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Re: For Hebrew name buffs; Israel's most popular 2008 (just released)
Oh, that's interesting! I see that Noa it's still at the top, I find this name is the Israeli equivalent of my own in terms of protracted popularity. Idan could gro on me. Maya is a favourite of mine, otherwise there's nothing I'm really in love with. I'd no idea Daniel was unisex, I assumed Daniela was used for girls. I like Amit for boys.
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It seems that Daniel has been recently "borrowed" in Israel for girls. On the website of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz there's an article about the trend for unisex names there. It quotes Prof. Miri
Rozmarin of Tel Aviv University re the trend.
She said that almost every one of the most popular cross-gender names - Noam, Amit, Ariel, Daniel and Adi - moved from being a boys' name to being a boys' and a girls' name. "Girls taking on a boy's name is part of the attempt of girls to gain equality. ...they are almost masquerading as boys through the name."
Girls' names which became boys' names - such as Adi, Neta and Ma'ayan - are gramatically masculine, she says.
"But mostly the name exchanges go in one direction - from boys to girls. The other direction is very peripheral."

This message was edited 11/23/2009, 6:03 AM

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