Shevatim names: most to least popular

amother

Honeydew

Tue, Nov 13 2018, 6:42 pm

Apropos of parshas Vayeitzei Tongue Out

Based on your experience (meaning, people you can think of offhand) how would you rank the names of shvatim by popularity?

My list:
1. Yosef
2. Yehuda
3. Levi
4. Binyamin
5. Shimon
6. Naftali
7. Asher
8. Reuven
9. Gad
10. Yissachar
11. Dan
12. Zevulun

smileforamile

Tue, Nov 13 2018, 6:44 pm

1. Yosef
2. Yehuda
3. Binyamin
4. Asher
5. Reuven
6. Naftali
7. Shimon
8. Levi
9. Dan
10. Yissachar
11. Zevulun
12. Gad

OutATowner

Tue, Nov 13 2018, 6:50 pm

Yehuda
Yosef
Binyamin
Shimon
Reuven
Levi
Asher
Naftali
Yissachar
Zevulun
Gad and Dan ties (as Gud, not short for Gedalya, and Dun, not Dan for Daniel)

keym

Tue, Nov 13 2018, 7:00 pm

1) Yosef
2) Yehuda
3) Shimon
4) Binyomin
5) Asher
6) Naftali
7) Levy
8) Reuven
9) Yissochor
10) Dan
11) Gad
12) Zevulan

Based on my friends and neighbors and community.
For example, I have a few neighbors who are grandchildren and great- grandchildren of R Dan Ungarisher (who passed away 5-6 years ago) so I know a few Dan's.
My friends husband was born in Washington Heights 30-35 years ago and 3/4 of his class were Levy or Levy Yitzchak after R Breur.
So names really run by community.

WitchKitty

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 3:19 am

OutATowner wrote:

Yehuda
Yosef
Binyamin
Shimon
Reuven
Levi
Asher
Naftali
Yissachar
Zevulun
Gad and Dan ties (as Gud, not short for Gedalya, and Dun, not Dan for Daniel)

I would say almost the same, just putting Dan before Zevulun (in the 9th place)

amother

Smokey

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 3:35 am

FWIW going by the whole wide world (ie non Jews included) I'd say

Binyamin (Benjamin)
Shimon (Simon)
Yosef (Joseph)
Dan
Reuven (Rueben)
Yehuda (Judah)
Levi
Gad
Asher
Naftali
Zevulun
Issachar

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 6:51 am

amother wrote:

FWIW going by the whole wide world (ie non Jews included) I'd say

Binyamin (Benjamin)
Shimon (Simon)
Yosef (Joseph)
Dan
Reuven (Rueben)
Yehuda (Judah)
Levi
Gad
Asher
Naftali
Zevulun
Issachar

Asher is becoming more popular in the secular world.

What about Israel? Zevulun seems more common there than in the US.

mommy3b2c

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 7:25 am

amother wrote:

FWIW going by the whole wide world (ie non Jews included) I'd say

Binyamin (Benjamin)
Shimon (Simon)
Yosef (Joseph)
Dan
Reuven (Rueben)
Yehuda (Judah)
Levi
Gad
Asher
Naftali
Zevulun
Issachar

Going by the world, I’m pretty sure Joseph comes way before Benjamin. And Dan would not be so high. When you see the name Dan, it’s short for Daniel. Judah is definitely more popular then Reuben.

nchr

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 7:32 am

My list:
1. Shimon
2. Yosef
3. Yehuda
4 & 5. Yissacher, Naftali
6 & 7. Asher, Reuven
8 & 9. Binyamin, Levi
10. Dan
11 & 12. Gad, Zevulun

Last edited by nchr on Wed, Nov 14 2018, 12:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 7:34 am

amother wrote:

Asher is becoming more popular in the secular world.

What about Israel? Zevulun seems more common there than in the US.

Asher is a dated name I'm the secular world. Was popular years ago think 80s maybe some 90s but not anymore (except religious Christians).

mommy3b2c

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 7:36 am

amother wrote:

Asher is a dated name I'm the secular world. Was popular years ago think 80s maybe some 90s but not anymore (except religious Christians).

Well it’s popularity is rising again. Biblical names are very in fashion right now.

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 7:56 am

Here's the list from the top 1000 baby names of 2017:

Benjamin (6)
Joseph (19)
Levi (37)
Asher (59)
Judah (207)
Simon (263)
Ephraim (855)

Here are some actual Hebrew names that made the list:

Moshe (545)
Yosef (678)
Chaim (732)
Yehuda (940)
Shmuel (965)
Eliezer (996)
Yisroel (998)

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:04 am

nchr wrote:

My list:
1. Shimon
2. Yosef
3. Yehuda
4, 5, 6 & 7. Asher, Reuven, Naftali, Yissacher
8 & 9. Binyamin, Levi
10. Dan
11 & 12. Gad, Zevulun

Is your list of people you know or names you like?

I wonder in which community Yissachar is more common than Binyamin or Levi.

Ruchel

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:08 am

Nice! which country?

I think Dan isn't so rare but again maybe it's Daniel in fact

I have a Moshe, a Shmuel and a Yisroel Heart

amother

Plum

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:15 am

It's so dependant on communities. I'm lubavitch and would put Yosef and Levi on top because they're common names in our circles

Reality

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:37 am

You cant just go by baby names.

In the frum world yossi wins hands down.

And in my italian neighborhood joe is the most common name.

amother

Violet

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:39 am

amother wrote:

Is your list of people you know or names you like?

I wonder in which community Yissachar is more common than Binyamin or Levi.

I live in England (Yeshivish circles) and I would put Levi close to the bottom. Definitely Yissacher before that. I don't know anyone called Levi, it's not common at all here...

etky

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 8:42 am

So this is my take:
In Israel Yosef (Yossi) definitely heads the list. It is the 6th most popular baby boys name among Jews (2nd overall cause Muslims use it too). Of course it's common among older generations too, not just babies.
Yehuda, Reuven, Shimon (Shimi), Binyamin (Benny) are all very prevalent, perhaps more among older generations but so are Dan(Dani) and Gad(Gadi) which enjoy popularity among the secular too.
Naftali is quite popular among DL.
Less popular is Asher - maybe it's not as popular as in chutz la'aretz because among Hebrew speakers Asher is also such a common part of speech- a word that just means "that".
Levi is not that common in the overall population, maybe because Levi is such a common family name here.
Probably the least popular are Yisachar and Zevulun although they are certainly not unheard of.

DrMom

Wed, Nov 14 2018, 9:16 am

My list:

Binyamin
Dan
Yosef
Yehuda
Naftali
Asher
Levi
Shimon
Reuven
Gad
Yissachar
Zevulun

The last 3 are super-unpopular, IME.
- Gad sounds too much like "G-d" to an English-speaker
- Yissaschar sounds stuttery
- Zevulun sounds like something from Star Trek.