The Result Of Random Conversation

[debka_notion]

I was just having a conversation with Steve about picking names, and Jewish names in general, and we came up with all sorts of nice Jewish boys' names, and very few girls' names. Anyone want to contribute?

Comments

[redlily.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Sara, Elah/Ayla (the name of my Israeli army guard during Birthright!), Hannah (or Chana), Miriam, Dina (pronounced DEEna, I like it; otherwise, not), Noa, Michal, Galia, Shira . . . I think there are a lot of nice ones! Ironically, I think I really like Noa, which is, of course, construed as masculine by the huge majority of Americans.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Sarah I like, but is so common that I couldn't see using it without one of those very Eastern European double names. Noa I couldn't see using in an English-speaking country. And I'm Miriam in Hebrew, Mom is Hannah, and I know a gazillion Shiras. Michal is nice, but gets Weird pronunciations outside of Jewish settings. Galia I haven't really encountered- it's Pretty.

[flyingstalins.livejournal.com]

RIVKA!!! I'm huge on Rivka. I've determined that Rivka Shadler is perhaps the most beautiful name to ever (possibly) exist.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I love Rivka- it's my grandma's name, which doesn't mean anything as far as liking it, but well- it seemed fitting to add the info.

[spin0za1.livejournal.com]

Gella. Gella is a nice Jewish girl's name. Just sayin.

Also there's Adina. Rachel. Devorah. Esther. Lilah. Yehudit. Chavah. Tzivia. Tziporah. Zehavah. Abigail. Leiba. Malka. Yael.

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of "T" names.. .which I can never use.

Tal, Talia, Tzipporah... Hana's another good one. It's my mom's name, though I don't like the C in the front, so I dropped it.

[tovaks.livejournal.com]

Anyone know of any "N" names besides "Nachum/Nachama?" Chances are one of my kids will need an "N" name and I can't think of any I like.

[spin0za1.livejournal.com]

na'amah

[tovah623.livejournal.com]

[cornflake62.livejournal.com]

That's my Hebrew name. :)

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Elisheva`. If not, you could always use Avishag. :)

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Avishag??? Run away, run away...

[hannahlin.livejournal.com]

I like "Y" names, for boys and girls. My current favorite is Yakira Orit. I have people to name for, however, so if and when I have kids, relatives will be a priority, so I guess Shulamit and Hadassah are up for consideration as well. Michal is also a favorite of mine. As is Na'ava.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I'm very fond of both Shoshana and Elisheva. I also really like Yosefa, though that may be in part because the person I know who's Hebrew name it is is such a ridiculously likeable person.

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

Oh, see, we're having the opposite problem -- tons of excellent girls' names (not that I have much doubt about what we're going with) and real difficulty with boys' names. If we really do have a boy, I may have to keep calling him Sar Shalom, which works fine if you're a fetus or a gaon but not so much in the contemporary U.S. ;)

Anyway, I wish you'd list some of those nice Jewish boys' names, especially ones that work well in both English and Hebrew, because one evening I went through every halfway-usable male name in the Tanakh -- really, it's one of the advantages of having taught it one book at a time -- and we were not exactly spoiled for choice. Also, virtually all the workable ones already belong to several small people of our acquaintance, and while we don't need to give our kid a Special Unique name, I wouldn't mind something a tiny bit non-mainstream.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Do you have letters in particular that you'd like to start with? Any particular considerations? We can have a brainstorm here...