What's wrong with non-Tanachi names?

I mean...you don't have to tell ME. A good number--if not most--of my favorite names aren't Tanachi names. Nechama, Meira, Shoshana, Chaya, Rina...etc.

But I keep having theoretical conversations with my husband, who is convinced we're going to end up having a million girls, and he only wants to use Tanachi names. Because it's "nicer." So there go my favorite names, plus there are only, like, three that we can agree on (Elisheva, Avigail, and Miriam, I think). He was dead-set on Rut, but my grandmother is Ruth so that's out...and I'm trying to convince him to widen the pool to more than the above-mentioned three names. I don't really know how to convince him that non-Tanachi names are also legit. Help?

Otherwise, are there some really obscure biblical names I hadn't thought of that are sort of similar to the ones I like? (We prefer not to name after people who are known mainly for "bad" things, so for example Tamar and Batsheva are out.)

(I'm focusing on girls' names because that's where most of the problem lies...there are many Tanachi boy names to choose from.

Not anon because I'm a name geek and this is only theoretical, so hold the b'sha'a tovas Wink

Silver Member Joined: Apr 03 2011 Posts: 618

Why don't you wait until you need a fourth girls name to dwell on it? Also, what if you call a girl by one of his names and one of yours. Then you can compromise on a nickname...

Nope, he also doesn't like double names.

Platinum Member Joined: Nov 01 2009 Posts: 8222

what about names from nouns in tanach? my friend just used ayla.
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saw50st8: what's Ayla mean and where is it? Also, I'd be very surprised if none of my favorites were words in Tanach, so apparently that's not okay either.

Ruchel: Yes, I know. Actually, there are some Yiddish and Aramaic names I would really like to use, but if I can't even convince him of Hebrew/non-Tanachi, I don't even want to touch other languages....

Executive Member Joined: Aug 25 2011 Posts: 305

for some reason, my very yeshivish BIL tends to think there are also nicer and somewhat frummer.
but I think there are some tanach names which are "non tanachi" sounding in my opinion, such as michal, rachel (NOT rochel), Yael, etc. maybe he would be ok with some of those

Silver Member Joined: Dec 30 2010 Posts: 737

Silver Member Joined: Feb 28 2011 Posts: 892

Have this feeling u'll have more boys coming ur way! But y'know what.. really interesting.. I'll follow up to see responses.! Wink

We are also a fan of Tanachi names (though we haven't used them exclusively) - there is something special for a child knowing they were called after a tzaddik (though, of course, that doesn't have to be from Tanach). Also, although other names are widely used, they are still later - one of the reasons we came out of Egypt was 'shelo shinu shemotam'.

If you already have three names at this stage, I wouldn't worry. Some people don't have one when they already have to name a baby. Wink

What about Heftziba, Naomi?
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Platinum Member Joined: Nov 01 2009 Posts: 8222

What does it mean Tanachi sounding?

Chagit, Meirav, Michal, Achinoam, Avital, Avishag, Nitzevet, Batya, Bitya, Chana, Osnat, Serach, Sarai...
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do the people who won't use Tamar or Bassheva also not use Yehuda or David? (both of them were just as if not more guilty)

Unless you are thinking about the Tamar who was raped. (she didn't do anything wrong but not a pleasant connotation I guess)

Thanks Raisin. But then we could say Yiddish names sound Tanachi, and certainly classics used throughout history by all edot like Rachel?

You couldn't agree on Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah?

There's Devora, Tzipporah, Yocheved.

There's Shlomtzion, Achinoam, Esther, Yael, Michal.

There's Chaggit, Cheftzibah and Yehudit...
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Platinum Member Joined: Mar 12 2009 Posts: 13192

This is an interesting discussion. We didn't pick names we liked, but named after relatives (and only used names we liked, of course). I guess it's a bracha to know our ancestors names, though not necessarily a bracha if too many names become available too soon.
Of those names, now that I think of it, a surprising number do appear in Tanach, but by no means deliberate on our part.
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