Yiddish Name Only | Imamother

abbyatoms

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 11:39 am

Is this common? We are expecting our first and want to give only a Yiddish name - No Hebrew name. Our rabbi says its ok, but I wanted to ask on here to find out if it's something people commonly do, or if it's very unusual.
Thanks!

LiLIsraeli

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 11:44 am

Plenty of people do this. Depends on your community. More chassidish (or even yeshivish) circles will do this more often, while it is not found as often in MO communities.

abbyatoms

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 12:14 pm

Thank you. I told my husband that it is done. He is concerned that people will assume we also named the hebrew equivalent to the name we are considering and add it on or use it instead. We don't particularly like this specific hebrew name but love the yiddish equivalent. I told him we'd just firmly tell people "No, it's just this name" until they get the message!
Anyone else?

mandr

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 1:22 pm

In my circles we give both Yiddish and Hebrew names. I happen to not like Yiddish names because many of them just aren't beautiful (to put it nicely). Like I personally prefer Adina over Yenta, and Yaffa over Shaina, and Margalit over Perel.

agreer

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 1:42 pm

Of course people give Yiddish names only!

I just heard of a baby girl named Fradel (nickname Fraidy - so cute!).
Ever heard of people called Kayla? That's a Yiddish name!

I know many people named Raizy, Tziril, Pessie, Aidel, Shayna, Faigy, Perel etc that have only one name.

Why should someone assume "Raizy" is actually Shoshana Raizel? Maybe her name is Raizel Perel? Faiga Raizel? Raizel Pessel? etc?

And some people do prefer the Yiddish name... I personally thinkg Shayna >> Yaffa any day of the week!

Ruchel

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 2:25 pm

mandr wrote:

I find Margalit (oy!) and Yaffa much less nice then perel or shaina, by very far Smile

No, no one has assumed by us that we used the Yiddish but the real form was Hebrew.

There's kah a real revival of Yiddish names even among non shomer people: Odel, Ethel, Shayna, Sheindel, Perl. Even more among MO, even more +++ among charedi. Some rarer ones pop up, often for family- not always. My kids goe to school with Alte, Kaila, Yossele, Sterna...

Now, Ladino names... Sad

debsey

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 2:51 pm

I love Yiddish names. Some of them have such old-fashioned charm. Shaindy, Perela, Yitty....so pretty. I don't love yiddish boy's names as much.....

Barbara

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 3:02 pm

My personal opinion on Yiddish names is irrelevant.

Y'all know my stance on procreation decisions. No one's business but you and your husband.

I'm sure you'll be shocked to know I feel the same about names. Unless it will embarrass the child, name him/her what you want.

bookworm10

Mon, Jul 28 2014, 3:15 pm

People name Yiddish names. People name Hebrew names. People name english names.

People name after grandparents, or they don't.

You get to pick! It doesn't matter.

As for personally, I like hebrew names better. There are a few yiddish names that I like, but hey, my great grandmothers etc all have hebrew names.

Many hebrew names are not modern hebrew- they are from the Torah. Sara, Rivka, Rochel, Leah, Chana, Devorah, Tamar, Elisheva, etc.