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ArchivesKeile/Kayla/etc - Yiddish?
A lot of people I know believe Kayla (spelled in various ways) is a Yiddish female name, and it seems to have been used that way for a moderately long time (I have no specific dates to cite but it's a name that is in people's families). There is not agreement on the source. I have heard it said that it's from Kelila, but I'm skeptical of that since I'm not sure how old Kelila itself is; I was under the vague impression that Kelila is a modern Hebrew name. I've also seen Kalia listed as a variation of Kelila, but never seen Kalia used in real life. Do you know if this is the actual source of Kayla in Yiddish or if it's something different?
ETA: Other possible sources I've found suggested include Hebrew "like god" (ka-el, similar to michael), or Hebrew "vessel" (kli, keli) (this latter is on aish.com), or Chaya -> Chayala -> Kayala -> Kayla, or borrowed from German Christians, or (non-Hebrew, don't know what language this would be) from "black" meaning black hair, like Breindel.
ETA 2: Leaning towards it being from Geila, an old German name, as suggested in Yiddish Given Names: A Lexicon.
ETA: Other possible sources I've found suggested include Hebrew "like god" (ka-el, similar to michael), or Hebrew "vessel" (kli, keli) (this latter is on aish.com), or Chaya -> Chayala -> Kayala -> Kayla, or borrowed from German Christians, or (non-Hebrew, don't know what language this would be) from "black" meaning black hair, like Breindel.
ETA 2: Leaning towards it being from Geila, an old German name, as suggested in Yiddish Given Names: A Lexicon.
This message was edited 1/22/2023, 5:32 AM
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Replies
I'm pretty sure that Kayla is a made up English name, based on Kay.
There are similar names that exist, but thye are pronounced differently. I'm pretty sure that Keila, Kejla etc. are KY-la, not KAY-la.
Geila is GY-la in German (harsh G, sort of like guy-la with guy being pronounced like the word.
I think some people named Kayla were upset that there name has not real etymology and used the internet to link it to the Yiddish name.
But even if Kayla existed as a Yiddish name I think it would probably also be KY-la. "kay" is prononced "ky" in all languages I can think of, pronouncing it "kay" seems to be an English thing.
There are similar names that exist, but thye are pronounced differently. I'm pretty sure that Keila, Kejla etc. are KY-la, not KAY-la.
Geila is GY-la in German (harsh G, sort of like guy-la with guy being pronounced like the word.
I think some people named Kayla were upset that there name has not real etymology and used the internet to link it to the Yiddish name.
But even if Kayla existed as a Yiddish name I think it would probably also be KY-la. "kay" is prononced "ky" in all languages I can think of, pronouncing it "kay" seems to be an English thing.
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Kayla is a natural abbreviation of Michaela. However the spelling is indeed modern English, by analogy to words which only have word final y for normal i, and vowel-shifted a pronounced as e. Note in Michaela both the a and e are shifted up to e and i respectively.
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Every couple of years I get reminded of this name and dig through Google in search of answers. I can find plenty of uses (all pre-war and Jewish so at least we know it was a Yiddish name) and various claims for its origins but never anything really verifiable.
What I have so far is mostly in Polish because that's how I came across it first. And there are many variations of this name in Polish alone. There's Kejla, Kajla, Kejła, Kajła, Keila, Keile, Kiejla [1] and probably some other. My go to source for Yiddish spellings is "Names used by Polish Jews" by Jakub Rotwand*[2], which lists it as Kajla and provides the spelling קילא. A spelling with two yods (קיילא) also existed [3]. I've tried putting the whole word and its root into both Hebrew and Yiddish dictionaries and no leads came from it.
To me, these variations in spelling and pronunciation in Polish point to this name cycling through Russian - not necessarily coming from there originally but I think the different spellings in Polish can be explained by different transcriptions from Russian. In cyrillic Keyla is Кейла. In Polish л is transcribed as either l or ł (because the sound itself actually isn't either, sometimes it sounds more like l to Polish ears and sometimes it sounds more like ł). Back then there weren't even any real rules for spelling native words so things got transcribed on an individual basis, hence both Kejla and Kejła. All Russian sites I managed to find and translate give the "vessel" origin for the name but I don't speak Russian so I can't really tell how much it's just sites copying off each other and how much they have any actual sources for this claim (and anyway it seems like the Yiddish word was spelled with כ which I haven't found used in the name.)[4]
Recently I came across a book [5] which has an entry for "Kejla, Kejle Yiddish from Russian Kala, shortened form of Kaleria (: gr. kale ‘good, beautiful’)". Which sounds a bit suspicious to me but I did find Russian sites corroborating it giving as a possible source "Kalliroya (Callirhoe in English) (“beautifully flowing”), which was worn by one of the oceanids - the daughters of the titan Ocean in Greek mythology. The root "calle" in any variations is translated as "beautiful" (Calliope - "beautiful voice")." [6]
What I have so far is mostly in Polish because that's how I came across it first. And there are many variations of this name in Polish alone. There's Kejla, Kajla, Kejła, Kajła, Keila, Keile, Kiejla [1] and probably some other. My go to source for Yiddish spellings is "Names used by Polish Jews" by Jakub Rotwand*[2], which lists it as Kajla and provides the spelling קילא. A spelling with two yods (קיילא) also existed [3]. I've tried putting the whole word and its root into both Hebrew and Yiddish dictionaries and no leads came from it.
To me, these variations in spelling and pronunciation in Polish point to this name cycling through Russian - not necessarily coming from there originally but I think the different spellings in Polish can be explained by different transcriptions from Russian. In cyrillic Keyla is Кейла. In Polish л is transcribed as either l or ł (because the sound itself actually isn't either, sometimes it sounds more like l to Polish ears and sometimes it sounds more like ł). Back then there weren't even any real rules for spelling native words so things got transcribed on an individual basis, hence both Kejla and Kejła. All Russian sites I managed to find and translate give the "vessel" origin for the name but I don't speak Russian so I can't really tell how much it's just sites copying off each other and how much they have any actual sources for this claim (and anyway it seems like the Yiddish word was spelled with כ which I haven't found used in the name.)[4]
Recently I came across a book [5] which has an entry for "Kejla, Kejle Yiddish from Russian Kala, shortened form of Kaleria (: gr. kale ‘good, beautiful’)". Which sounds a bit suspicious to me but I did find Russian sites corroborating it giving as a possible source "Kalliroya (Callirhoe in English) (“beautifully flowing”), which was worn by one of the oceanids - the daughters of the titan Ocean in Greek mythology. The root "calle" in any variations is translated as "beautiful" (Calliope - "beautiful voice")." [6]
This message was edited 1/24/2023, 5:11 AM
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I think all of these are said "ky-la", not "kay-la".
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Kejla is pronounced Kay la in Polish. It became popular among non Jews when it was used in a soap opera in the 80s. It is a legitimate Yiddish name. I believe the person who you are referring to on the Soap Opera was named for a Jewish person who had the name.
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Nope. They are most definitely said "kay-la" /kɛjla/. "Ky-la" in Polish would've been Kajla.
1
Thanks for explaining.
I still don't think these names are related to the English Kayla, even if they sound alike. They have different etymologies. Kayla became popular after it was used on a soap opera and it's not a Polish or German spelling.
It's sort of like Ayla and Isla sound the same (when Ayla is pronounced the Turkish way) but aren't related.
I still don't think these names are related to the English Kayla, even if they sound alike. They have different etymologies. Kayla became popular after it was used on a soap opera and it's not a Polish or German spelling.
It's sort of like Ayla and Isla sound the same (when Ayla is pronounced the Turkish way) but aren't related.
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This is so thorough and interesting, thank you!
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To the meaning "black" – this is possible by relating it to the German word Kohle "coal", and the shift in the vowel looks plausible. There is also the adjective kohlschwarz "black as coal".
Next association: Keiler "wild boar". In High German the feminine counterpart would be Sau "sow" or Bache "sow having piglets", so no natural connection of this word to a feminine name.
To ETA2: I wouldn't consider Geila as a cognate because Yiddish usually preserves the High German state of consonants, and hardening of G to K occurs only in the Southernmost dialects of German, but Yiddish comes from the middle-west German dialects. In fact, when considering G->K shifts, Abigail would be another candidate origin.
Next association: Keiler "wild boar". In High German the feminine counterpart would be Sau "sow" or Bache "sow having piglets", so no natural connection of this word to a feminine name.
To ETA2: I wouldn't consider Geila as a cognate because Yiddish usually preserves the High German state of consonants, and hardening of G to K occurs only in the Southernmost dialects of German, but Yiddish comes from the middle-west German dialects. In fact, when considering G->K shifts, Abigail would be another candidate origin.
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The main difference in the German (non-Jewish) pronunciation of Abigail is the letter b, the last two syllables may be contracted into one, giving /a-bee-giel/ as the result. Germanic Geila comes from a completely different root (by searching the submitted names for geil* you can find a few rare names with that root) and I don't think it is relevant here. It was never big in Old High German and later acquired the new meaning "horny" leading to the death of names containing that name element.
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Keile was in the 1938 Nazi list of prescribed given names for Jews, so it was existent at that time as an Eastern Yiddish name. It does not have the most pleasant associations to German speakers and this was probably also intended: der Keil is meaning "wedge" in German language, and die Keile is a colloquial term for "a thrashing, a beating", one could also compare Keule "club, batton, stick". I have searched for names meaning "club, batton, stick" and it is a rare meaning in given names, and no Hebrew names with that meaning turned up.
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I've found in the submitted name database Keyla being used as a diminutive of Kelila as well as Kayla listed as a variant.
https://www.behindthename.com/name/keyla/submitted
https://www.behindthename.com/name/keyla/submitted
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Yes, but there's no source there, I'm curious if that was written from personal experience or copied from a guess someone else made.
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