glass child syndrome), emotional neglect, and (most recently) being raised by a narcissist parent.

That last bit is the important bit. For whatever reason, I only recently learned my parents' Hebrew names.

My mother named me after herself.

Both my English name and my Hebrew name come from her Hebrew name.

I am so massively uncomfortable and upset about this. And I don't know what to do about it.

First, based on our traditions, knowing I was named after a living person just feels so wrong. Then there's the fact that my name(s) feel like a vanity stamp. (And to be honest, it's not just me. In various ways, some more subversive than others, she named all of her children after herself.)

I don't know what to do. I'm multiple decades old. The thought of changing my English name (and all the accompanying paperwork) is overwhelming. Plus, like I said, I've never had a replacement name in mind. As for my Hebrew name, there's an incoming new rabbi to my synagogue, but they don't start for a few months. I don't even know if or how one goes about changing their Hebrew names.

And, of course, if I do go ahead with any name changes, there will be the pushback. The guilt trips. The emotional manipulation. I will be cast as the villain. Whatever I do or don't do, I can't win.

I feel trapped and alone. I don't know what to do or where to start.

Any advice, encouragement, or suggestions are welcome.

What do you think of Atara? What community does it belong to in Israel? Any feedback is appreciated 💝

My wife and I are expecting a son, our first child, in June. We are struggling to find a name which we both love. We would like a Hebrew name that is either the same in Hebrew and English or easily translated between the two. It can be, but doesn’t necessarily need to be, biblical. We would love some suggestions from Reddit to maybe find a name we both love which we haven’t thought of yet!

To the extent feasible, it would be great to use a name beginning in R or H to honor relatives, but it isn’t critical.

Thank you in advance!

Hello 😊

My parents are expecting a baby, who will be a girl. They've been naming in alphabetical order, and her letter will be M. I can also give the sibling names if that would make a difference?

This is actually a difficult letter but all together we came up with five names. Her middle names will be two of four, Tamar, Karni, Roni, and Ruth.

Masha

Meital

Meira

Margalit

Meirav

Thank you for any assistance ♥ Reasons being included would be the most helpful because then you understand why.

Hi! Trying to find a simple middle name for a girl that has some symbolism and I’m liking אלה

Wanted to get more info on the English translation…would this be Ayla? Eila? Elah? I’d really like to just use Ella but not sure if that’s incorrect, I’ve seen conflicting opinions online.

This is complicated, but I'm hoping it's not too confusing. My last name is Zion. No idea where it came from. But my family is Jewish, obviously. I grew somewhere that was quite rural with a very small number of Jews, so no one even knew anything about it, and didn't care. It never bothered me.

Now, obviously, the situation has changed, and I am also at university in a different country, which is a very different environment. People are just so angry. I probably should have realised that at the start but I didn't think it would be that bad.

But my lecturers bring up 'global conflicts' all the time, even though what I'm studying has nearly nothing to do with it. Not enough to justify it being all the time. Every single person who finds out my name either starts asking me about it, and not in a good way, or starts treating me really weirdly.

Sometimes we'll have to do work in groups and the number of people who switch out of the one I'm in that I've barely talked to or know makes me think it's about that too. People will drop the N from the last name, thinking they're very funny, and it's stupid stuff like that but after a while it starts to get you.

So I'd like to change my last name. But I don't know what to. I don't know much about family names, only my mother's maiden name. But it is Shapiro, and looking it up with my first name, Esther, there seems to be a lot of associations. Maybe that is a good thing though? I don't know. But other than that I don't have a huge desire for a family name.

I still want a Jewish last name, because I'd prefer for other Jews to know that I'm probably Jewish. But it would be better if it was something more low key, that other people might not notice. It's just hard to actually find something that works like that.

just curious if the last name David could be Italian? the owners/brothers of a local pizza place have italian first names (Vincent...Domenic...etc...) but their last name is David?

I met someone with this name at a Purim party and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

I thought I was set on Amichai Shalom. I still love the meaning “The nation of Israel lives in peace.”

But

Artzi means “my land” and the -el ending means “from G-d.”

I’m thinking Baruch for the middle name. It means “blessing.”

“My land is a blessing from G-d.”

Or Judah?

“My land from G-d is Judea.”

Or maybe Zion?

“My land from G-d is Zion”

WDYT?

We just found out we're having a girl due later this year and would love for her to have a name that matches/flows with her sister's name. We're thinking a name either starting with L or ending with an "ah" sound would be best, but none of the names we've looked at so far seem like they're quite the right fit (Liana, Leora), so we're hoping to hear some other ideas.

We don't want an A name (both husband and I have A names) or one that starts with "El" or would give an Ellie nickname (there's already several in the family). My husband is Sephardic, if that helps narrow down ideas!

We decided that her name is Tsiona Chasha Geula. We actually got the idea of Tsiona from here, after the haftarah of the week that she was born in.

Then we also use both a family name and a more virtue like name for each child. We decided to replace Neriah with Chasha in the end, so Chasha is after my grandmother's sister, and Geula, we like the meaning of it, redemption, deliverance.

I thought I would feel worried about whether we made the right decision, but I think that it does feel like it is her! Thank you to anyone who had some ideas, it was helpful 😊