Penina or Margalit

amother

Honeydew

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 3:26 pm

We have a relative we are considering naming after, her name was Pearl. We are considering both Penina and Margalit.

I like the sound of Penina more and because it starts with the same letter as Pearl, but what bothers me about the name is that Penina from the Bible didn't seem like such a good person. She taunted Hannah and made her cry because she was infertile. I've read somewhere (don't remember where) that maybe Penina was a good person and she only taunted Hannah because she knew that would make Hannah pray harder, but I'm not sure whether that's a source that can be believed. Does anyone here know whether Penina from the Bible was good?

Also, for Israeli imas: my understanding is that both the names Penina and Margalit have an old-ladyish connotation, but is one of them more old-ladyish than the other?

blessedflower

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 5:05 pm

Sure penina was good. In a much higher medreige than we can even understand. She did a mistake, thinking it was good, she wanted chane to have kids.
It's like the shvatim. They did a terrible thing selling josef. But they where still very very holy. And we give all their names. Ruven, shimon, levi, jehuda,....

Kiwi13

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 5:08 pm

I learned that anyone mentioned by name in Tanach was a tremendous tzadik/tzadeikes. (Not sure how that includes certain apparent resha’im, but that isn’t the case here at all.)

JoyInTheMorning

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 5:51 pm

I voted Margalit, because I think it is just a prettier name than Penina. It has a sparkly sound, while Penina just gets stuck on my lips.

I happen to love the name I was given, but I would also have loved to be named Margalit. If I had been named Penina, I would have been annoyed at my parents.

momof2+?

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 8:16 pm

I voted penina because it is more common than margalit in my community. However, I like the sound of the name margalit better.

Totally off topic: the phone was trying to make penina, peninsula. And margalit was margaritas 😏.

tichellady

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 10:40 pm

Kiwi13 wrote:

I learned that anyone mentioned by name in Tanach was a tremendous tzadik/tzadeikes. (Not sure how that includes certain apparent resha’im, but that isn’t the case here at all.)

That doesn’t make any sense

ckk

Sun, Mar 18 2018, 10:51 pm

mama24 wrote:

Exactly. She understood that in order for chana to have children chana herself had to daven. But chana wasn't davening because she had come to a place of emuna and acceptance that not having children was in hashems plans and who was she to interfere. Peninas taunting provoked her toactually daven and as a result she had a child. Meforshim explain that ordinarily this wouldn't even be considered a sin but because she was on such a high level this act of kindness that she did for chana was judged and punished. In fact this was the only sin she ever did and her portion in gan Eden was complete because it had been atoned for through her punishments in this world.

All this can be found in yalkut meam loez and other such seforim.

salt

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 2:02 am

Don't like either name much, but that may be because of the old-fashioned-ness of them.
Penina has a nicer ring to it - ending with an 'a', more feminine.
I find Margalit very guttural - I think I don't like gimel's in names.

There are other alternatives, if you want to go further afield - other names that mean gem -
Adi - a jewel (mentioned in sefer Yehezkel)
Or any of the names of the Avnei Hachoshen - Sapir, Shoham - these are more modern Israeli names.
They are not pearls, but just have the same idea, so just putting them out there.

amother

Honeydew

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 3:25 am

ckk wrote:

Thank you!

etky

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 5:43 am

salt wrote:

I feel the same. I don't care for either, but Penina sounds softer and is perhaps a tad less old-ladyish. I also know several "Nina"s who are really Penina. It's a cute nickname.
Other ideas for 'gem' names aside from Adi, Sapir and Shoham can be Inbar, Choshen and even Chen (as in Avnei Chen).

Iymnok

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 6:07 am

etky wrote:

Isn’t Chen a boy's name?

amother

Silver

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 6:30 am

Pnina means pearl and Margalit means jewels. My MIL name is margalit and I love the name but I hate the women. Shhh don't tell her son because it's his Mama but she's nasty.

finallyamommy

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 6:54 am

What about Pearl/Perel/Perle?

As someone who went through IF and really relates to Chana, I can't get behind the name Penina at all. I'm sorry, but the explanations just sound like weak apologetics from someone who's never felt the heartbreak of IF.

I don't particularly like Margalit, but I'd use it before Penina, and I'd use Perel before I'd use Margalit.

amother

Chartreuse

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 7:03 am

finallyamommy wrote:

I know 2 Peri's. One is short for Perla (Spanish origins) and one's probably something more Yiddish, like Perel.
It's very pretty.

amother

Bronze

Mon, Mar 19 2018, 7:55 am

I like the name penina very much

I dislike the name margalit - I would never use that name

You didn’t ask about Perel which is the literal translation of pearl- I’m wondering why? It’s so much nicer than margalit ... you could call her perry if you don’t like perel.