female name for Avraham

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Forum -> Pregnancy & Childbirth -> Baby Names

Female name for Avraham

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amother

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 1:44 pm

I wanted to know if anyone could give suggestions to name a girl after someone in our family named Avraham.

We thought of Avigayil or Avital. We weren't even sure if that's something people do (Using the name Avi rather than Avraham).

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks!

Ruchel

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 1:46 pm

Ava? Ahava? Abra( not sure if used as Jewish name)?

freidasima

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 2:08 pm

Sarah

Hashemlovesme

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 2:10 pm

ishto kegufo- Sara (plus she gave her 'hay" to Avram to make him Avraham)

mandksima

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 2:53 pm

In Israel especially, Avia/Aviah/Aviyah is very popular and pretty

agreer

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:01 pm

A h.s. friend of mine had an aunt named Rama Meira after an uncle, Avraham Meir.

So "Rama" for Avraham.

shalhevet

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:01 pm

You should ask a rav knowledgeable in this area whether you should even intend to have a man in mind when naming a daughter. Why can't you wait until you have a son? It can cause problems by giving the girl a male neshama.

Avia, by the way, is also a man's name (the name of one, or maybe two, kings). So similar problem.

If you have to, I would go with FS's suggestion.

Isramom8

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:03 pm

I heard of a girl called Aviva for "avi bah" - my father is in her.

enneamom

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:11 pm

I don't know how there can be a girl's name for Avraham...it means "Av hamon non jews", father of many nations, whic is intrinsically male. I can't think of anything comparable. Is there anthing with "Ima"? The only remote possibility I can think of is Chava, which IIRC means something like "mother to all".

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:28 pm

shalhevet wrote:

I agree with shalhevet, only if this is something that you would ask a rav about.
We gave our daughter two names, both are after my husband's two grandfathers. We did not ask anyone, as we never heard that you have to ask about names, but if this is something that you would ask about, surely ask.

hesha

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 3:32 pm

is there a source for the idea that naming for a man leads to a male neshama? we've done this various times in our family, and no body has ever heard of this concept before....

Peanut2

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 4:47 pm

Aviah is a beautiful name IMO. Avrah is also a name I heard.

busydev

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 4:55 pm

I know a Avrahama.

penguin

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 5:03 pm

But, you see, to make a name feminine it does not make sense to just add a heh.

For example, the feminine of "av hamon non jews" should be "em homon non jews", as noted above.

The feminine of "Yitzchak" should be "Titzchak", and of "Yosef" should be "Tosef".

(I do see more of a point to add a heh for names like Daniel, Gavriel, as those are actual names.)
(ETA: I should have said, those are names in English or other languages, but in Hebrew I'm not at all sure it makes sense to add a heh either).

Last edited by penguin on Tue, Jun 12 2012, 5:18 pm; edited 1 time in total

enneamom

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 5:12 pm

penguin wrote:

Thank you, Penguin.

Daniella and Gavriella are different because of their meanings. There is no masculine pronoun in Daniel or Gavriel; their definitions are, respectively, "Hashem is my Judge: and "Hashem is my Strength". Avraham and Yitzchak, though, have an actual masculine meaning.

sky

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 7:26 pm

I would also say Sarah.

- I once heard a father named his son Rivka not realizing he had a son - and he was told (I think by Rav Elyashiv) to call his son Yitzchak.

- In Europe my grandmother's family named after the avos and imahos but baby sara died young so they wouldn't name their next son Avraham because the names were connected spiritually.

chanitroy

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 9:47 pm

how did he forget that he had a son?

joy613

Tue, Jun 12 2012, 9:58 pm

sky wrote:

I would also say Sarah.

- I once heard a father named his son Rivka not realizing he had a son - and he was told (I think by Rav Elyashiv) to call his son Yitzchak. - In Europe my grandmother's family named after the avos and imahos but baby sara died young so they wouldn't name their next son Avraham because the names were connected spiritually.

I know it's not the point of the thread but, Huh? what a strange story.
How does such a story come to happen? There was a bris and he thought it was for a girl?

OP, please don't name your daughter Avrahama.

amother

Wed, Jun 13 2012, 12:09 am

OP here- thanks for all your suggestions! I really like ahava, and had never thought of that...so thanks Ruchel

one of my names is sarah so unfortunately I can't use that.

my question regarding naming a male for a female is, I know so many ariellas, gabriellas,daniellas etc.-im assuming that most have to be named for a male-no? aryeh, gavriel, daniel

so why would it be any different to name a girl avigail for avraham? I agree that I wouldnt use avrahama just cuz I see how its different in regards to the meaning of the name (av hamon goim is clearly a male name)...

this question is in regard to someone saying that there can be an issue with naming a male for a female (vice versa)...we will have to ask our rav but just curious about this because recently I heard this was an issue yet know quite a few people that have been named for the opposite gender.

im also a lill confused, and not sure im understanding correctly, cuz it seemed like using sarah would have been ok but had I had been able to use sarah, would that have also been an issue since the reasoning behind using sarah, is for the family member avraham who is opposite gender. when people would ask us why we named sarah, we would have said, the baby was named for avraham etc.

is the issue with using the actual or shoresh of the male name itself, or just the idea of choosing a name that is based on naming after a male for a female?

celestial

Wed, Jun 13 2012, 12:57 am

There are different opinions about whether or not you can name a baby girl after a man. The reasoning is that it is a "yeridah" for the neshama (this doesn't hold true for naming a boy after a woman).

Thankfully, there are plenty of opinions that hold otherwise. Keep this in mind when choosing a Rav to ask this to, if it's something that bothers you (and don't choose a Rav that's going to give over spiritual misogyny if that's not how you normally hold with other things and it's not your worldview).

For more sources, see the book "What's in a Name?"

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