Nora | Imamother

brightideas

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 12:12 am

Thank Gd, my husband and I are expecting our first in a number of weeks. We don't know if it's a girl or a boy, we have a boy's name but up until tonight we had no girl's name. I came across the name Nora (not Naw-rah but Noe-ra) which means a number of things including "awe", "awesome one (Gd)" and I just wanted to hear what people think of it. We really like it, but ideally I had wanted a name either from a person in Tanach or with Hashem's name in it. This caught us by surprise but we think it's very beautiful and won't confuse the secular world either...

Thoughts?

Dolly Welsh

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 12:25 am

With respect, Nora isn't very Jewish.

How about -

Nira, Neima, Naomi, Nirit, Nehara

Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Tue, Dec 13 2011, 2:41 am; edited 1 time in total

frumcouple1

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 12:34 am

I believe you should NOT give Noira as a name, Since it is hkb'h name. as we say when we take out the Sefer Torah from the ark:

אֶחָד (הוּא) אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ, גָּדוֹל אֲדוֹנֵֽנוּ, קָדוֹשׁ ונוֹרָא שְׁמוֹ.

CatLady

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 7:27 am

Depending on your "crowd", Nora could be a lovely, retro name or an epic fail (see frumcouple1's post). I personally love the name, and its various meanings and variations.

imaima

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 7:32 am

Hmm, I think it means "awesome" but not in a positive way. I think, the meaning is way too overwhelming for a girl. Unless you call here Eleonor, and use Nora for a nickname and justify it by saying that it actually has a meaning in hebrew.

hadasa

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 7:41 am

I can't see it working in Hebrew at all. The Hebrew word is spelled with an alef and is completely masculine. Besides, in modern Hebrew it has the connotation "terrible".

shalhevet

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 11:26 am

When I saw Nora I thought of a middle-aged woman in the 1950s with her hair in rollers going to fix eggs and beans for supper.

And Nora in Hebrew means either awe-inspiring (when we talk about Hashem for example) or dreadful (modern Hebrew usage) as in 'Do you like my new sweater?' 'Lo, zeh mamash mechuar. Zeh norah'.

Don't. Do. It.

Leesah

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 3:47 pm

shalhevet wrote:

ora_43

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 3:57 pm

As a Hebrew name, I'd say no way. It's not used as a name, it's not a girl's name, and as previous posters said, in modern Hebrew it means "awful."

A piece of (unsolicited) general advice - Be careful using baby names books or websites to find Hebrew names. Even the Jewish ones often have many names that aren't used and would sound very strange in most if not all communities. The books can be a good place to start but my advice, run any options you aren't familiar with by several people to make sure the name 1.is a real name that people really use 2. is really a boys/girls name 3.actually means what the book says it does.

simchat

Tue, Dec 13 2011, 4:08 pm

That word just reminds me of the time I worked in a day camp of mostly Israeli kids and one kid in my bunk kept having accidents and saying `zeh lo nora` which we took to mean `it`s not the end of the world/it`s not so bad...` Never heard of it as a name...

amother

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 1:55 pm

I am not Israeli so I'm unfamiliar with what this means in modern hebrew but from what I can tell you Nora is not regarded at all as a Hebrew name, it is a secular name totally. I went to a secular (ordinary, non Jewish) school, and one of my teachers was called Nora. But personally, and this is totally my humble opinion so feel free to disagree, but disregarding the fact that it is not very Jewish, I don't really like the sound of it or find it nice, I find it very plain. I do have a friend called Dora, which is slightly better in my opinion, and although still not "Jewish", many more Jewish females are called Dora, as opposed to Nora. BUT, even Dora is not really a name I like, as I find it sounds too much like a grandmother's name.

amother

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 1:59 pm

I also have not heard of this as being a Jewish/Hebrew name, but why don't you bH name her Naomi? Naomi is such a beautiful, sweet name and it's Jewish

hadasa

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 8:13 pm

Ruchel wrote:

It is ok to have a Ladino name, as ok as a Yiddish one.
As long as Sheyna or Mushka will be Jewish, so will Dora.

While I agree with you that the line between Jewish and non-Jewish names is not so clear, I don't think those are good examples. How many non-Jewish Sheinas or Mushkas do you know?

Ruchel

Mon, Jan 09 2012, 6:58 am

hadasa wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

It is ok to have a Ladino name, as ok as a Yiddish one.
As long as Sheyna or Mushka will be Jewish, so will Dora.

While I agree with you that the line between Jewish and non-Jewish names is not so clear, I don't think those are good examples. How many non-Jewish Sheinas or Mushkas do you know?

I know more non Jewish Sarahs and Adels than Jewish Wink

Sheina on non Jews disappeared, but was very common some centuries ago. Zlata definitely still is found though it is a bit old ladyish. I remember seeing a Slavic movie and the first names of the cast were sooooo Jewish to me. Lol. I googled some of them, not Jewish at all.

Judeo Arabic and Ladino names are also used by the locals. Though some are old fashioned, and some not used today. Same for Judeo French in Rashi's times or pre expulsion census.