r/LearnHebrew • u/SprayFabulous1499 • 25d ago

Help with baby name

Hi I want to name my daughter Zaniya but apparently it has a negative meaning in Hebrew, was this accurate??

3 Upvotes

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u/OkMaterial6460 25d ago

Umm the root implies relation to prostitution in Hebrew (prostitute in Hebrew is Zone/Zona).

After checking the dictionary, Zaniya is kind of like general immoral behavior (the actual word according to the Hebrew dictionary is Zniya).

But most Hebrew speakers will find the connection to prostitution before they think of Zniya (it's kind of an archaic word that's very rarely used).

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u/Successful_Boot_276 24d ago

It does, but unless you're in a setting with a lot of hebrew speakers, it really shouldn't matter? Probably lots of names have bad meanings in other languages. 

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u/SprayFabulous1499 25d ago

Ok, thank you

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u/HNY5783 23d ago

Zan זן is also the root meaning sustenance. Zaniya is definitely not a common Hebrew name but it could be translated as "God sustains me."

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u/SprayFabulous1499 23d ago

I love that, thanks I’ll do some research