Yair or Ya'ir | Imamother

amother

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 2:44 pm

DH and I both love this name (Biblical, not too common, easy to pronounce, beautiful meaning, relevant for a Chanuka baby, I"YH), and I'm thinking about how to spell it.

"Yair" looks like it rhymes with "chair", but is the apostrophe in Ya'ir odd looking?

amother

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 2:49 pm

We have a Yair spelled Yair but pronounced Ya-ir. In the non Jewish world I am sure some will call it to rhyme with chair.... Depends how much it bothers you. Then again I am not sure in the non Jewish world they will know how to say Ya-'ir. They will just look at it funny.

bigsis144

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 2:52 pm

amother wrote:

I think the apostrophe pretty clearly splits the name into two syllables, "ya" and "ir".

No advice as to spelling, but the name is pretty, though.

AlwaysGrateful

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:04 pm

amother wrote:

easy to pronounce

Nope. No easier than any other Hebrew name, for a frum Jew. And not easy for other people at all, with or without the apostrophe.

Not saying you shouldn't name your son this, but just saying that it doesn't fit this criteria.

Besiyata Dishmaya

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:05 pm

I agree with bigsis and I would spell it with an apostrophe for the reason you mentioned that it shouldn't rhyme with chair. Are there any non-Jewish names spelled with apostrophes?

amother

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:07 pm

bigsis144 wrote:

amother wrote:

I think the apostrophe pretty clearly splits the name into two syllables, "ya" and "ir".

No advice as to spelling, but the name is pretty, though.

If that's the case then spell it "Ya'eer" - otherwise non Jews will say Ya-ir - the "ir" with the short I like in "it"

bigsis144

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:16 pm

Besiyata Dishmaya wrote:

I agree with bigsis and I would spell it with an apostrophe for the reason you mentioned that it shouldn't rhyme with chair. Are there any non-Jewish names spelled with apostrophes?

Plenty of horrible-looking "unique" spellings of names, like M'kenzie or D'shawn or Cam'ron or Domi’nique. Rolling Eyes

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:32 pm

at my nephew bris, once his name, Ya'ir, was announced, my then 3 year old son said proudly "I have an ear too!"

that said, you can put in the apostrophe (which is what I voted for) and not use it all the time.

My husband is Ra'anan, but if I am lazy I spell it Raanan. Also, remember a lot of official things, like bank cards, etc cant handle apostrophes, so it will be dropped in some situations

amother

Wed, Jul 25 2012, 3:41 pm

we have a Yair (that's how we spell it) and I didnt realize how many ppl would mispronounce it. non jews (or secular jews) say it to rhyme with chair. most of the ppl we know say YAH eer. I am one of the few who pronounces it yah EER, which is kinda sad to me because I think its so beautiful to the ear that way.

personally, I think the apostrophe only adds to the problem because like someone else said, you run into issues with documents that cannot handle symbols. if you do go with the ' I'd change the spelling as another poster recommended.
another pronounciation we get is yay-er, that one is the worst

amother

Thu, Jul 26 2012, 10:37 am

We have a Yair too. I found that many Americans will pronounce the name YAir, while I think the correct way, the way it would sound in Hebrew would be yaIR.
It bugs me when some people say 'YARE' (as in chair)OR, some non-Jewish people called him AYIR!!!