Seeking unusual Israeli baby girl name

naomi2

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 6:10 pm

almost all these names sound absolutely ridiculous! whats wrong with naming your little precious neshama after someone who was a tzadekket? names influence who the baby will be in a spiritual way, I wouldn't play with that

chatouli

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 8:17 pm

shalhevet wrote:

PSA: Atara is NOT an Israeli name. It is Hebrew, but no one uses it here (except for Americans), probably because of other connontations it has.

What are these other connotations? No one ever says, and it sounds so sinister!

amother

Tue, Sep 13 2011, 8:54 pm

How about Itael (אתהאל)? - "G-d is with her"- an unusual name. The only person I know who has it, loves it and is very proud of it.
I also know a Reeut (רעות) as in "friendship". Again, the only person I know with this name likes it too.

RachelEve14

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 12:52 am

Seraph wrote:

I know a Ta'ir. Two, actually. It means "She will light up/give light."

Oh yes, Ta'ir would have been on the other class list Very Happy

Tamara, I'm not sure now about La'ava. The kiddush was 5 years ago, I don't remember but Ithought it was from ahava... maybe I remembered wrong. It's been known to happen once or twice LOL

Amital

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 1:14 am

chanchy123 wrote:

...Maybe something to do with water since בחג נידונים על המים and water and rain are big issues in Israel and Judaism. How about Meital, Tal, Revital, not unusual, but nice names.

Or Amital? Wink

shalhevet

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 3:04 am

amother wrote:

I also know a Reeut (רעות) as in "friendship". Again, the only person I know with this name likes it too.

Reut is very common in Israel. The MO/DL here will tell you if it's dated or still used.

OP, are you in Israel or chul, because it makes a big difference? Names which might be unusual in America, might not be at all unusual here.

And I agree with naomi (although the names don't sound ridiculous to me because they are commonly used in Israel) that giving your child a name with a history is better than something new and exciting and detached from its roots. But that's MHO.

chanchy123

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 3:21 am

lamplighter wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

In most languages there are names with such meanings, in English too. Or in close enough languages to understand.
I find that Jewish names often have meanings of qualities or beautiful every day life stuff, btw, in all languages... moon, sun, brunette, blonde, good, pious, clever, gold, silver, rose, flower, luck, lucky...

Of course names have meanings, even traditional names have meanings, I'm referring to using the common noun or verb of something in the way that it is used in that country. Like apple, gold, happiness.

You mean names like Dov, or Golde, or maybe Faige or Arye, or Devora. Like or not, Jewish names all have meanings, most of them are pretty obvious to the everyday speaker of the language.
That is how our Avot were named in the Torah, and this is how most modern Jewish people I know name their children today. Either the name has a meaning because of what it stands for, the trait it represents, or a person in national or personal history who used this name.
If you spoke Hebrew everyday it would be natural for you.
BTW to those who asked Noy, means beauty, also a pretty common name here for boys and girls.

ora_43

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 3:33 am

RachelEve14 wrote:

Thanks Grace Smile

Looking at N's class list now:

Ya'ala
Shaked
Orin
Oriya
Roni (although this is very common here)
Idit (ayn, yud, dalit, yud, taf - no hebrew on this keyboard)
Bat Chen
Emuna

One of my dds had girls with all these names in her gan this year or last (except Ya'ala - that was a friend's sister's name). Maybe coincidence, or maybe they aren't so uncommon anymore.

Personally I'd prefer just somewhat unusual. In my experience, there's a fine line between "very unusual" and "wait, is that a real name, or did your parents make a mistake?" when it comes to names. Better to err on the side of your kid maybe sharing a name with someone else in their class, than on the side of having to explain their name and repeat its pronunciation and spelling several times a week for their entire lives. Just IMHO.

Marion

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 5:29 am

In DS#2's class (don't have a list yet, but offhand) there are:

אוריה
גפן
הודיה
הודיה
טל
יעל
יעל
שירה
תמר

and 6 more girls, whose names I don't remember offhand, but none are strange. Last year there were 3 Tehillas (out of 6 girls).

In DS#3's class there's a Noy, a Noya, and 2 Noas.

I know 3 Shiras and 2 Shirs, all born within 3 months of each other this year. More and more names are becoming unis*x.

RachelEve14

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 5:35 am

ora_43 wrote:

RachelEve14 wrote:

Thanks Grace Smile

Looking at N's class list now:

Ya'ala
Shaked
Orin
Oriya
Roni (although this is very common here)
Idit (ayn, yud, dalit, yud, taf - no hebrew on this keyboard)
Bat Chen
Emuna

I agree. I don't see the attraction of trying to find the most unusual name out there. Incidently I know someone who has 10 kids, all bli ayan hara with really unusual names, many of which I don't remember, and her married daughter has 3 sons all with Tanachi names (one is Yoseph, can't remember the other 2, but think along the lines of Moshe & Ya'akov). I never asked her, but I don't think it's a coincidence.

mommyhood

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 9:03 am

lizard8 wrote:

Why are you choosing a 'new' name for your daughter?? Unless she will have really high self esteem and the name wont bother her, she may be tormented for life! I know many who changed their name once they were old enough, because they were so embarrassed. It may be pretty and unique to you, which I understand. To your daughters future classmates it might be different and strange.

You may be right, and have a most beautiful, independent, unique child. You have the right to think that my advice is totally off mark.

You can do what you want, just think about this advice.

I totally agree. I don't think you need to give your child a very typical name there are a lot of beautiful not so common names but I am strongly opposed to giving babies very unusual names even if you have a good reason for choosing that name. Childhood is hard on kids and I just don't think it's a good idea to give them more things to deal with.

amother

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 10:02 am

RachelEve14 wrote:

That sounds like a friend of mine. She and her husband both have what we once termed "Teanecky" type names - names that Americans thought sounded "Israeli" and that were more unusual and modern when we were growing up (think Eitan and Elana) and they named their kids either very Biblical (like Avraham, Sarah) or even yiddish names (like Shaindy, Mendy).

slushiemom

Wed, Sep 14 2011, 10:16 am

My name's unusual and I love it Smile

it's Etana, I'm named after Ethel and my parents had pity on me. There were actually two other Etanas in my high school, but I don't know many besides that- and I've never met another one here in Israel.

My friend named her girl Prielle. I love that name. I also know a Zemira which is cool too.