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HelpRe: I disagree (m)
in reply to a message by LMS
I'm ignorant, you say?
Gee, thanks for the tip. I'll try to remember to check with you or another proper name nerd, before I give any more personal impressions of names on the Name Opinions board.
Whether I'm ignorant or not, you know that arguing with people's personal impressions is silly, don't you? The database says the usage is Hebrew ... how many Catholic Hebrew speakers do you know? I know zero. I gave my impression - I did not insist that I was correct. I gave it because she asked for it. I trust she knows that I know, that I might be in a minority as small as 1, and that I'm making a judgment that could well be incorrect. I trust she knows that I don't mean I would laugh at her if she named her daughter Rivka. Why don't you know these things? Are you trying to discourage her from listening to me by calling my opinion ignorant, because you like the name? haha. Of course not!
Anyway, further explanation.
Rivka on a Catholic sounds trendy to me ... Hebrew names (and other exotic sounding forms of names) seem hip among Americans, in my impression. It would sound trendy to me on an American Jew as well (but I wouldn't wonder if they even knew it was a Hebrew form of Rebecca and not a separate name). Why would American Catholic parents choose Rivka and not Rebecca? I'd assume that someone non Hebrew speaking (that's virtually everyone who isn't Jewish), who named their kid Rivka, is looking for a "fresh" name, or a more hiptastic form of Rebecca and doesn't realize that to some of us, it sounds very likely to be the name of a Jewish girl - Well, it does to me at least, because where I live there happen to be scads of Hebrew speakers who came from Israel, and Rivka would not likely be the name of the American Catholic child, she'd be likely to be one whose parents are from Israel and various parts of Europe. I admit this may be distorting for my impressions of Hebrew names.
Sorry if that's ignorant because academically Rivka is also a Christian name... My personal impression is that Rivka is a name almost as markedly Hebrew as José is Spanish. I did not say, nor did I mean, that she should not use it because it's too Jewish and not Christian enough ... I don't need to know if it's considered legitimately Christian or not, to have the impression I have. All I see is "distinctively Hebrew form of a name commonly used by Christians as Rebecca," and I would think "on an American Catholic girl, hm, trendy eh" and I thought she would like to know, that this impression can happen. I wasn't even trying to say she should not go ahead and use it!
- mirfak
Gee, thanks for the tip. I'll try to remember to check with you or another proper name nerd, before I give any more personal impressions of names on the Name Opinions board.
Whether I'm ignorant or not, you know that arguing with people's personal impressions is silly, don't you? The database says the usage is Hebrew ... how many Catholic Hebrew speakers do you know? I know zero. I gave my impression - I did not insist that I was correct. I gave it because she asked for it. I trust she knows that I know, that I might be in a minority as small as 1, and that I'm making a judgment that could well be incorrect. I trust she knows that I don't mean I would laugh at her if she named her daughter Rivka. Why don't you know these things? Are you trying to discourage her from listening to me by calling my opinion ignorant, because you like the name? haha. Of course not!
Anyway, further explanation.
Rivka on a Catholic sounds trendy to me ... Hebrew names (and other exotic sounding forms of names) seem hip among Americans, in my impression. It would sound trendy to me on an American Jew as well (but I wouldn't wonder if they even knew it was a Hebrew form of Rebecca and not a separate name). Why would American Catholic parents choose Rivka and not Rebecca? I'd assume that someone non Hebrew speaking (that's virtually everyone who isn't Jewish), who named their kid Rivka, is looking for a "fresh" name, or a more hiptastic form of Rebecca and doesn't realize that to some of us, it sounds very likely to be the name of a Jewish girl - Well, it does to me at least, because where I live there happen to be scads of Hebrew speakers who came from Israel, and Rivka would not likely be the name of the American Catholic child, she'd be likely to be one whose parents are from Israel and various parts of Europe. I admit this may be distorting for my impressions of Hebrew names.
Sorry if that's ignorant because academically Rivka is also a Christian name... My personal impression is that Rivka is a name almost as markedly Hebrew as José is Spanish. I did not say, nor did I mean, that she should not use it because it's too Jewish and not Christian enough ... I don't need to know if it's considered legitimately Christian or not, to have the impression I have. All I see is "distinctively Hebrew form of a name commonly used by Christians as Rebecca," and I would think "on an American Catholic girl, hm, trendy eh" and I thought she would like to know, that this impression can happen. I wasn't even trying to say she should not go ahead and use it!
- mirfak
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