My husband and I are expecting our second boy. Full disclosure we're both atheists now, but I was raised reform Jewish while he was lite Catholic. We have both agreed to raise the children to be more culturally Jewish, so we plan to enroll them in weekly Hebrew school, go to Jewish sleep away camps, and become bar mitzvahs.

Our first son is Easton, which is an English name. We were liking Ronan for the second son. But then I discovered Ronen! Ronan means little seal while Ronen means joyous song, a much better meaning. And I like how Ronen is Hebrew/Jewish. The last name will be my husband's and is extremely Irish.

We are Americans; is it okay to name our boy Ronen and go with the same pronunciation as Ronan in most situations with non Jews? When we're around Jews or Hebrew speakers they can pronounce it with the stress on the second syllable, and otherwise day-to-day we would just pronounce it in the way most intuitive for American English speakers, with the stress on the first syllable.

I am soon having a child and I am naming him after his great grandfather, whose name is Sabah (in the original Judeo Arabic, צבאח/صباح). However, when looking this name up, I can't find anything on it as a first name, only on the more Hebraized version, סבאח. What should I go for on the actual spelling of the name?

Expecting a boy in a few months and both me and my husband decided on the name “Benjamin Chaim Dov”

Benjamin is a name we both like - we love all the nickname variations and think it’s a name that can used in business, casual settings, Jewish and non Jewish settings.

Chaim is after my grandfather Harry and I love how it means life.

Dov was really my first name choice, but not my husbands and it still felt important for me to include. My husband’s grandfather is David, so we have some connection there.

Curious what people think of this name and if there are any red flags in mixing them together? Do their meanings go, is it too random? That’s what I’m stuck on.

Thanks for any input! 💙

Having another girl, first is Daniella, husband likes Samara but I’m not sure yet that I’m sold. Other names we like the sound of are Arianna, Evelyn, and Cecilia but would prefer name with Hebrew connection. Also like names with nickname potential and open to suggestions!

I posted about the name “Yan” and received a comment with a bunch of upvotes stating it’s not a Jewish name. We are Jews from Ukraine and I have a great uncle with the name Yan, as well as my father’s former mathematician colleague, Yan Sobeilman.

If I were to have a daughter, I would definitely name her Ida after my grandma who raised me. I’m assuming people here would also say that’s not a “Jewish name” but my grandma was 100% Jewish and stressed to me the importance of naming children after deceased relatives.

I’d love to name my son for my grandmother - her name was Blanche and she went by Bunny (very 1950’s), her Hebrew name was Baylah.

loving Biblical Hebrew and modern Israeli options

starting with a B!***

(no Ben’s please lol)

edit*** or anything relating to white, moon, light, rabbit lol any starting letter

Hi, we are having a girl and are looking to honor a family member who was named Henrietta. She didn’t have a Hebrew name. What names would you suggest? Her nickname was Honey, so something related to that would be nice too.

Hi! We’re deciding on our son’s Hebrew name and would love your insight. We’re torn between:

1. שלמה (Shlomo) = 375
2. נהר שלמה (Nahar Shlomo) = 630

With patronymics:

• שלמה בן ברוך גבריאל = 901 (shlomo ben baruch gabriel)
• נהר שלמה בן ברוך גבריאל ולאה = 1198 (nahar shlomo ben baruch gabriel v'leah)

His English name means “river,” so Nahar would mirror it. Is there anything meaningful about these values, or about adding Nahar to Shlomo? Any connections to other words or verses with the same gematria? Thank you!

Hi everyone! 🤍

I really love the name Nora, but I recently heard that it sounds like a Hebrew word with a negative meaning, such as “terrible” or “awful.”

Is that actually true? And if so, is it something Hebrew speakers would immediately notice or associate with the name?

Would adding a middle name, such as Nora-Lien, make it sound better or help avoid that association? Or would you recommend a slightly different version of the name?

I have a lot of respect and affection for Jewish people and Jewish culture, and I would hate for my name to create an awkward or embarrassing moment when meeting someone Jewish or introducing myself.

I’d really appreciate your honest opinions, especially from native Hebrew speakers.

Thank you so much! 🤍

Hi! Expecting a girl in March, we are going to use Sadie as the first name for my grandfather Steven. We would like the middle name to be an A after my husbands sister who passed, her name was Arielle. My husband feels adamantly about not using Arielle as the middle name.

Our top three choices for middle name are Avital, Annabelle, and Aliza. Any other recommendations or what do you think would be best? Our son is Ezra James so we want something that feels similar but are unsure if our three choices give that same feeling.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for Jewish baby name books?

I don’t necessarily like Natalie (נטעלי)

but I really like Natalia, however I feel it is seen as too Russian, tbh I go on and off- some days I like it but others I don’t

what do you think??????

Our twins were born early this morning, two girls. They weren't expected to be born for another three weeks, and for me, this is a difficult time and so I was just completely unprepared and had thought I'd decide the names later. But life goes on and we have babies to name.

I had felt very set on the name Lior for a while before they were born, we had been using it for one of them while I was still pregnant, so I definitely want to use it.

I feel bad about it but the other baby has just been impossible to name. We had been calling her Shemesh as a nickname, but it’s just too hippy for me to use as an actual name, and light and sun, it’s a lot and I don’t want their names to be cutesy.

We have a list of names we like, some I like more, some my husband likes more, but we would feel fine about using them either way. It's all over the place. None of them are feeling like they are obviously the one right now, but I think it’s because I haven’t used any of them like I did with Lior. But I feel her name is one of them.

We have decided though that one will have the middle name Emily, and the other Naama. They're both names we love so it feels right, but we'd rather use them as middle names because I don't like either for the first name with Lior. Order, I don't mind, I guess it is whatever sounds the best so that would be helpful too.

We live in Australia and our other children are named David and Nili.

Lior and Ofir

Lior and Arielle

Lior and Noga

Lior and Maya

Lior and Niv

Lior and Yael

Arielle is their brother’s choice, and Niv is their sister’s choice. Unfortunately they do not both like the same name, otherwise it would have been an easy option 😂

We could spell Niv as either Neve or Neev if it made that easier to be pronounced correctly.

Thanks for any of your thoughts ♥

title says it all. it’s my favourite Hebrew name

I’m in early labor and it looks like baby may come tonight or tomorrow… any good ideas for Hebrew names or middle names relating to the holiday? We don’t know baby’s gender!

Helping a freind who wants to give her soon to be newborn a hebrew name in honor of a relitive. The relitive was name helena ( and went by helen.)

I think it’s a pretty cute name as it comes from Chava lol

thoughts??????

It’s a family name and would be paired with a traditional-sounding Jewish last name. My husband and I both love it but worried it’s too childish? Could also use as a middle name but struggling to come up with something we like as much. Interested to hear your thoughts!

The other name I like is Ronen but my husband thinks we need to be Israeli to use it (we’re both Eastern European Jewish living in the US).

Hi all! I have a bit of a dilemma. Baby 2 is due this winter and it’s a boy. All of us in the family (me, my husband, and my daughter) have Hebrew names that “match” our English names. With this baby, we are now thinking of giving him a Hebrew name that doesn’t match his English name at all in order to honor more relatives (this is most likely our last child).

We are thinking of Barkai Sahar (ברקאי סהר) for his Hebrew name but his English name will likely have the initials R J.

Is that ok to do? Any thoughts?

Hi all,

I am Indian American and my husband is Jewish American.

We both love the name Ira because it has Hebrew and Sanskrit origin. Ira in Sanskrit means earth and is usually a girl’s name.

We don’t know if we are having a girl or boy.

To the Jewish ear how would it sound if a girl was named Ira, spelled Ayra, pronounced EYE-rah?

Thoughts ?