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Baby boy naming- help!
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 10:22 am
We are expecting a boy end of December IY"H, our second child (first is a girl). I can't come up with one name that I really like and that would work for us.
Both me and dh have made a list of names we like.
He is actually much more set back about the matter, he sais he trusts that when the baby is born we will have the "nevuah" to know the right name- but he said it will be from a short list of names we both agree on. I have no problem waiting 'till I actually see the little one to make a decision, but the problem is our lists hardly overlap at all.
For me , the name must "sound special and unique".
For dh, it should "not be too complicated, too Jewish sounding (not his words but thats the idea) or too heavy"


I'll try to explain why we don't like each other's names, so maybe someone can see into it and have some suggestions. I might be very blunt about things so I hope no one resents it, but it is just to get the thought process through to you.

My list:
TOBIAH/TUVIA (he just hates it, thinks it sounds like a cartoon character or something).
BEN TZION (so , I love "Ben" , but not Benjamin so much, as all the Benjamins I know have a difficult/fussy character. This is surely just my perception. Dh finds Ben Tzion way to "Jewish"- we live in Europe, and I see what he means. So I suggested just "Ben" as a name on his papers, Ben Tzion being his full jewish name. But dh is not at all convinced).
AVRAHAM (I love the name, but same problem as above, dh thinks it is "heavy" and "too Jewish". I suggested just Avi as a short for Avraham, but same as above).
OR (dh doesn't like the sound of it)

His list:
YOSEF (I just don't like).
DAVID (boring, very popular here, I don't particularly like it)
EYTAN(I just am not crazy about it)
NATAN (same reason)
IMMANUEL (I dislike the short form Manu).
MICHAEL (I don't like short form Mickey).
GAVRIEL (overly popular here in the form Gabriel)


Overlap list:
DANIEL (this is basically the name I have been thinking of throughout the pregnancy- I like it. But: A. it is so popular where we live, it has kind of lost it's "special" sound. B. main concern: a close family member (uncle) of dh's is named Daniel. I would prefer to avoid using the same name as close relatives, because I can't stop thinking that the whole family will say "ah you named him after…!". Dh doesn't find this too relevant.The popularity problem as well is not at all an issue to him. I suggested Daniel Or, if he is born or has his brit during Channukah, to make me feel like our son has a unique, significant, name- but dh is not into it. Our original plan is to give just one name, as we did with our daughter).
DAN (would solve above problems, but I kind of like Daniel better)


Names we have considered but are not on the list right now (might come back):
AARON (we liked it in the beginning, but I realized it doesn't sound very good with the last name, and generally turned off from it).
YEHOSHUA ( I like the name , but dh prefers to give a form of the name that I "simple to understand" in the non-jewish work, and Joshua just doesn't sound as nice to me).
RUBEN ( neither of us excited about it).
BENJAMIN (explained above)

We are still looking for suggestions, but have gone through all the lists of names on websites, and nothing really pops up to me.

If anyone has any ideas for us, or has been in a similar dilemma, I would like to hear what you think.
Thanks all!
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amother


 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 10:42 am
How about Yehuda for a chanukah baby?

Current male names in my family:
Meir
Eliyahu
Yonatan
Aryeh
Yair
Yosef
Aron
Ephraim
Eliezer
Akiva
Moshe
Mordechai
Daniel
Yehoshua
Eli (pronounced Ay-lee)
Noam
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 11:26 am
I like heavy names, but I'll try to suggest names that match to your list and are not heavy.

Rafael
Samuel/Shmuel
Amram
Uri or Uriel
Caleb / Calev
Kobi
David
Eli
Ezra
Levi
Hillel
Simon / Shimon
Jonah/Yonah
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Liebs




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 11:42 am
oran
noam
zaq for zacharia
jay for yakov
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musicmom




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 12:28 pm
Rafael Asher!
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Rodent




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Oct 23 2014, 9:35 pm
For the record, our Immanuel has NEVER been called Manu or Manny or any other shortened form and I doubt many Michaels are called Mickey either. Some names are inevitable to be shortened but I really don't think that either of these fit that scenario.

For another Ben name, we have a Benaya, it can be spelled in multiple ways but Benaiah is the English way, just for another possibility. (People are constantly asking where it comes from but it is from Tanach, it's a form of Benayahu)

That said, my thoughts were:
Refael
Zachariya
Adam (though some don't give names from before Avraham)
Levi
Asher
Malachi
Eli
Guy (too Israeli?)

All names that depending on spelling could look perfectly non-Jewish if that's what your husband prefers but can be pronounced the Hebrew way too.
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 4:51 am
Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions!
Yehudah, Yonathan, Yakov, Moshe, and Ezra are all out because of close relatives.


Scrabble123- is Caleb actually a name used by jews? I thought it wouldn't be because it has the same spelling as kelev-dog? If not for that, I find it to be a beautiful name.
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amother


 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 5:21 am
OP here, just found this name while surfing the internet:

Dael | דָעאֵל
Meaning: Knowledge of God
Gender: Male
Origin: Hebrew

I think it sounds really nice.
Has anyone heard of it before? is it a name that is actually used by Jews?
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invisiblecircus




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 10:31 am
I was in exactly your situation and had the same criteria as you - I wanted something special and unique while my husband only liked popular names that I found boring. He thought all my suggestions either sounded like dog names/ clown names/ made up names/ worst name he'd ever heard in his life... so I sympathise with you on your husband's cartoon character comment!

Suffice to say, it was clear that my DH was never going to agree to a name from my list and while we continued to look for new ideas until I gave Birth in the hope that the perfect name that we both loved would appear, it was never really likely to happen as all of his suggestions continued to be mainstream while mine were too outlandish for him.

In the end, we went with his second choice (which was actually the name we had agreed on if our first child had been a boy but I went off it since then) with a middle name from my list. I found that the combination beautified the first name which I didn't love, and while the first name is farily common in the Jewish community, the combination is not, so the end result satisfies my wish for a less common name.

I also want to say that the first name is growing on me again because my cute baby makes it cute!

Your suggestion of Daniel Or would work in the same way as the combination is unusual and the names are short enough that you could use both names, but would you still be concerned that people would think you were naming after a relative?

It is interesting that you mentioned that you had the name Daniel in mind the whole pregnancy. I had two names in mind for boys my whole pregnancy - the one we eventually used and Jakob, neither of which I even liked that much, but weirdly I kind of felt a connection to those names, it was as if it was meant to be.

amother wrote:
Scrabble123- is Caleb actually a name used by jews? I thought it wouldn't be because it has the same spelling as kelev-dog? If not for that, I find it to be a beautiful name.


I'm not Scrabble123 Mr. Green , but I know two Jewish Calebs, both BTs if that makes a difference. I didn't know the meaning before you mentioned it but Rachel and Ayelet are both widely used girls names that are also animal names, and Dov is also used for boys so I don't think that Caleb would be avoided for that reason, however, I could be wrong and I'm sure someone knows more about it than me!

I've heard of Dale rather than Dael as a first name but I know someone with Dael as surname.

What about Rael? That was one of he many ideas I had for a boys name but of course my Dh hated it!

Regarding your other choices, I agree with what you wrote about Immanuel (we rejected that name for the same reason) but I don't think Mickey as a nickname for Michael is inevitable. Even if it happened, I think you could tell people "it's not Mickey, it's Michael" and that would sort the issue out. I know many Michaels and only one goes by the name Mickey, and that is because his mother encouraged it.

Is there a "secular" form of Avraham your DH would agree to and that you like?

I like Rodent's suggestion of Benaya- So funny what you wrote about the name Benjamin. Being a teacher ruined A LOT of names for me which is probably why all my ideas were obscure!
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invisiblecircus




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 10:37 am
amother wrote:
he trusts that when the baby is born we will have the "nevuah" to know the right name- but he said it will be from a short list of names we both agree on. I have no problem waiting 'till I actually see the little one to make a decision


We did this with girl's names for our first child. We were only deciding between two names - one from his list and one from mine, and we both liked both names, but after I gave birth, hormones were flying everywhere and I could not think clearly enough to make a decision. My Dh even said I could pick the name, but even then I could not make the choice, so I would definitely recommend deciding in advance, especially if you're in a place that will press you for a name asap.

In the end, the hospital would not discharge me until we named the baby and I cried about the decision for three weeks...
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 11:42 am
amother wrote:

Scrabble123- is Caleb actually a name used by jews? I thought it wouldn't be because it has the same spelling as kelev-dog? If not for that, I find it to be a beautiful name.


Yes, Jews use this name.
I know an ultra chassidic Satmar man with the name Caleb (which he pronounces coo-lyv). People sometimes joke and call him kelev, but it's in good fun. I wouldn't associate the name with a dog, especially in non Hebrew speaking countries.
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Oct 24 2014, 2:25 pm
Seth
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mo5




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Oct 25 2014, 9:07 pm
I know a benzoin who uses Ben for English
I know Benny's who are benzion too
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spring13




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Oct 25 2014, 11:13 pm
Hmmm.

Noah
Simon/Shimon
Alexander
Elia
Jonah/Yonah
Levi
Noam
Ilan
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cl




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:55 am
matan
not common, meaning gift, easy for europeans to pronounce
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:00 am
I doubt anyone not Jewish will make the link between Bentzion and Tzion and Sion and Israel.
My dh knows a man named Sion (French pron.) whose Hebr. name is Tzion... I even see a good number of israel.

That said I heard Kalev being "voice of heart" or "all heart", but no idea if grammatically correct.
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 11:00 am
Ruchel wrote:
I doubt anyone not Jewish will make the link between Bentzion and Tzion and Sion and Israel.
My dh knows a man named Sion (French pron.) whose Hebr. name is Tzion... I even see a good number of israel.

That said I heard Kalev being "voice of heart" or "all heart", but no idea if grammatically correct.

That would be two different spellings.
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etky




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 11:23 am
Micha
Avner
Yoav
Yotam
Elisha
Amos
Gideon
Gad
Shimron
Yoel

I wouldn't use Caleb. It's a great name in English but it's too problematic in Hebrew.
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etky




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 11:40 am
Some more modern (but not too modern) and biblical-modern names:
Assaf
Nadav
Shalem
Shalev
Yair
Yinon
Tomer
Harel
Ro'iy
Ido
Tzur
Ariel
Aviad
Eliav
Gilad
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Bruria




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 9:43 pm
Amram
Aryeh
Dov
Chaim
Gavriel
Elimelech
Shaul
Nachum
Rachamim
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