r/JewishNames • • 12h ago

Help with a girl name that means gratitude to hashem, gift from hashem, etc.

6 Upvotes

Her middle name will be Ruth in memory of my husband’s grandmother who recently passed. I like Odelia but don’t like Odi or Deli for nicknames. Any other nicknames for this one?

I kinda like Tehila but also don’t know of any other nicknames besides Tili/Hila.

We named our son Netanel and my husband is Israeli so we like Israeli sounding names. However we live in the states and want to avoid the “ch”.

What am I missing? Thanks!


r/JewishNames • • 16h ago

Sister for Lev

4 Upvotes

Currently have a son named Lev, and trying to decide name for his sister who is coming soon.
There's three names that I like the best, but each I have concerns about, so wondering if there's other name suggestions that I haven't come across yet ?

The three names I like the best are Meira, Naomi, and Leora.

Meira - I like this one the best, but my concern is people blending the pronunciation into 2 syllables. I would pronounce it meh-eer-uh / may-eer-uh but feel like others would naturally just blend it into meer-uh (even with correcting them), which I don't like.

Naomi - I like this name, just feel like it is too common and would prefer names not as mainstream

Leora - I love this name, but with my son already being named Lev, I feel like Lev + Leora sounds too matchy-matchy. Otherwise I’d choose this

Any other suggestions for girl names that match this vibe are appreciated!! Thank you!


r/JewishNames • • 1d ago

Looking for feedback on our name ideas for our Persian Jewish baby

28 Upvotes

My husband and I are both from Iran and we're both Jewish. We're in the US and we've having a little girl!

We haven't decided her name yet but we've got some ideas for what we'd like to name her. So I'm interested to know about how they sound and how they would work for us.

Esther

Roya

Dalia

Nava

Yasmin

Shirin


r/JewishNames • • 14h ago

Help Hebrew/Latin mix

2 Upvotes

We like Hebrew because it lends itself better to the latin side of the fam’s pronunciation.

This sub has provided a lot of inspiration and it’s fun to see how frequently names in my own family are mentioned, so thought i’d give posting this question a chance.

Any fresh ideas for a NYC artist duo expecting a boy? I think Eden is gorgeous. Gender neutral is great.

If you have an idea please share!


r/JewishNames • • 15h ago

Naming Golda's sister!

2 Upvotes

We live in the US, and we're having another daughter. Our first is named Golda Yahav.

We'd like her name to be the same, a feminine first name and then a unisex middle name, because we like both! If we don't choose Aviva as the first name, I was thinking Aviv as the middle name.

Our list is short at the moment.

Golda and Naomi

Golda and Ofira/Ophira

Golda and Aviva

Golda and Yakira

Golda and Dafna/Daphna

Golda and Aluma

Am I very picky, I don't think so, but I irrationally dislike a lot of names. Talia, Margalit, Esther, Bluma, Ruth, and Malka are all names that my husband suggested that I said no to. I also said no to Liora, but I might like Lior as a middle name.

We're not Ashkenazi so we don't need it to be a Yiddish name or anything. My husband just happens to like a lot of them so maybe he was in a past life 😂


r/JewishNames • • 3d ago

Looking for a truly international girl’s name preferably Hebrew, but open to all origins

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3 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for a feminine name that feels truly international something that is familiar, easy to recognize, and relatively easy to pronounce across different countries and cultures.

I’m especially interested in names of Hebrew origin, like Sarah, because they are widely recognized around the world. However, I don’t personally love the name Sarah itself.

I’m also completely open to names from other languages and origins, as long as they have that same international appeal.
Ideally, I’d love something elegant, feminine, timeless, and not too strongly associated with just one country.

What names come to mind? I’d especially love suggestions that work well in Europe, the Middle East, and English speaking countries.

Thank you! ❤️


r/JewishNames • • 3d ago

We're having twin girls! We're looking for some name ideas

11 Upvotes

We found out recently that our twins are both girls, so we can start thinking about names! As said, our current children are named Esther, Avital, Noam, and Tamar.

We are in Germany, and we only want to use Jewish names. We usually prefer something that isn't very mainstream in the general population like Eden, Romi, or Eliana. But we still want it to be friendly for other languages.

Since all of our girls have very similar nicknames that we use for them, Esti, Avi, and Tami, we'd like their names to have that as well.

At the moment, our list has Meirav, Liad, Neta, Miriam, Gal, Shira, Mayim, Ofira, and Yaffa. I also like Yocheved and Ayelet, but worried about pronounciation.

We like both some of the gender neutral names and some of the more feminine names, I'd say we're open to almost anything within our preferences.

I don't like Liora, Shoshana, or Zahava. My husband doesn't like Rivka or Yael.


r/JewishNames • • 3d ago

Question Looking for a Jewish name

0 Upvotes

Hello! I am a trans masculine nonbinary individual who just found out my family is Jewish a few years ago -- I want to honor that heritage and connection to the divine with a name but I am unsure.

I have thought of Kochav, Ziv, Lior, Sol, and Esther but am worried the latter is too feminine of a name. Would you assume female for the name Esther?

Any ideas for something gender neutral/masculine to name myself?


r/JewishNames • • 4d ago

Help naming our daughter!

7 Upvotes

Looking for help naming our first child, a girl, due later in November. Some stipulations and information:

- we live in the South in the US, so ability to pronounce a name easily is important - not something that will be butchered every time it is said in school etc.
- we’d like to honor our Ashkenazi Jewish roots
- we would like to honor a deceased family member with a “J” name, either first or middle name works. This family member’s Hebrew name was Esther, so “E” is another option. We like June as a middle option, but we have friends who just used June as a middle name like a month before we are due for their baby girl… is that weird?
- I adore the names Aviva, Shira, Leora but these are all already the names of living family members.
- our last name is pretty generic which gives us flexibility
- we ourselves have short names with no nicknames, so in theory we’d like something similar for her
- top contenders are currently Eden, Noa, and Romy.

Do you have any other suggestions on names and combinations that would fit the above criteria? We had a boy name that we loved, and thought over the last 8 months we would have had a girl name “hit us” the way the boy name did, but that has not really happened!


r/JewishNames • • 6d ago

How to spell דפנה in English?

7 Upvotes

Hello! We are expecting and thinking of naming our baby דפנה.

Her big sister is named Golda and we think they go well together.

However, we are not sure how we should spell it in English. I have seen both Daphna and Dafna, and like Raphael and Rafael, there doesn't seem to be one 'correct' spelling.

What do you think?


r/JewishNames • • 6d ago

Izaiah

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0 Upvotes

Can you please rate this baby name


r/JewishNames • • 8d ago

choosing a Hebrew name for a 5 year old

10 Upvotes

My daughter asked me to pick her a Hebrew name, and specifically wants one that (like mine) sounds similar to her English name. My issue is -- while I'm Jewish, I don't speak Hebrew, and I'm not familiar with many of the names I'm turning up, so I'm wondering if any of you can help give me context for the name options below.

Kiddo wants a name that is commonly used for girls/women. I think a true unisex name (like Sydney or Jamie in English) would be ok, but a primarily masculine name sometimes used for women (like Charlie in English) would not.

I'm also wondering if any of these have problematic associations, sound weird as names, have particularly nice stories associated with them, etc. They don't have to work as daily names since we live in the US and speak English.

Here are some names that I'm thinking about, though I'm also open to other suggestions:

Harel or Harela

Haziel/Hazael

Havatzelet

Haya

Hadar

Hava

There's also Hanna, which is of course also an English name, but I wonder if it's better for this to use a name that is clearly a Hebrew name. Or, we could consider tree names that are unrelated in sound.


r/JewishNames • • 9d ago

Update: Our twins arrived tody and one of them is still nameless, please help us pick a name for her!

25 Upvotes

Earlier this month, I had made a post asking for opinions about what we should name one of our twin daughters. And after a lot of deliberation, we were able to choose their names!

The funniest thing about it ended being that before I told my older children their names, my daughter told me that actually, her favourite name was Arielle but she didn't want to say the same name as her brother at the time.

I had no idea, but in some way, perhaps I did, because their names are Lior Naama and Arielle Emily!

It felt difficult to choose but as soon as I decided, I knew it was right for her. And nearly two weeks later, they are already living up to their names, with Lior being very passive and quiet, and Arielle being very opinionated and loud! So it goes to show that sometimes you just know. We just about don't need the nail polish to tell them apart 😂

Thank you for your thoughts if you contributed them, it was very interesting to see them and had some helpful points. We're very happy with both our babies and our names, and they are both healthy now and out of hospital.


r/JewishNames • • 10d ago

Ronen pronounced like "Ronan"

13 Upvotes

My husband and I are expecting our second boy. Full disclosure we're both atheists now, but I was raised reform Jewish while he was lite Catholic. We have both agreed to raise the children to be more culturally Jewish, so we plan to enroll them in weekly Hebrew school, go to Jewish sleep away camps, and become bar mitzvahs.

Our first son is Easton, which is an English name. We were liking Ronan for the second son. But then I discovered Ronen! Ronan means little seal while Ronen means joyous song, a much better meaning. And I like how Ronen is Hebrew/Jewish. The last name will be my husband's and is extremely Irish.

We are Americans; is it okay to name our boy Ronen and go with the same pronunciation as Ronan in most situations with non Jews? When we're around Jews or Hebrew speakers they can pronounce it with the stress on the second syllable, and otherwise day-to-day we would just pronounce it in the way most intuitive for American English speakers, with the stress on the first syllable.


r/JewishNames • • 11d ago

Question Spelling of צבאח/סבאח

1 Upvotes

I am soon having a child and I am naming him after his great grandfather, whose name is Sabah (in the original Judeo Arabic, צבאח/صباح). However, when looking this name up, I can't find anything on it as a first name, only on the more Hebraized version, סבאח. What should I go for on the actual spelling of the name?


r/JewishNames • • 11d ago

Boy name help

2 Upvotes

Expecting a boy in a few months and both me and my husband decided on the name “Benjamin Chaim Dov”

Benjamin is a name we both like - we love all the nickname variations and think it’s a name that can used in business, casual settings, Jewish and non Jewish settings.

Chaim is after my grandfather Harry and I love how it means life.

Dov was really my first name choice, but not my husbands and it still felt important for me to include. My husband’s grandfather is David, so we have some connection there.

Curious what people think of this name and if there are any red flags in mixing them together? Do their meanings go, is it too random? That’s what I’m stuck on.

Thanks for any input! 💙


r/JewishNames • • 12d ago

Thoughts on Samara?

4 Upvotes

Having another girl, first is Daniella, husband likes Samara but I’m not sure yet that I’m sold. Other names we like the sound of are Arianna, Evelyn, and Cecilia but would prefer name with Hebrew connection. Also like names with nickname potential and open to suggestions!


r/JewishNames • • 15d ago

Little sister for Miles 💗

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8 Upvotes

r/JewishNames • • 15d ago

Question What makes a name Jewish vs not Jewish?

23 Upvotes

I posted about the name “Yan” and received a comment with a bunch of upvotes stating it’s not a Jewish name. We are Jews from Ukraine and I have a great uncle with the name Yan, as well as my father’s former mathematician colleague, Yan Sobeilman.

If I were to have a daughter, I would definitely name her Ida after my grandma who raised me. I’m assuming people here would also say that’s not a “Jewish name” but my grandma was 100% Jewish and stressed to me the importance of naming children after deceased relatives.


r/JewishNames • • 15d ago

Jewish Boy Name Quest

10 Upvotes

I’d love to name my son for my grandmother - her name was Blanche and she went by Bunny (very 1950’s), her Hebrew name was Baylah.

loving Biblical Hebrew and modern Israeli options

starting with a B!***

(no Ben’s please lol)

edit*** or anything relating to white, moon, light, rabbit lol any starting letter


r/JewishNames • • 16d ago

Henrietta Hebrew name

12 Upvotes

Hi, we are having a girl and are looking to honor a family member who was named Henrietta. She didn’t have a Hebrew name. What names would you suggest? Her nickname was Honey, so something related to that would be nice too.


r/JewishNames • • 17d ago

Naming after someone with a name we can’t use

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5 Upvotes

r/JewishNames • • 16d ago

What middle names go well with Nora?

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3 Upvotes

r/JewishNames • • 17d ago

Hebrew Name

5 Upvotes

Hi! We’re deciding on our son’s Hebrew name and would love your insight. We’re torn between:

  1. שלמה (Shlomo) = 375
  2. נהר שלמה (Nahar Shlomo) = 630

With patronymics:

  • שלמה בן ברוך גבריאל = 901 (shlomo ben baruch gabriel)
  • נהר שלמה בן ברוך גבריאל ולאה = 1198 (nahar shlomo ben baruch gabriel v'leah)

His English name means “river,” so Nahar would mirror it. Is there anything meaningful about these values, or about adding Nahar to Shlomo? Any connections to other words or verses with the same gematria? Thank you!


r/JewishNames • • 19d ago

A question about the name Nora in Hebrew 🤍

10 Upvotes

Hi everyone! 🤍

I really love the name Nora, but I recently heard that it sounds like a Hebrew word with a negative meaning, such as “terrible” or “awful.”

Is that actually true? And if so, is it something Hebrew speakers would immediately notice or associate with the name?

Would adding a middle name, such as Nora-Lien, make it sound better or help avoid that association? Or would you recommend a slightly different version of the name?

I have a lot of respect and affection for Jewish people and Jewish culture, and I would hate for my name to create an awkward or embarrassing moment when meeting someone Jewish or introducing myself.

I’d really appreciate your honest opinions, especially from native Hebrew speakers.

Thank you so much! 🤍