Moshe or Moishe in birth certificate

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Forum -> Pregnancy & Childbirth -> Baby Names

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amother

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:08 pm

what is the correct speling in enlish for the name Moshe or Moishe?
we are litvish in us.
tia

amother

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:09 pm

I wrote Moishy.

onlyme

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:12 pm

I would go with Moshe.

m in Israel

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:13 pm

There is no right or wrong spelling for a name. I personally would use whichever spelling most closely matches the way you are pronouncing the name (Moshe if you say it with a long "o" like "go", or Moishe if you say it more like "oy" as in "oil"). It makes it easier throughout life if the spelling and pronunciation match.

safetynet

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:13 pm

Most people that give me their names have it as Moshe.

The ones that spell it differently are usually not US born.

Ruchel

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 1:43 pm

We spelled it Moshé, because moche (read "mosh", as would Moshe without accent) means ugly in French. Once already someone read it Mosh and I wanted to smack her lol.
Many people seem to write it Mosché here, my dh says the sch thing is Yekke.

gp2.0

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 2:18 pm

Of the two, Moshe is better. Simpler. But DH who is legally Moses is very happy with it because everyone knows how to spell Moses and it's more 'professional.'

amother

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 3:36 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Of the two, Moshe is better. Simpler. But DH who is legally Moses is very happy with it because everyone knows how to spell Moses and it's more 'professional.'

Only it is so old fashioned these days to be "heimish" and go by the name Moses, Jacob, or Isaac..

chocolate chips

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 3:42 pm

amother wrote:

gp2.0 wrote:

Of the two, Moshe is better. Simpler. But DH who is legally Moses is very happy with it because everyone knows how to spell Moses and it's more 'professional.'

Only it is so old fashioned these days to be "heimish" and go by the name Moses, Jacob, or Isaac..

so not true. Dh has 2 bosses both go by their english names. And so do several other people I know (harold, joseph, moses, charles etc)

THe people who I know Moshe/moishy spell it as so.

AlwaysGrateful

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 4:02 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Of the two, Moshe is better. Simpler. But DH who is legally Moses is very happy with it because everyone knows how to spell Moses and it's more 'professional.'

More professional? Perhaps. But simpler? No. As someone who has an English legal name, it's a pain. My school called me by my Hebrew name on their class list, so taking the SATs under my legal name was difficult. And then dealing with college applications where the people who were my references/wrote my letters of rec didn't know my legal name...and then dealing with people writing out checks to me under the wrong name...and then dealing with tax information that had my non-legal name on it...it never ends.

My kids all have Hebrew names as their legal names. Much simpler.

m in Israel

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 4:30 pm

I agree with AlwaysGrateful. I had an English legal name and I promised myself a million times growing up not to do that to my kids! I felt like I had a "double identity" and always had to remember which name I used where (doctors offices, etc.) When I worked in the secular workplace it became very confusing because on all official papers I had my legal name, but people who knew me personally knew the name I was called, and I ended up being called different names by different people at work. I would often get the question of "wait, what really is your name?"

I gave my kids their Hebrew names on their birth certificates.

To be fair, though, I do know people who would have preferred having legal names, particularly people with hard to pronounce names. I guess parents just can't win. . .!

observer

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 6:35 pm

Moshe.

Levtov

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 6:57 pm

Moshe

groisamomma

Mon, Feb 06 2012, 8:11 pm

onlyme wrote:

I would go with Moshe.

Ruchel

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 2:20 pm

I don't mind having several names. Yes, sometimes they don't have me under Ruchel/French name so I say "check French name/Ruchel". No big deal. Sometimes it is funny, like when I had ds, they told me I have two files, Ruchel who has not yet given birth but is at hospital, and Frenchname who has already given birth somewhere else! LOL!

I find our generation is less likely to give secular names except in circles where "we don't want non jews to use our holy names" or "we don't want to look ethnic/weird" or "we always did it".

life'sgreat

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 3:35 pm

I chose Moshe for my son.

Maya

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 4:22 pm

I gave our Moshe the name legal name of Morris. I hated the sound of Moses and thought it would look a little ridiculous.

Ruchel

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 4:26 pm

My parents thought Maurice (Morris in French) would be more normal as a legal name (or Moïse, which is Moses in French).

mommyhood

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 4:27 pm

chocolate chips wrote:

amother wrote:

gp2.0 wrote:

Of the two, Moshe is better. Simpler. But DH who is legally Moses is very happy with it because everyone knows how to spell Moses and it's more 'professional.'

Only it is so old fashioned these days to be "heimish" and go by the name Moses, Jacob, or Isaac..

so not true. Dh has 2 bosses both go by their english names. And so do several other people I know (harold, joseph, moses, charles etc)

THe people who I know Moshe/moishy spell it as so.

I believe by old fashioned she meant no young people have that name. I'm assuming you're dh's bosses are not so young. The people I know who use those names are minimum 40s.
I would spell Moshe because that's how I'd pronounce it.

sweetnsalty

Tue, Feb 07 2012, 6:37 pm

I put Moshe for the birth certificate

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