I’ve posted several threads with requests for feedback on Hebrew names. Below are two more requests:
Naima writes:
Back again… still playing with names… We’re Conservative Jews near DC looking for Israeli Hebrew names for our soon to be daughter.
We’ve pretty much decided on Michal for our future daughter’s first name (named for my husband’s late father, Michael) – we’re also considering Meital and Miri as names without a “ch,” but I really love Michal.
For the middle name – my grandfather was Bobby (given name, not just short for Robert) – and I just haven’t really come to like any names that begin with “b”… so.. expanding my list – his middle name was Kahn (his mother’s maiden name), so one option is Kalanit – husband likes it more than I do. Any other “K” names you can think of?
We’re also considering Naama – it would honor my grandfather since he was such a pleasant, wonderful, gracious person, even though it’s a more creative link instead of using the first letter.
Any thoughts?
Michal Naama F__________
Michal Kalanit F__________Thanks so much for your thoughts – truly appreciate the feedback!
A couple of readers have already responded to Naima’s request here: More Popular Israeli Baby Names. Now for another one?
Sarah writes:
I also could use some name suggestions. We are expecting our second child (don’t now the sex yet) and are having such a hard time coming up with a boy’s name. Our first son is Ilan, which we love. We tend to prefer Hebrew names, but since we are in America, we don’t want something too strange or difficult to pronounce. I think we are going to use Dalia for a girl, but are stuck on the boy name. Some things we have thought about are Reuven (knowing that it would be pronounced Ruven by non-Jewish Americans), Ori or Oscar (don’t think this is even Hebrew though). I’ve looked at all the “Hebrew name” lists that come up on Google searches, but it is difficult to know which ones are extremely old-fashioned, etc. Does anyone use the names Lev or Rom? Other thoughts?
Best wishes to both of you. I hope you will return after the babies are born so we can wish you mazal tov!
Related:
Popular Israeli Baby Names for Boys
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name
Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Frugal Tips to Save Money As Your Family Grows
Expectant parents from overseas, looking for information about Hebrew baby names, often visit this site. Here are recent comments on Popular Israeli Names for Girls:
Due Soon in Canada: We’re thinking about Dov for a boy and Savyon for a girl (I know it’s more common for boys but we like it for a girl). Are these names associated with religious/secular, or have any bad connotations in Israel I should be aware of?
Naima192: I want to thank you so much for this post – I found it last year and I keep coming back to it as we got pregnant and recently found out the sex of the baby. We found out today that we are having a girl, and we want very much to give her an Israeli/Hebrew name. I’d love to find out if Michal is still popular among little girls. What about Na’ama? Are there any names that begin with a “b” for girls, aside from Batya, Batsheva, Bracha, etc.? Thanks for your thoughts!
Please weigh in with your thoughts.
Israeli readers: We did this before, but it’s time for an update. Let us know what people in your neighborhood are naming babies these days.
Related:
Popular Israeli Baby Names for Boys
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name
Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Frugal Tips to Save Money As Your Family Grows
What Defines Israeli Parenting?
A while back I had a thread on popular Israeli baby names for boys. Jon just left following comment:
My wife and I need some help finding a suitable boy’s name. We want to name after my grandfather, Herschl Tzvi (Harry) z”l who passed away last year. We want a Hebrew name that is relatively easily pronounceable. Something that either starts with H or sounds like/ has same meaning as Herschl. We do not like the name Herschl or Tzvi, and we want it to be Hebrew. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, are there any good books/lists available online to peruse?
Thanks and Shavua Tov,
Jon
Can you help?
Popular Israeli Baby Names for Boys
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name
Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Frugal Tips to Save Money As Your Family Grows
An interview on Alternet with best-selling author Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food) ties in to our recent discussion on breastfeeding and formula marketing. Emphasis mine:
Michael Pollan (MP): I remember my mother dutifully giving us all margarine instead of butter. She would say, “Some day they’re going to figure out that butter is actually better for you than margarine,” and we thought she was nuts. In fact, it turned out that margarine was lethal and butter is fine.
Alternet’s Terence McNally (TMN): She was still feeding it to you suspecting that would happen…?
MP: The authority of mothers was essentially destroyed by the food industry. The $32 billion a year in marketing muscle out there has undercut culture’s role in determining what we eat, and culture is a fancy word for your mom.
TMN: Just to emphasize that number, that’s not the food industry, that’s the food marketing industry.
MP: That’s advertising, studying us, packaging, figuring out how to get us to eat more.
TMN: Food industry folks say, “We don’t think we should regulate this sort of thing because Americans believe in individualism and free choice, but we’re all for public education.” So maybe we’ll throw $100 million of education up against that $32 billion of marketing.
MP: $100 million is one snack food’s annual budget. The entire USDA/FDA effort to educate people about food equals one chip. [laughs] There’s no contest. They control the information about food.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=275c2010-eb4e-4351-889a-12c646af0a8c "Michael Pollan on Food Marketing Sheds Light on Baby Formula Discussion photo")
So that no one will complain (again) that males are second-class citizens on this blog, please list popular boys’ names in the comments.
The top ten names for boys in 2006 were Itai, Uri/Ori (spelled identically), Noam, Daniel, David, Ido, Moshe, Yosef, Yehonatan, and Amit.
When I was pregnant with my oldest, I shocked my mother by telling her that we were considering the name Ido (pronounced eeDO with a long O). Now, I would think nothing of it (but none of my sons is called that).
Related:
Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name
Alison left the following comment:
I am an American Jew and I am trying to find popular Israeli girl names.
We are due in April with a girl and we’d like to give her a Hebrew name (her older brother is named Avishai Navon). Both my husband and I have come up with several but none we can agree upon. I have been doing lots of web searches to try and find current Israeli girl names but I keep coming up with the same few.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as we are at a road block at this point.
First of all, thank you for visiting and I wish you an easy pregnancy and birth.
In 2006, the most popular girls’ names were: Noa, *Shira, *Maya, *Yael, Tamar, Sarah, *Roni, Agam, Michal, and *Adi. My 4-year-old has friends in gan with the starred names. We also have Ayelet, Shahar, Aviya, and Dalia. Dalia is old-fashioned–I don’t know if it’s making a comeback.
A lot depends on the “migzar.” Haredim, national religious, and secular Israelis choose different types of names, although there is a lot of overlap. The trends for girls’ names change more quickly than for boys.
Readers, please comment with names of girls in your neighborhood, especially babies. Alison, let us know if you want help with the connotations of a particular name.
Haloscan comments (in addition to comments below)
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name
Popular Israeli Baby Names for Boys
More Popular Israeli Baby Names
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