it's been awhile

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Hi. I used to browse/post to this community a lot in April/May, but I've been computer-less for most of the summer. I'm Jewish and all my children are going to have Hebrew names (I'm not married yet, so it's awhile into the future)...however, I used to like to post asking how certain names would be received in the non-Jewish community...so, I currently have a list of seven names (and yes, it's possible that I may have that many children. I have no idea at this point. We'll see.) So:  

(ETA pronunciation, to the best of my phonetic-writing ability)

Miriam Chana (g) (Mee-ree-ahm Khah-nah) <--said gutterally, like Scottish "loch" or German "ach"
Ezra Aharon (b) (Ez-rah Ah-hah-roan)
Rivka Leah (g) (Riv-kah Lay-ah) <--NOT Lee-ah
Akiva Menachem (b) (A-kee-va Men-ah-khem) <--gutteral "ch" again
Hadassah Ruth (g) (Hah-dah-sah...I think everyone can pronounce Ruth)
Moshe Simcha (b)  (Moe-sheh Sim-kha) <--another gutteral "ch"
Tamar Aliza (g) (Tah-mahr Ah-lee-zah) <--NOT "Eliza"

These have somewhat changed from what my favorites used to be. I'm currently having a love affair with the names Miriam and Rivka and really want to use both as first names (my favorite used to be Rivka Miriam). What do you think?

Comments

[americandiva.livejournal.com]

Honestly I have heard of very few of those names before lol

But for your views form the non-Jewish community ...here I go.
I'm Catholic and from NYC btw lol

Miriam Chana - Miriam sounds really old fashion to me. I think it would make a good middle name though.
Ezra Aharon - I'm not a fan of boys names ending in A but Ezra is prob the best one. I would prob pn Aharon as Aaron but I could be wrong lol. Nice name though.
Rivka Leah - I really like this name. Rivka is great. Never heard it before but I like it, Leah is in my top 5.
Akiva Menachem - i have no idea how to pn Menachem at all...and again im not fond of boys names ending in a
Hadassah Ruth - pretty. I like this one.
Moshe Simcha - I would nave no idea how to pn this one.
Tamar Aliza - very pretty

My fav is Rivka Leah and Ezra Aharon.

[lneef.livejournal.com]

I grew up around a lot of very observant Jews so this list includes a lot of familiar names to me. Miriam Chana and Tamar Aliza are my favorites.

Hadassah unfortunately makes me think of Sarah Silverman's character on Crank Yankers.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

I ADORE Ezra Aharon. Ezra is common enough that I don't think that one would be a problem in the non-Jewish community. Aharon might be, but since it's a middle name, I doubt it would matter. But I really do love the combo, a lot.

Tamar and Moshe might be a little more difficult for the non-Jewish community, just because they're not names that we hear very often. They might not be a problem, especially if you're in a heavily Jewish community, but if you're in a community where you're the only (or close to being the only) Jewish family, I'd stay away from the more difficult to pronounce ones. Ezra is great, but Moshe/Tamar might be hard when everyone in his class is name Jake or Ethan. Akiva is okay, but it's really close to Rivka, so that might be a little difficult if you were to use both.

For the girls, I adore Miriam Chana. Rivka, again, is a little harder to pronounce, but I think it's still a great name, and even if you are in a heavily non-Jewish area, it's pretty simple to pronounce. I like Leah Rivka, too, just as a suggestion. Hadassah seems like the most difficult of all the names to spell/pronounce, but I do like Ruth - maybe you could switch the middle/first names?

I really like Hebrew names, but if you're not in a heavily Jewish area, or if you're living someplace where hardly anyone ever hears names like these, you might want to stick to ones like Ezra, Leah, Ruth, Miriam, etc., or use anglicized versions of the first names.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

Oh. Wait. Tamar Aliza is a girl's name. Ooops! I read that wrong. I still think it might be a little hard for people to pronounce, but I do like Aliza. Maybe (like I suggested for Hadassah Ruth), you could switch the middle/first names. I think that might work better.

[rorylareina.livejournal.com]

I love Miriam, Rivka, and Tamar, and Ezra's fine as well. Tamar is a favorite of mine, though on the list of names I'll never use.

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

I really like Hadassah Ruth and Tamar Aliza!

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

Tamar is pronounced Tah-MAHR.
Rivka is pronounced RIV-kah
Hadassah is Hah-DAHSS-ah

I don't think any of those would be hard for non-Jews to pronounce...at least not after they had been told once.
Menachem would be though!

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

oh and I love the name Simcha too!

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

Rivka wouldn't be (I actually really like that name), but I can see both of the others giving the kids some trouble. I mean, I know how to pronounce Tamar, but some people might say it Tam-er, Tam-are, Tem-are, Tem-ear, etc. And a lot of people would also read it as Tammy or Tamara at first glance. And if people can somehow manage to pronounce my name (Lindsay) wrong, they'll definitely get Hadassah wrong.

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I think they're all fine names and I don't see any significant pronounciation problems. Miriam does seem a little old fashioned to me, too, but its pretty.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I really like Miriam, Rivka and Ezra. And Devora, too.
Rivka Miriam sounds really pretty together! Better than Leah, in my taste.

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

I know someone called Hadassah Ruth! Just had to mention that.
I really like Rivka Leah. It sounds great =) I like Tamar Aliza as well.
And how would you pronounce Moshe?

[bluekoala.livejournal.com]

Wait. Do you mean these "Hebrew names" are going to be the names they use for, like, bar and bat mitzvahs, or they're going to have...Hebrew names? Well, reading the comments I answer my own question. I guess if you're orthodox it makes sense, but I'm reform and if this family showed up at Hebrew School it'd be...uh...interesting (same situation at my cousins' conservative synagogue).
Since there is no middle ground here, I'm simply not having much reaction beyond "yeah...Hebrew names! go Hebrew names," though on their own they're all fine and yeah. Are the kids going to be going to an orthodox school, or living in a primarily orthodox community? I don't know, there's a lot of background here to be considered.

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm going to edit and add pronunciations. :-)

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Devora! I like that one too, but I can't really think of a good middle name for it....

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

These names would be used for bnai mitzvah, birth certificates, Jewish schools, everything (yes, they will be in orthodox schools, and probably community as well)...but I have no delusions that they will never run into secular/non-Jewish people (which is totally fine with me)...I'm just wondering how these particular names, which are my favorites right now, will be received. Hope that answers your question....

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Pronunciations added! Thanks for the input!

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Thanks. Though I haven't a clue what/who Crank Yankers are....

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Haha, aww. Yeah, it's definitely one of my favorites.

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

No anglicized names (except for Ruth, but only because that's my grandmother's name). Thanks for the input, though. :-)

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks. :-)

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thank you.

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Haha, cool. And I've added all the pronunciations to the entry. :-)

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

How in the world do you pronounce Lindsay wrong? Maybe people are just illiterate...because Hadassah is pretty phonetic, I think...

[starlight613.livejournal.com]

Aww, why not? The biblical Tamar is awesome and it's a beautiful name.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

I totally understand :) Like I said, I like Ezra, Aharon, Leah, Ruth, Miriam, Rivka, and Moshe as is. And I think most of the others would work well as middle names.

However, if you're in an area with a lot of Jewish families, who probably wouldn't have trouble saying these names (a friend of mine is named Michal and I am literally incapable of saying the "ch" sound in her name; I just can't do it), then I don't think it would matter which ones you used. I like the combos, and I like the names, but some of them might be harder for a kid if you're in an area with a lot of non-Jews and no one knows how to say/spell their names.

[bornto-fly.livejournal.com]

I've seriously had SO many people who insist on calling me Lind-say, because they're stupid, or something, and don't realize that Lindsay is the original spelling of the name and LindsEy is spelled wrong. Sigh. It gets really old, really fast.

Hadassah does seem phonetic, and I personally would have no trouble saying that name. But I know a lot of people who you would think were relatively intelligent who can mispronounce everything.