The girl's name Sapir

amother

Smokey

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 4:32 pm

I really am drawn to this name. We live in a dati leumi area in Israel but I don't want her to stick out as having a weird name wherever she may go, including charedi areas. I know a lot of older Sapirs (over 20 yrs) but no young ones, although I am sure the name must still be used. Have you heard it recently? Is it used for mostly Sfardim? We are Ashkenaz.

For those who never heard of it, it means sapphire in Hebrew and for me it brings instant thoughts of the luchot created by Hashem and Hashem's throne, each made of sapphire. Has the same root word as S'firat HaOmer, the S'firot of Kabbalah. It is the choshen stone of Yissaschar, symbolizing the learning of Torah, student of the book=sefer, the root word of sapir. Also the root work of sefer is sipur=story. This pregnancy is a huge story that is very special to me.

I'm also trying to think of which middle name I would use. I like Sapir Tiferet (kabbalistically the s'fira of Tiferet is a mix of chessed and gevurah) or Sapir Moriah (Har Moriah, where Yitzchak was almost sacrificed and where the har habayit is) as those names mean a lot to me. I like Moriah a lot, I could also name the baby Moriah Sapir.

etky

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 5:02 pm

Sapir is my DD17's middle name.

Her first name is a very traditional, biblical name - she is named after my grandmother.
Sapir was the family name of that grandmother's extended family, on her mother's side, that was wiped out in the Holocaust in Poland.

Aside from that. we liked Sapir because it balanced the very traditional first name that we gave her and it accorded with her older sister's middle name - Adi (jewel).

Lastly - and also coincidentally because we actually didn't realize it until just after we had named her - her birthday parsha, Mishpatiim, refers to the bottom part of Hashem's throne that Bnei Yisrael beheld during the ceremony of brit ha'aganot that is described as כמעשה לבנת הספיר.

At the time of DD's birth, Sapir was a pretty common name among DL and also in secular circles. Not sure how common it is now but I don't think anyone would think it terribly dated.

Regarding Charedi circles I really have no idea.

amother

Cerise

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 5:07 pm

Sapir is still a popular name in Israel among dati leumi and secular groups. It was extremely popular 15-20 years ago, and there are many many girls (and a few boys) with that name in that age group.
She definitely won't stick out in the dati leumi world with that name. As for the charedi world - are you part of it? Why is it important for you the name blend in there too? If you register her in a charedi school, there may or may not be another Sapir in her grade, depending on how modern the parents are. But it won't be a weird name even there, unless you are planning to enroll her in a Yiddish speaking enclave.

amother

Smokey

Sun, Jul 22 2018, 5:23 pm

Thanks for the replies.
Part of my extended family is charedi and while I don't need to conform to anything in particular, I want her to feel comfortable wherever she goes and not get told she has a weird name.

I love Biblical names but am having a hard time feeling any of those for this baby who was a real nes. We used my favorite Biblical name already for another dd.

salt

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 2:04 am

I love that name. It's one of the avnei hachoshen. (My DH is a little too conservative to go for names like that.)
I know a 16-yr old charedi Israeli girl called Sapir, if that helps. It would probably be considered quite unusual, but people have heard of it.

rivkam

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 2:15 am

OP your description of the name sounds so beautiful, I would like to use the name as well!
We also have a ds with a name that is Hebrew but is more dati leumi. I think if it's a name that won't stick out in the dati leumi world where these kids are growing up, I'm not bothered of him fitting in with charedi or chiloni people.
We anyway dress differently, go to different schools, live in different communities from charedim.
To answer your question though, I haven't heard of a charedi sapir

essie14

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 2:16 am

I love that name!
We are DL.
We gave our daughter a very pretty (IMO Smile

) unique, Israeli name. It’s a name that most DL people have heard of but still unique.
DH has chareidi family members who never heard of the name but no one ever said it’s a weird name. Most of them actually said it’s so pretty when they heard it for the first time.

I can’t imagine anyone saying that Sapir is a weird name. It’s so beautiful!

amother

Cerise

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 5:03 am

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

Sapir is not used in Ashkenaz Chareidi circles to the best of my knowledge.

Maybe not, but I think they would have heard of it. It is such a common name (or at least was). It would not be considered weird at all, just like they might not use the name Noam but it's not weird or unheard of.
In any case, Sapir is considered a solid, mainstream name in Israel and I would be surprised if it raised eyebrows.

Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Jul 23 2018, 6:03 am

amother wrote:

Correct, it's definitely heard of for sure. What I meant was that Chareidi Ashkenazim don't name their daughters Sapir (to the best of my knowledge).

Different circles, different names.