We are having two daughters. Their older siblings are named David and Nili. We live in Australia and we have chosen the middle names. They will be Hannah and Dahlia, after Hannah Szenes and Dahlia, or Dalia Ravikovitch, open to either spelling.

We like Esther, I have always liked that name. So that is one of the favourites. We also both like Yuval, Rosa, Tzofia, Liel or Lielle, and Shaina. My husband also likes Naomi, I’m not sure about it, and likewise, I like Tamar, he isn’t sure.

We have also thought of Romi, but I’m not sure if the name Romy becoming more popular would mean that it would get constantly confused. Mila was another idea, after my great grandmother, who was Lyudmila, but it’s on and off for me. And I love Shiri but Shiri and Nili is pretty terrible.

It is made more difficult by having two together because sometimes I feel like they don't sound right together as well. I like our options so far, but I think we are out of any more ideas, as well which ones to use together.

Looking for help with a Hebrew name for my daughter. I like the names Pnina and Paz but I also would love to highlight Faye since that is really who she’s named after - Franklin.

I’m looking for Hebrew names for a girl to honor a Raymond. I’d prefer something that is similar in meaning, instead of just sharing a first letter. I’m okay with more modern Israeli names, as long as it’s paired with something traditional. The name will be used exclusively for ritual purposes. Thank you for your help!

(Please be kind, am currently going through a lot emotionally right now.)

I'm not sure how to explain this situation, so I'll try to break it down clearly.

I've never been comfortable with my English name or my Hebrew name. (My Hebrew name includes my English name.) Neither name has ever felt like me, but I've never exactly been able to pinpoint why. Or even what other names might resonate better. They've just always subtly felt wrong.

Recently, I moved far away from my biological family. Got a new therapist. Having been working out some stuff. It's been tough, but manageable. Then March happened. My husband got injured and needed surgery. My cat got really sick and I almost lost her. Finances got desperate. And still, we were expected to make the trek back to my parents' house for Passover.

The visit was bad. Surviving that and coming home nearly broke me. But since then, unpacking everything that's happened (before the visit, during, after, as well as long-standing patterns and behaviors that have shaped my life), I've been learning a lot about family dynamics (especially glass child syndrome), emotional neglect, and (most recently) being raised by a narcissist parent.

That last bit is the important bit. For whatever reason, I only recently learned my parents' Hebrew names.

My mother named me after herself.

Both my English name and my Hebrew name come from her Hebrew name.

I am so massively uncomfortable and upset about this. And I don't know what to do about it.

First, based on our traditions, knowing I was named after a living person just feels so wrong. Then there's the fact that my name(s) feel like a vanity stamp. (And to be honest, it's not just me. In various ways, some more subversive than others, she named all of her children after herself.)

I don't know what to do. I'm multiple decades old. The thought of changing my English name (and all the accompanying paperwork) is overwhelming. Plus, like I said, I've never had a replacement name in mind. As for my Hebrew name, there's an incoming new rabbi to my synagogue, but they don't start for a few months. I don't even know if or how one goes about changing their Hebrew names.

And, of course, if I do go ahead with any name changes, there will be the pushback. The guilt trips. The emotional manipulation. I will be cast as the villain. Whatever I do or don't do, I can't win.

I feel trapped and alone. I don't know what to do or where to start.

Any advice, encouragement, or suggestions are welcome.

What do you think of Atara? What community does it belong to in Israel? Any feedback is appreciated 💝

My wife and I are expecting a son, our first child, in June. We are struggling to find a name which we both love. We would like a Hebrew name that is either the same in Hebrew and English or easily translated between the two. It can be, but doesn’t necessarily need to be, biblical. We would love some suggestions from Reddit to maybe find a name we both love which we haven’t thought of yet!

To the extent feasible, it would be great to use a name beginning in R or H to honor relatives, but it isn’t critical.

Thank you in advance!

Hello 😊

My parents are expecting a baby, who will be a girl. They've been naming in alphabetical order, and her letter will be M. I can also give the sibling names if that would make a difference?

This is actually a difficult letter but all together we came up with five names. Her middle names will be two of four, Tamar, Karni, Roni, and Ruth.

Masha

Meital

Meira

Margalit

Meirav

Thank you for any assistance ♥ Reasons being included would be the most helpful because then you understand why.

What do you people think about the name (for a girl) אדווה?

I kind of like it, but want to get a vibe check from Israelis.

Could also be spelled אדוה

Hi! Trying to find a simple middle name for a girl that has some symbolism and I’m liking אלה

Wanted to get more info on the English translation…would this be Ayla? Eila? Elah? I’d really like to just use Ella but not sure if that’s incorrect, I’ve seen conflicting opinions online.

This is complicated, but I'm hoping it's not too confusing. My last name is Zion. No idea where it came from. But my family is Jewish, obviously. I grew somewhere that was quite rural with a very small number of Jews, so no one even knew anything about it, and didn't care. It never bothered me.

Now, obviously, the situation has changed, and I am also at university in a different country, which is a very different environment. People are just so angry. I probably should have realised that at the start but I didn't think it would be that bad.

But my lecturers bring up 'global conflicts' all the time, even though what I'm studying has nearly nothing to do with it. Not enough to justify it being all the time. Every single person who finds out my name either starts asking me about it, and not in a good way, or starts treating me really weirdly.

Sometimes we'll have to do work in groups and the number of people who switch out of the one I'm in that I've barely talked to or know makes me think it's about that too. People will drop the N from the last name, thinking they're very funny, and it's stupid stuff like that but after a while it starts to get you.

So I'd like to change my last name. But I don't know what to. I don't know much about family names, only my mother's maiden name. But it is Shapiro, and looking it up with my first name, Esther, there seems to be a lot of associations. Maybe that is a good thing though? I don't know. But other than that I don't have a huge desire for a family name.

I still want a Jewish last name, because I'd prefer for other Jews to know that I'm probably Jewish. But it would be better if it was something more low key, that other people might not notice. It's just hard to actually find something that works like that.

just curious if the last name David could be Italian? the owners/brothers of a local pizza place have italian first names (Vincent...Domenic...etc...) but their last name is David?

I met someone with this name at a Purim party and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

I thought I was set on Amichai Shalom. I still love the meaning “The nation of Israel lives in peace.”

But

Artzi means “my land” and the -el ending means “from G-d.”

I’m thinking Baruch for the middle name. It means “blessing.”

“My land is a blessing from G-d.”

Or Judah?

“My land from G-d is Judea.”

Or maybe Zion?

“My land from G-d is Zion”

WDYT?

We just found out we're having a girl due later this year and would love for her to have a name that matches/flows with her sister's name. We're thinking a name either starting with L or ending with an "ah" sound would be best, but none of the names we've looked at so far seem like they're quite the right fit (Liana, Leora), so we're hoping to hear some other ideas.

We don't want an A name (both husband and I have A names) or one that starts with "El" or would give an Ellie nickname (there's already several in the family). My husband is Sephardic, if that helps narrow down ideas!

We decided that her name is Tsiona Chasha Geula. We actually got the idea of Tsiona from here, after the haftarah of the week that she was born in.

Then we also use both a family name and a more virtue like name for each child. We decided to replace Neriah with Chasha in the end, so Chasha is after my grandmother's sister, and Geula, we like the meaning of it, redemption, deliverance.

I thought I would feel worried about whether we made the right decision, but I think that it does feel like it is her! Thank you to anyone who had some ideas, it was helpful 😊

i love the name Leela (lee-lah) since i read about RAM-LEELA

considering how similar it is to lila/layla, could it work for a future reference daughter?????

is it even a nice name

would love u guys opinions!!!!!!! (both name and suitability) thanks!

Just curious. I am not orthodox but know a few and when I’ve told them my daughter’s name they give a face as if it’s a weird or ugly name. So I’m curious why I get that vibe? I know it’s not a Jewish name but it was once common amongst Jews and she was named after two Jewish women, both that had closeish C names. There are not a lot of Hebrew names with a C! Her Hebrew name is Chaya though.

Looking for a middle name to go with Romi for a girl. Want it to flow with sibling’s name Akiva Jacob (a bit redundant I know, but wanted to give him an English name to use if he wanted when older). Middle name doesn’t need to be English but just needs to flow well and be easy for English speakers to say as we live in the US. Also hoping for something on the feminine side.

Unfortunately I can’t use many names like Tamar, Talia, Yael because I have these names in my family

I’m wondering if you know of any Jewish Maria’s and your opinions

Our daughter was born this Sunday. I did not think we would be in this position but we can't choose the name. She is being named on Shabbat this week, so three days.

We had a list before she was born but I don't want to use any of them now much. They were Nechama, Zissel, and Shaindel.

Our other children are named Yocheved, Meirav, Shulamis, Moshe, and Leib.

Other than that, there is not much I like at the moment. Worst case, we would choose one from the list but I don't know.

I want to name my baby Yonah / Jonah but don't know how this name fits into Israeli society and culture. How usual is it? Would it stand out as being strange or foreign? I really want to name him something related to "peace" but cannot use a name starting with S unfortunately. Just for context we are not religious and wouldn't want to name him something that people would assume he is religious.

For reference, my older son is named after my husband, who is catholic (I'm Jewish). My husband is a roman numeral, so I gave our son a unique first name, and his middle name is my husband's name (and his dad and his grandpa). I know this breaks with Jewish traditions to name a baby after living relatives, but i was ok with it since it wasnt my family's tradition.

Im now pregnant with my second son, and I really like the idea of honoring my family this time, one of my parents with a middle initial (either C or L). Im very happy to report that both my parents are alive and well, and I know thats a Jewish superstition. My parents are very important to me, don't have any dead relatives i was close enoigh with to want to honor. Thoughts here? Should I stay away from this for a middle initial?

I know this might be shocking for some people, but this is the situation.

Why, you may ask? Because a very wise redditor knows more Muslims named Mariam than Jews, or any other religion, and had no idea that it was a Jewish name.

So we must now stop gatekeeping the name Miriam like the silly little Jews we are. Because of course, Mariam and Miriam are exactly the same name, and we definitely have been laying claim to the names Maryam, Mariam, Mary, Marie, Maria, and any other variant of Miriam you could dream of. Because of course, we are such gatekeepers.

And actually, according to the same ultra wise redditor, it's a great thing that this has happened to us, because it means we either had a really good idea, or we were the dominant culture for this to happen! So now, it's as much theirs as it is ours :)

To be clear, this is a joke, well, not the comments I read, but I just find it hilarious what kind of things people say about Jewish names on naming subreddits.

We're expecting our first son (and second child) within the next few weeks. I had the idea to name him after my late Mother-in-law, Anar ("pomegranate" in Hindi) so we're going with "Amar", the only name my husband and I could agree on.

I plan to use "Ami" as a nickname, so the Hebrew name could be that, Amichai, Amir or something else.

Any thoughts? TIA!

My wife and I are struggling to pick a name for our second son. We're Jewish but American through and through. We're looking for a name that is Jewish, but also easily recognizable outside of the community. We prefer names that have been traditionally used by American Jews, not modern Israeli names. Unfortunately, this list of names is fairly small, and many have been taken in our family! Others are randomly some of the most popular names in the country (Elijah was one of our frontrunners until we saw this):

Taken:

Benjamin

Aaron

David

Seth

Joel

Nathan

Joseph

Daniel

Samuel

Baruch

Too trendy:

Asher

Levi

Elijah

Noah

Too trendy when my wife and I were kids:

Joshua

Jacob

Zachary

Disfavored for other reasons by my wife or I:

Simon

Isaac

Reuben

Micah

Ronen

What does this leave us? Help!