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[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Someone posted a little while back about anglicizing names and it made me think of a name I really like in English, but not in its original Hebrew pronunciation:

Jael (Jay-el) or "Yah-el" in Hebrew.

Part of the appeal of the name is that she was a bad-arse Biblical character. Plus, it's just sounds pretty and strong, to me.

Thoughts?

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Comments

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

It sounds like Jail with a hard J. Or a superman character if you really stress the dual syllables.

Apparently the Hebrew version has a glottal stop between the syllables. Like in "uh oh".

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

jail was my first thought as well.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Really? I didnt see that at all, but I get how it might sound that way. Although I know of two Jaels and they pronounce it with a "y" sound in between that differentiates it a lot.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Yea, in Hebrew, there is usually no single stressed syllable, they all receive a stress, which is why I don't like it.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I almost think it's nicer in Hebrew. I don't really care for it either way, though.

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

I love Yael, but in my mind it is a very Jewish name. I have a hard time anglicizing it. ;)

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

It does sound very very Jewish :)

[smeebubbles.livejournal.com]

When I read it initially I pronounced it like Yale in my head, which is wrong both ways. Sounds like you'd get a LOT of people mispronouncing it unless you lived in quite a closed Jewish community.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Or unless the spelling was changed up even more, like "Jayelle/Jaelle". You're right though, the name would need a lot of explaining/clarification.

[goldopals.livejournal.com]

I like it. However, when I think of that name I think of a rather interesting contestant of the same name on America's Next Top Model. The Biblical story is quite cool with the tent peg!

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

YES! I remember her, haha! She was quite interesting! I have too many ANTM name associations :-p

Yeah, I love the story, too :) She was pretty brave, I think it's a good namesake.

[musiclily88.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of a character from the early seasons of Weeds. She spelled it Yael, I believe, and was very very Jewish, so that's the connotation that springs to mind. I find it very lovely!