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Does anyone know of any nice girl names that aren’t that common my wife and i would appreciate some ideas
Yitty
Bat-El, Sapir, Chaviva, Ahuva, Atara… how many choices do you want?
Sprintza, Yenta, Slava
NiLi, BaKol, Tirtza, Na’ama, Timmima
Can you narrow it down a little?
If you want names from tanach that I’ve never heard anyone give: Bilhah, Zilpah, Chuldah, and Ritzpah. The last is only if you want her teased for the rest of her life.
Gila, Rena, Ditza, Chedva, Ahava, Achva, Shalomit & Reut?
Yael, Michal, Serach, Chulda, Devorah.
BasSheva is very common, especially due to the Rebbitzen. How about Rus (Used to be common, but I don’t think it is now)?
Baruch ha-Shem when we live at a time when people have too many children and not enough distinctive names, and have run out of deceased relatives to name people after. I bet that 65 years ago it was easy to come up with distinctive names.
Tehila, Menucha, Shalva
Putting BaKol and Tirza on the same “unusual names” line is pretty interesting… not really the same league :). I know plenty of Tirzas and I’ve never met a BaKol.
Nili is an acronym for Netzach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker, which is a beautiful sentiment, but if you’re Zionist it has an added significance of being the name of an underground Zionist movement in WWI (and if you’re not you may want to avoid it for that same reason). I love the name, probably wouldn’t actually use it, but that’s just me.
Just names I love off the top of my head: Avital, Moriah, Shalhevet, Ayala, Orli, Shlomit, Michal (not really uncommon though)
Emunah, Bas-tzion, tziona, tikvah, na’ava, bruriah
Machsheffa
And Gamanit, I could see all of those names being teased, though admittedly Ritzpah the most.
And I applaud you for remembering that one- I sure didn’t :).
Tanach question for people who aren’t as smart as Gamanit: Who was Ritzpah?
Machsheffa
That is already the name (or at least the nickname) of his Mother In-Law (Had to get that one in 🙂
Michal, Tzila, Ada.
Merav
rina, batya, eden, shira, talya, yehudis, yocheved….
You know, there are jewish name books. Check out your local judaica store
What’s wrong with nice regular Jewish names, like Gittel, Golda, Hinda, Raizel, Fraida, Blima, Faiga, etc?
Where do you all find such strange names?
bp27- totally. I mean, what’s wrong with Yenta, Peshel, Shprintza, Genendel, Genesha… such nice yiddish names.
Bruria is a good name…
From nach? Hatzlalponi, Achsa, Eglah, Hefziba, Shlomzion, Hulda
If you want names from tanach that I’ve never heard anyone give: Bilhah, Zilpah, Chuldah, and Ritzpah. The last is only if you want her teased for the rest of her life.
I know a Bilhah.
I bet you don’t know any Ritzpah’s though. How the original Ritzpah survived with such a name I don’t understand… Yeah, I know she was named after the other meaning but even so it’s a strange name.
I know a Genesha. I think it’s a nice name (though I might be biased because I like the person :P).
yanki613 – I’m sorry to hear that you think that traditional jewish names are strange. They are fairly common names where I come from.
Chaviva and Ahuva are much stranger names to me.
bp27: Because not everyone likes those names.
It’s a taste issue.
bp27- I realize now that you weren’t joking. I’m sorry if I offended you.
OneOfMany- I know a Genendy and I think it’s a cute name because she is cute. The same with Shprintzy and Yenty. I do know that most people don’t like these names though.
writesoul – It is not a taste issue. Frankly, I think its an anti-Yiddish issue. For hundreds of years these were the standard names for girls. Now everyone feels the need for “Hebrew” names, and convert all the Fraidas to Aliza, Gittel to Tova, Golda to Zahava, etc. or, to use names from Tanach that no one used for 3000 years.
You think that our great grandparents didn’t know the names from Tanach? Ask anyone over 70 if they new anyone growing up named Michal, Yael, or Avigayil.
i know a genendel and a shprintza and a yentel. And yentel is a cutie! Though she does goes by her second name 🙂
bp27- It actually used to be that everyone was given both the yiddish name and the hebrew equivalency, e.g. Shoshana Raizel, Tova Gittel, etc. Then the girl was called by the yiddish name only. People naming after their grandparents forgot that they ever had the hebrew name to begin with and named only the yiddish name. You don’t see this trend until about 150/200 years ago that this happened by really frum people. That’s not a very long time.
bp27: My cousin was named after my grandfather’s stepmother whose name was Tehilla. She lived most of her life in pre-Holocaust Poland. You’d be surprised at how many people had non-Yiddish names.
If now people were starting to commonly name their kids names out of the gemara or something, like Nehorai or Huna, then okay, maybe I could see your argument. At least when we use Yiddish names, we’re usually naming after people. But Hebrew names (at least from lashon Hakodesh) shouldn’t go out of style or be a fad. They’re eternal. In the end, yes, maybe Yiddish names will die down. DO people still call their sons Adda and Ravina? It was perfectly common in Bavel. DO people still, as a matter of course, call their kids Astera and Regina, which are perfectly accepted names in Ladino, a language used by thousands upon thousands for hundreds of years? What is the essential difference between these and Yiddish?
By me, though, and by most people I know, it’s a taste issue. You can ask why I don’t like Yiddish names, and I’ll tell you I like some, but I like the sound of other names better. It just happens to be.
yanki613
I would suggest and recommend that you choose a name from no longer living ancestor of yours or the name of a person that you knew who was special.
How about a nice Russian name, like BGWJJILLIGKKK. Powerful, unique. The only trick is learning how to pronounce the name and outlive it.
I would suggest and recommend that you choose a name from no longer living ancestor of yours or the name of a person that you knew who was special.
Yet even better:- Name after a living anscestor as per the Sephardi & Dutch Ashkenazi Minhog, and the 2 namesakes should grow from eachother in tranquility for many decades.
BGWJJILLIGKKK
Pronouncing it is easy the second j is silent duh!
Why are Yiddish names intrinsically special or holy? I speak and understand yiddish fairly well but it’s definitely not my native tongue. However, I pray and learn in hebrew (and aramaic.) Therefore, hebrew names are a lot more meaningful to me. If I still spoke yiddish as a first language or even learned chumash in yiddish, I would name a future child in it but not speaking yiddish, its absurd.
Actually, I do know women named Regina, Bilhah, Zilpah, and Bruriah. However, I do still think they’re quite uncommon. I also really like the names Batel, Yael, and Orly. I am quite the Israeli (or Israeli wannabe o.O) though.
Golamah
Many young parents do not realize what an awesome responsibility they carry.
A Jewish name is not just something to call the person. It’s the very essence of the Neshoma.
Whatever you do be sure to ask a Rav or Rebbe, who knows these things, about the name. Giving the wrong name to a child can ruin their life.
It’s preferable to name after an ancestor. If you don’t have, ask before you give whatever name strikes your fancy.
Giving a name is not a joke. I’ts very serious business. One of the Tzadikim of the last generation often said when people came to him with the name of a choleh “If only they had come to me to ask what name to give”
Aliya. My cousin is named aliya. gourgeous name. Also Rus is still common. Another cousin is Avia. (Not aviva.) also gorgeous. My sister is Mikaella.
How about Mazal? Also, I know Esther is fairly common but it has a nice meaning that not many people know – according to the medrash Esther was a Persian name meaning ‘star’ (and I am biased anyway, my daughter is Esther)
notasheep – Esther is the Persian name for the planet Venus (Istahar), as quoted in the Gemoro (Maseches Megilla) not the medrash.
Ok, so source wrong but info right, since in the ancient world planets were also called stars, this particular one being named after a Persian goddess. And you know that I knew that.
Serach. As in Serach Bas Asher.
yanki613- what did you end up choosing? Make sure to let us know…
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