Names in Anglo charedi israel

salt

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:09 am

amother [ Hosta ] wrote:

Elisheva also seems to be an American name. I know one Elisheva whose parents might be tzabarim bnei tzabarim. The others all have an American parent.

I know quite a few Elisheva girls with Israeli parents. Fairly common in my circles.
Batsheva is also nice, but much less common - don't know why.

Rappel

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:09 am

After messing up my first two kids' names, I really wanted to give normal names for the rest of them. I resolved to adopt a local and take her into my confidence. Basically, I bring this friend lists of names, and she tells me if they sound weird to an Israeli ear. Presto! The names which remain on the list are options.

chanchy123

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:16 am

salt wrote:

I know 1 boy and 1 girl Maor - both about 16 yrs old.
Much nicer for a boy IMO.

Maor is quite common as a boy's name - there are several famous Israeli singer/actors named Maor. I didn't realize it was used also for girls until my neighbor called her girl that. I was at a school event yesterday for DD, she has girls named Chessed and Nachal in her grade, really anything is acceptable in the DL community. People get used to any name here.

DrMom

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:20 am

chanchy123 wrote:

That's what I assumed (although I am not part of charedi society). Does anybody really care so much if a child has a slightly unusual name? I'm not talking about a totally crazy name ("Falafelball Magpiash" or something like that), I mean a Tanachi name that was more popular 30 years ago than it is now.

chanchy123

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 3:32 am

DrMom wrote:

In the DL world no. But still if your child's name is Chaya Mushka or Yonina- for her entire life people will have certain expectations of her, and she'll have to prove herself as unique if she doesn't play the part. Some of my kids have unique names (one has a VERY unique name) I don't know if I'd give it again, but it does reflect where we are as a family, and although it is (again VERY) unique it is within the realm of acceptance in our world. However, when a name is so identifiable within a certain world you need to be aware of this when giving it.
I know a woman my age named Moriya - which is a perfectly standard common name for DL/Torani women my age or a bit younger, but her parents were BT and gave her the name when they were secular. As secular Israelis 40 years ago, this name was very very very unique - little did they know that down the line, their DDs name would become so pedestrian (so it can go both ways).

DrMom

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:34 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Chaya Mushka, maybe, because it is so uniquely associated with Chabad.

Yonina? Meh. I know 2 Yoninas, 1 DL, 30s woman (with American parents), 1 an older schoolteacher, Torani, Israeli. AFAIK, their names were never an issue.

salt

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 4:49 am

Rappel wrote:

I'm intrigued as to how wrong you could have gone with your kids' names.
Saadia, Shprintzel, Metushelach? I guess you won't reveal.
Pretty much any name just grows on a person, and although it's unusual, it becomes 'them'.

amother

Dimgray

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:01 am

We're MO/DL and our kids are named for our grandparents. So they have traditional names , think Abraham, Yaakov, Leah, Rivka kinds of names. One dd is doing sherut leumi in a place with many charedi women. They all want to know why she and her siblings have such charedi names. Very Happy

jerusalem90

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:02 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

We plan to stay in israel long term . Recently dh and I were talking about baby names and I realized we ar white kind of at a loss . We like what would be considered unique but not very out there names in jpf/ yeshivish American circles but don't know how that correlates to names in israel . We don't know what is in style . We want to make sure we aren't naming our kids names that sound nice in America but would sound off in israel .
For reference some names we like for a girl : chaviva , yonina, yakira, batya, Avigail, nava , chedva
For a boy we like : Gavriel, uri, Shmuel

What are some names that fit into that type of category that are popular in israel ?

From your girl list: Avigail and Nava are great. Batya is Grandma name. Names you didn't mention: Tehila is nice but super popular in Israel. Tamar, Yael also super popular, definitely would fit in. Sarei - ending pronounced like "eye" would be good if you wanted something acceptable but less common. Eliana would be acceptable, pretty and not too common but would peg her as very likely Anglo (nothing wrong with that). Do you like Rina? It's not super common, and Anglo friendly but not Anglo - only.

Any of the boys names you listed would be fine. Others to consider: Yonatan, Daniel, David, Ariyeh.

chanchy123

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:17 am

amother [ Dimgray ] wrote:

IME pretty much everything goes in DL circles. My kids all have a mix of popular modern names, unique DL names, and very traditional names in their classes

amother

Dimgray

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:36 am

chanchy123 wrote:

IME pretty much everything goes in DL circles. My kids all have a mix of popular modern names, unique DL names, and very traditional names in their classes

Right. No one in the DL community bats an eyelash at my kids' traditional names. I just thought it was funny that to charedim, those names aren't what they associate with DL.

amother

Crocus

Mon, Jun 21 2021, 5:34 pm

When I lived in Yerushalayim, I found that the chareidi Israelis mainly named their kids Chani and Leah'le with a few Avigayil's and Tamar's thrown in.
I recently moved to another chareidi city and the names are much more creative. My Israeli chareidi friend has 4 daughters - Efrat, Ayala, Batya and Hadas.
My daughters have friends named Aviya, Noa, Ayelet, Sarit, Avishag, Chedvi (nickname for Chedva).

Ask some of your neighbors if you can read through their kids' class lists!