Ira | Imamother

Ruchel

Fri, Aug 17 2007, 1:52 pm

su7kids wrote:

Suzanne is not Susan, in my book, but it is not a common name for babies.

I agree it's uncommon.
I also know a Susanne (German spelling), but she must be 50 now.

Ruchel

Fri, Aug 17 2007, 1:59 pm

Indeed rare, 225 Suzanne born in France in 2004! But this only take the first name into account.
http://prenoms.doctissimo.fr/S......html
Average age of the Suzanne: 83!
Susan is 38, because the name arrived after WW2
http://prenoms.doctissimo.fr/SUSAN-6507.html

amother

Fri, Aug 17 2007, 5:01 pm

Dh wanted ds to have english name b/c his hebrew name is very difficult to pronounce.We actualy looked at prep school roster & guess what Ira came up, A LOT!!! It went woth his heb name so we used it. He was NOT born in the 30's, 40's, 50's or even the 70's.

Raisin

Sat, Aug 18 2007, 6:10 pm

chen wrote:

The pendulum swings this way, and then it swings back. Martha was most fashionable in Mrs. Custis Washington's day, and it's ba-a-a-a-ck. To me a Martha will always be dumpy, frumpy, middle-aged and grey, but tell that to fans of pop singer Martha Wainwright.

Quaint Biblical names are back big time in the nonJewish world. I would like to believe that this reflects a yearning to go back to old-fashioned Biblical values, but the stores, the headlines and the movies tell me otherwise.

These are the top 100 names (USA) from a baby website. I think some names will always be in fashion, eg David, but you've got to be careful - call your child a really trendy name and everyone will know their age by their name. The weirdest fashion is calling a kid by letters eg KC as their proper name.

Kayla seems to be a popular name nowadays!

There are 3 or 4 boys in my sons class called Jake, Jakob etc. It can get quite confusing. And where I live all the little girls seem to be called either Megan or Jessica.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_to.....4e6a8

miriamnechama

Mon, Aug 27 2007, 7:19 am

actually I was named for my great aunt who was martha -miriam ok I don't hane or need an english name. my dad is david henry.. dovid yeciel and my foster father is thomas moshe. my foster mother was thea devora and ii had an uncle hymie and aunt saidie. (chaim and sara)
then I have an uncle gerald and aunt terisa and their kids are amanda, louisa and justin. rouisa married richard. I wouldn't even know their jewish names. my sister gave one dauget who is ruchi, rachelle. well I'm quite happy with my jewish names and s\don't need an english name. it's also I think chukas hagoy.

I remember when I was doing ds2's brittish passport the consulate called me and said they can't put nosson eliyahu on they wanted me to change it to natan or nathan, well I just told then quickly natan. I thought afterwards let the kid still have some jewish name even for documents. also he was born in israel and not england.

chen

Mon, Aug 27 2007, 8:14 am

miriamnechama wrote:

the consulate called me and said they can't put nosson eliyahu on they wanted me to change it to natan or nathan

That's outrageous! Your son's name is his name, whether they like it or not. Would they tell Haleem Jamil Mahmoud that he should change it to Henry James Morris?

Then again, the British are very big on changing other cultures' names to suit their own heavy British tongues. What's so hard about saying Akko that they have to call it Acre? Or for that matter, is Bombay so much easier to say than Mumbai? Rolling Eyes

miriamnechama

Mon, Aug 27 2007, 8:29 am

what coul I do, we were traveling and needed the passports them well that's precicely why I didn'y use nathan. I'm glad the israelis let me use nosson.

here's another cutie. on my israrli passport I spell miriam mirjam like in holland. my fam is dutch when I came back from london this june at the passport control in ben gurion the police officer looks at me and goes to me "are you dutch" I aksed why he said I can see the j in the name. I told him I'm brittish but somehow that's how it got onto my passprt. I told him I have dutch relatives. (there was a time I spelled miriam like that)

Ruchel

Mon, Aug 27 2007, 12:10 pm

Secular names are no new thing, they already existed during Antiquity.
Some communities seem to have them, others don't. You can recognize old time French Jewish families by the fact that they always (although recently it has started changing a bit) go by a French form of the Hebrew name or a totally secular name. My parent's rav goes by rabbi Olivier XYZ not his Jewish name.

French chief rabbis http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....rance

When I was pregnant, people asked me if I was planning to follow the tradition or "do like the modern, trend followers" Rolling Eyes

I told them I wouldn't give a secular name, and many told me people would mistake my children for "North Africans" shock

Including very frum friends Confused

ablevaybel

Mon, Aug 27 2007, 11:05 pm

Ruchele, returning to our sheep, "Ira" is usually a guy's name, but I know two "Iras" who are women - both around 30.

As for "Susan", it was hugely popular in the wake of WWII. Some people speculate that part of its popularity is the "usa" in the middle of the name!
I never thought that "Ida" and "Emma" would come back, but I was wrong!

Are there still lists of what names can and cannot be given in France? I'm especially thinking of double names e.g. "Jeanne-Annette", "Marie-Claire", where some are permitted and others not?

I'm also fascinated by names, for what it's worth.

ablevaybel

Tue, Aug 28 2007, 8:00 pm

Nice to be recognized again, chérie, and it's always good to read your posts. When was the infamous name list abolished? I think my book is from 1979 - "Choisir parmi 3500 prénoms d'hier et d'aujourd'hui: Traditionnels ou nouveaux, mythologiques, historiques, régionaux". Do you know the following book "Prénoms bibliques et hebraiques" by F. Le Bras - M. Hazou ?

Chani

Tue, Aug 28 2007, 9:26 pm

I'll bet my English name was on the infamous list - "Jeanne Marie" (and please don't say "Jeannie" as in "I Dream of Jeannie"!!) I don't think my kids even know my English name!

Ruchel

Tue, Aug 28 2007, 9:39 pm

Apparently only with a hyphen was it a problem... weird that you could be Jeanne Louise Marie Anne Judith Stéphanie Cécile, but not Jeanne-Louise Rolling Eyes

I am C. L. Rahel, only 3 names (the average in France) Twisted Evil

My dd has 5 names and the official didn't bat an eyelish, according to dh. Still more common than 1 or 2 names. He was just "so, it is Mathilde B. T. V. C. SURNAME, right?"

ablevaybel

Wed, Aug 29 2007, 12:16 am

No worries about the books - I have the first and keep my eyes out for the second when I'm in Québec.

You are right - it was indeed the hyphen that was the problem.

Norway went about it a little differently. There they kept a list of names that were not allowed. I can't recall that any Jewish names were on it, but I haven't thought about it for a while.