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HelpSome Hebrew names — WDYT
What do you think of these Hebrew names, and do you think they’d work in the US (in terms of pronounceability, etc.)? I do have Jewish heritage (and actually practice Judaism and am learning the Hebrew language) so I’d consider using these for any future kids, at least as MNs.
BTW — the ‘ch’ in these names makes the hard -kh sound (like in loch), not the ch sound (like in chocolate)
The list:
- Simcha (‘joy’)
- Ori (‘my light’)
- Chesed (‘kindness’)
- Gal (‘wave’)
- Ari (‘lion’)
- Shulamit (‘peace’, feminine form)
- Shoshana (‘lily’, Hebrew form of Susan / Susanna)
- Elisheva (Hebrew form of Elizabeth)
- Akiva (form of Jacob, borne by a medieval Jewish sage/rabbi)
- Ahava (‘love’)
Are there any others you could suggest?
Thanks!
*Formerly summitseeker*
--Still seeking summits--
BTW — the ‘ch’ in these names makes the hard -kh sound (like in loch), not the ch sound (like in chocolate)
The list:
- Simcha (‘joy’)
- Ori (‘my light’)
- Chesed (‘kindness’)
- Gal (‘wave’)
- Ari (‘lion’)
- Shulamit (‘peace’, feminine form)
- Shoshana (‘lily’, Hebrew form of Susan / Susanna)
- Elisheva (Hebrew form of Elizabeth)
- Akiva (form of Jacob, borne by a medieval Jewish sage/rabbi)
- Ahava (‘love’)
Are there any others you could suggest?
Thanks!
*Formerly summitseeker*
--Still seeking summits--
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
i love:
Simcha - this SOUNDS happy
Ori
Ari
Shulamit
Shoshana - i think this is well known now bc it's from a show or something?
Elisheva - works really well as an alternative to Elizabeth
Akiva
Ahava - love how this sounds both delicate and bold
i think the only ones which may be trouble would be Gal, if used as a first name. Galit would be a better alternative. and people would need to be corrected often on how to say Simcha.
i can imagine a lot of people mispronouncing relatively simple ones, like Ahava, but that's not a big deal to correct, and Americans can just deal with it.
ones i'd suggest:
Aviva
Margalit - good alternative to Margaret
Merav - would use myself if i/the child was Jewish
Miriam - used to be one of my favorite names, now less so bc of a personal association, but still lovely
Nurit
Sigalit
Tova
Vered
Hadar
Efraim
Eliyahu
Elkanah
Lavi
Simcha - this SOUNDS happy
Ori
Ari
Shulamit
Shoshana - i think this is well known now bc it's from a show or something?
Elisheva - works really well as an alternative to Elizabeth
Akiva
Ahava - love how this sounds both delicate and bold
i think the only ones which may be trouble would be Gal, if used as a first name. Galit would be a better alternative. and people would need to be corrected often on how to say Simcha.
i can imagine a lot of people mispronouncing relatively simple ones, like Ahava, but that's not a big deal to correct, and Americans can just deal with it.
ones i'd suggest:
Aviva
Margalit - good alternative to Margaret
Merav - would use myself if i/the child was Jewish
Miriam - used to be one of my favorite names, now less so bc of a personal association, but still lovely
Nurit
Sigalit
Tova
Vered
Hadar
Efraim
Eliyahu
Elkanah
Lavi
This message was edited 1/30/2018, 2:09 AM
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I personally would avoid names with the throaty -kh sound because they can challenging to pronounce in English, and often become a -k rather than a -kh.
I really like Simcha, though my first thought is the holiday of Simchat Torah.
Ori is very usable, and I have known many Oris at my synagogue. All the people named Ori I've known are male, despite it being unisex.
Chesed would be hard to pronounce for the average English speaker. Not a big fan of it.
Gal is ok. When I was in Israel, it seemed to be a kind of dated "90s" name, popular on girls. Of the five Israeli girls traveling with us, 3 were named Gal (pronounced GAHL, rhyming with ball). I think it would be kind of odd being named Gal in the US, since "gal" is a slang term for girl.
Ari is very nice. Like Ori, I've known several. Very respectable. I like it.
Shulamit I'm not too fond of. I think I just don't like the "meat" ending. It probably doesn't help that there's a burger chain around here called Shula.
Shoshana is very nice and very usable. It's recognizable enough that I don't see pronunciation difficulties.
Elisheva is really nice too. Not one I'd personally use, but it's definitely usable and easy to pronounce.
Akiva is one that's new to me - can't say I'm too big a fan. It looks feminine to the eye, despite being a masculine name.
Ahava I'm not a fan of at all.
I personally love Hebrew names, especially for girls' names. My absolute favorite is Margalit. I also love Aviva, Ayelet, Chaya, Keren, Kinneret, and Tziporah.
I really like Simcha, though my first thought is the holiday of Simchat Torah.
Ori is very usable, and I have known many Oris at my synagogue. All the people named Ori I've known are male, despite it being unisex.
Chesed would be hard to pronounce for the average English speaker. Not a big fan of it.
Gal is ok. When I was in Israel, it seemed to be a kind of dated "90s" name, popular on girls. Of the five Israeli girls traveling with us, 3 were named Gal (pronounced GAHL, rhyming with ball). I think it would be kind of odd being named Gal in the US, since "gal" is a slang term for girl.
Ari is very nice. Like Ori, I've known several. Very respectable. I like it.
Shulamit I'm not too fond of. I think I just don't like the "meat" ending. It probably doesn't help that there's a burger chain around here called Shula.
Shoshana is very nice and very usable. It's recognizable enough that I don't see pronunciation difficulties.
Elisheva is really nice too. Not one I'd personally use, but it's definitely usable and easy to pronounce.
Akiva is one that's new to me - can't say I'm too big a fan. It looks feminine to the eye, despite being a masculine name.
Ahava I'm not a fan of at all.
I personally love Hebrew names, especially for girls' names. My absolute favorite is Margalit. I also love Aviva, Ayelet, Chaya, Keren, Kinneret, and Tziporah.
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I adore Hebrew names!
Simcha is really nice, but I don’t think it could work in an anglophone country. That “ch” element could cause pronunciation issues.
Ori isn’t my favorite, I think I’d prefer Ora; but it’d certainly work in an anglophone country.
Chesed is one of my favorites. You might have to alter the spelling to Hesed (I know that gets rid of the hard “ch” sound, but that’s not even really a sound used in English anyway), but I think it could work.
Gal is another favorite. It is a slangy way of saying “girl,” but I don’t think it’s that big of an issue.
Ari is fine, but it reminds me too much of Ariana, which I don’t like.
Shulamit - I prefer Salome.
Shoshana is nice, no problems there.
Elisheva could work, too. Very nice name.
Akiva is fine, too.
Ahava is another favorite, could definitely work.
Some other Hebrew names I like are:
Shiri
Tamar
Tal/Tali/Talya
Hadassah
Yuval
Alona
Merav
Vered
Shani
Simcha is really nice, but I don’t think it could work in an anglophone country. That “ch” element could cause pronunciation issues.
Ori isn’t my favorite, I think I’d prefer Ora; but it’d certainly work in an anglophone country.
Chesed is one of my favorites. You might have to alter the spelling to Hesed (I know that gets rid of the hard “ch” sound, but that’s not even really a sound used in English anyway), but I think it could work.
Gal is another favorite. It is a slangy way of saying “girl,” but I don’t think it’s that big of an issue.
Ari is fine, but it reminds me too much of Ariana, which I don’t like.
Shulamit - I prefer Salome.
Shoshana is nice, no problems there.
Elisheva could work, too. Very nice name.
Akiva is fine, too.
Ahava is another favorite, could definitely work.
Some other Hebrew names I like are:
Shiri
Tamar
Tal/Tali/Talya
Hadassah
Yuval
Alona
Merav
Vered
Shani
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