Girl name ideas- please read

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 1:41 am

I have an easy time with boys names. So many to choose from. So if its a boy, we already have it narrowed down to a few names that we absolutely love...
But as for girls names, my husband and I don't know where to start.

For boys names, we have a lot of criteria we want to meet, but because there are so many fewer options available for girls names, we'll be less picky.

Criteria are:
Names with a source. Meaning either from tanach or the mishna/gemara. No yiddish names, no modern israeli names that are just words turned into names, or even more traditional names that are just words turned into names. (like no Shira, Malka, Tziona, Sima, Ilana, Hila, etc...)
Names that sound nice and have a pleasant ring to them.
Preferably names that have a nice meaning, but if the original person with the name was a good person/ a tzadekes, I don't mind so much if the meaning isn't something special.
I want a name that isn't very overused. I dont want my kid to be one of a million with the same name. No Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Esther.
Ideally a name that works in most/all circles, but ideally yeshivish circles. If a name I mention isn't used in yeshivish circles, please let me know.

Names we like:
Tzippora is definitely an option here.
Avital (does it work in yeshivish circles?)
Yehudis/t is nice but we can't use it.
Shulamis/t is an option.
Avigail (but not using for various reasons)
Hadassa I like but my husband doesn't.
Deena my husband likes (the sound, less the meaning) but I don't.
Devora I like, husband doesn't.
Avishag my husband likes, but I don't like how it sounds.
Michal is ok but not an option for various reasons.
Elisheva is nice but we can't use it.
Serach I like but I won't use because of social ramifications.
Osnat sound ok until you get the nicknames.
Na'ami is nice but I won't be using it because of bad connotations with certain people in my life, but it is a beautiful name.
Noa sounds nice but it is way too overused!
I love Chana but it is also soooooo overused.
Batya I like but won't be using for personal reasons, but its a great name and fits many of my requirements.

Bruria is not an option. (I don't find it easy on the ears or tongue)
Chulda is an absolute no no.
Machla is an absolute no no.
Batsheva I don't particularly care for. (No offense to any batshevas, its not personal.)
Rus/t isn't a name I particularly like, and even if I did, I can't use it for many reasons (including living grandparents with that name).

More ideas please? Because right now it looks like we have a list of 3 or 4 to pick from, and I'd like a few more options at least.

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 2:04 am

Yocheved, Shifra and Tirtza are ok, but I don't really like how they sound...

Tamar has bad connotations in tanach... Both times! and is a close relative's name, so I can't use it.

What does Meirav mean?

Who was Ada and Tzila? What do those names mean?

Penina is decent, but wasn't she the hated wife? Not the best connotation, is it? And didnt all her 7 sons die after she made fun of Chana (with good intentions) for not having kids?

Yael is an option. Have to ask my husband his opinion though.

grace413

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 2:33 am

amother wrote:

Yocheved, Shifra and Tirtza are ok, but I don't really like how they sound...
Tamar has bad connotations in tanach... Both times! and is a close relative's name, so I can't use it.
What does Meirav mean?
Who was Ada and Tzila? What do those names mean?
Penina is decent, but wasn't she the hated wife? Not the best connotation, is it? And didnt all her 7 sons die after she made fun of Chana (with good intentions) for not having kids?
Yael is an option. Have to ask my husband his opinion though.

Don't know what Merav means but she was Michal's sister.
Ada and Tzila were wives of Lemech. I have a DL neighbor namee Ada.
Pnina - I don't remember that she was hated; she evidently rebuked Chana but it's interpreted as being to Chana's good in the end. Don't know about her kids dying. I have relatives named Pnina.

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 2:35 am

Brown wrote:

If you like the soud but not the meaning of Dina, what about Adina. Chava (Chavi), Chaya, Devora, Reena, Chedva.

Those are all nice, other than Adina, Chaya, Reena (and chedva) are words with nice meanings, but not names with a source. I dont mind naming after someone with such a name, but since we're not naming after a relative with those names, I'd want to name after some tzadekes from the past.

Chava I'm not in love with. My husband doesnt like devora.
Chedva makes me think of russian baalei teshuva (nothing wrong with that- its just that every single chedva I know is a russian baalas teshuva, which I'm not, so I'd find it kind of strange naming a kid Chedva, even though it is a great name in theory.)

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 2:44 am

grace413 wrote:

Ada and Tzila were wives of Lemech. I have a DL neighbor namee Ada.
Pnina - I don't remember that she was hated; she evidently rebuked Chana but it's interpreted as being to Chana's good in the end. Don't know about her kids dying. I have relatives named Pnina.

In Shiras Chana it says "עד עקרה ילדה שבעה, ורבת בנים אומללה" (spelling is probably off, I wrote it by heart), which means "The barren one had 7 children (referring to chana) and the one with many kids lost them all (referring to Penina). They say that the reason Penina lost all her children was because even though she made fun of chana with good intentions, to get her to daven, it still was too hurtful and caused her much anguish, and consequently all Penina's kids died.

And Penina was the second one, and that is commonly referred to as "Snuah", the hated one...

mltjm

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:43 am

OP, I know naming your kids is a very personal privilege and decision, but it seems kind of pretentious to utterly reject names that are traditionally jewish, just because they don't have a Torah source. Also the idea that 'my kids can't be one of a million with the same name' is pretty non jewish. Most adults and children I know are proud of their 'common' names, especially if they know who they are named after and especially if that person was a tzaddekes or Rebbetzin or beloved relative.

Aside from all that, there are many great women from modern times who you could name after as well.

shalhevet

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:54 am

mltjm wrote:

This really isn't nice. The OP is asking for advice, she's entitled to her opinions/ tastes, and I even have dds with names she doesn't want to use - I don't take it personally. It's obviously her ruach hakodesh at work. Wink

What about Cheftzibah? (she was the wife or mother of Hizkiyahu - don't remember). Tzivya was also the mother or wife of one of the kings who were a tzaddik. (I am racking my brains for girls' names from Tanach which haven't been mentioned.)

imaima

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:55 am

amother wrote:

Penina is a pearl.
And Miriam had tzarat, but it really did not stop so many people from using the name.
And Sarah laughed at Hashem's decree.
And Rachel slept under the bed of her sister when she consummated her marriage.
And Leah sole a husband from her sister.

The list goes on...

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:06 am

mltjm wrote:

Did I ask you for your advice? It was uncalled for "mussar" and totally not relevant. You name your kids how you choose to, but I have my reasons for my criteria.
If I had relatives to name after, I'd name after them, regardless of these criteria. But since I'm just choosing names "out of a box", I want to put more thought into it and pick one my husband and I like for many reasons. Like if we'd say "We're calling you Shira because we liked it" I want my kid to be able to say "Wow, Shira is a meaningful name. Shira in the tanach or in Jewish history was... uh...." I want my kids to be able to know that the person they were named after was a tzadekes, a special person, and since I don't have any relatives to name after, I want it to be a name that is after a tzadekes in history.

As for one in a million with the same name... I grew up being the only one in my class and one of the 4 in my high school with my name. I appreciated that. Then I moved elsewhere, where my name was a popular name and I really didn't enjoy being one of the 10 people at a get together with my name. Your name identifies you as an individual, and I think its a nice feeling to have a name that is "just yours" and not one you share with many other people.

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:11 am

imaima wrote:

amother wrote:

Yea, and I mentioned that I wouldn't use any of those names, didn't I?
But seriously, of those names, only Miriam and Leah I wouldn't use, Miriam because the meaning of her name is completely negative, even if she was a great tzadekes, and Leah because she had a really miserable life, also as the "hated wife".

But don't you see that those two names are altogether different than Penina? Penina we learn pretty much 3 things about her in tanach- that she was the "hated" wife, that she mercilessly teased Chana (albeit for good reasons) and that all her children died.
That is different than any of the imahos or other people mentioned that had many good things written about them which completely overshadow the negative aspects. But Penina is pretty much only known for the negative things, not for being a tzadekes or stories about her, etc...

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:15 am

shalhevet wrote:

mltjm wrote:

Yea. I'm entitled to my own opinion. And when I say I don't care for a name, it doesn't mean I don't like people with those names or even that I think the names are a bad choice to give, its just that I don't love the name and want to give my kids a name that I love.

Quote:

Cheftzibah is a little too "out there" for me. I don't also really like how it sounds.
Tzivya I like but my husband doesn't.

mltjm

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:19 am

amother wrote:

mltjm wrote:

Wow. Chill. I said in the beginning that it's obviously personal. I was just trying to (gently-ish) point out another perspective. What if between now and the baby is born some amazing Rebbitzen you've always admired passes away, but her name is Malka Shaina? Are you going to reject it bc its not a tanach name, bc one is a hebrew word, and one is a yiddish name? It seems crazy to limit yourself so much.

As for being one in a million, I still stand by what I said. And I graduated from a class where more than half the girls had the same name.

amother

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 9:21 am

hadasa wrote:

Nitzevet (David's mother)
Shlomit / Shlomtziyon
Milka
Yiska
Bitya

Other than Shlomit, those are all a little too "out there" and rare for my taste. I dont want a run of the mill name, but I don't want them to be altogether rare either.

Shlomit is nice with a nice ring and nice meaning, but the only Shlomit that I know if in the tanach is shlomis bas divri, the loose woman who used to flirt with every man, had a child with a mitzri, and was the mother of the first ben sorer umorer...
Not exactly the role model I'd want to name my child after. I've also heard rabbanim say not to use the name Shlomit for that reason, but to give the name Shulamit/s instead, which is why shulamis/t is an option, but shlomit isn't.