What's in a name?
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Quite a lot, actually. For starters, we are told that parents are granted a minor degree of ruach hakodesh (divine inspiration) when they select names for their children. So it's not an arbitrary decision.
Take a look at the Hebrew word for name—"sheim." It has the same letters as the word sham—"there." Not a coincidence. A person's name tells you what's really there.
One's name is not merely a handle; it is more than a convenient tool by which he/she can be identified and summoned. It is a conduit through which G‑d provides the individual's vitality, energy and sustenance. Therefore the Talmud tells us that the great sage Rabbi Meir would "scrutinize a name" and deduce aspects of a person's nature based on the name's meaning.
Based on this concept, our sages tell us, that a change in name can result in a change of luck.1 And in accordance with this idea, an additional name is often given to one who is dangerously ill. Why should another name help—it's the same person, and the same disease? But it may be that a particular pipeline is no longer functional. In this event a name is added, to allow for a broader flow of divine energy to the affected individual.
Malkie Janowski for Chabad.org
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Latest Comments:
Help! I always love to translate and change my name to hebrew. But how can I translate and change the name Rodita close to a hebrew name? Please, any idea?
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Shelly's suggestion is one good one. I have a couple more suggestions, so Kelly will have at least that much choice.
One is Chayil or a variation of it. It means something like "Valiant" and suggests a fighter and a warrior.
Another is "Geverah" or a variation of it. I realize that it is used in Israel to day to mean "Ms." but it comes from the Hebrew word "Gever," which means Hero. That sounds like a warrior to me.
Also, look up the Hebrew for the word "host" (as in HaShem of Hosts). The feminine of that is used in the Torah for the women who donated their copper mirrors to make a huge bronze laver for the priests. A wonderful midrash tells the valor of these women, who visited their husbands in the field & bore children even though their husbands feared Pharaoh's decree to cast newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile. These newborns were cared for by HaShem personally, & when the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea they recognized haShem as their caretaker. Zeh Eli!
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Steve Kohn is absolutely right. Although I am ashkenazic, I have often wondered why it's OK to have a name like Gittel, which is a Jewish name but NOT a Hebrew name. Steve also points out that many Latino names have become Yiddish names. Another on that list is Schneur, which derives from Senor. Evidently some of the valiant Sephardim who left Spain in 1492 wound up in Eastern Europe and their names became part of Yiddish culture there. By all means let us salute the Jewish names of the Sephardim.
BUT what do we do about Jewish names, of whatever origin, which are not also HEBREW? Do we need a HEBREW name? Also, how do we find out how the separate meanings of each of the Hebrew letters of our Hebrew name combine to depict who we "really are"? That would be good to know!
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Have you thought about Judith or Yehudith? She was the gal, at the time of the Maccabbees,who fed Holofernes wine and salty cheese and when he passed out, she cut off his head, and scared his soldiers all off. Do you think that sounds like a jewish version of a warrior maiden?
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all the first born females in my generation of my family have the same Hebrew name: Yachet, after our grandmother. She died in Vienna, before the Holocaust, so I was able to visit her grave and see how her name was spelled. Nonetheless, as a child in an Orthodox Hebrew School forty-some years ago, I was told that Yachet wasn't a Hebrew name, and couldn't be my Hebrew name (despite the fact that it was given to me on the Bimah by my Orthodox father soon after my birth.) They named me Yocheved. I know I am not Yocheved, I never was, I never will be. I am Yachet. This happened to other people I know. I know one family where all the kids have names they refer to as their Hebrew and their "Jewish" (meaning Yiddish) names. It gets very confusing when it comes to what to write on a Ketubah or a gravestone, believe me.
Which name have people you know chosen? The names of their ancestors, which might be Yiddish, or the alternative Hebrew name?
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Good comment, Steve!
My names are Sephardic, too, and my experiences jive exactly with yours.
As a result of my names, throughout my life I've been told that my family is ignorant by people who are demonstrably both ignorant AND intolerant.
Thanks for expressing your exasperation as well. It's validating!
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I was given a "biblical" name because my parents married outside their perspective faiths and since I have chosen judaism I have been conflicted on weather or not to keep my psudo-hebrew name or to begin new... but this help in my decision thank you
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My given name is Kelly, which is "warrior woman" in Irish Gaelic and seems to fit personality wise! I was raised as a gentile; however have Jewish herritage from both my father's parents and have chosen to live Torah observant for the past 7 years and would like to have a Hebrew name.
I have looked through about a dozen books to find a Hebrew equivalent and can not find one that adequately is even close, except Sabra, but I am not Israeli born, so that doesn't work.
Would anyone have a suggestion? THANKS!
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This has often been a sore point for me as a Sephardic Jew. Too many times, I have heard people with names like Gittel, Fivel, Leible, Golda, and Frumma tell me that names like Clara, Buena Fortuna, Fortunada, and Moises are not "Jewish" names.
How come German names (Yiddish is afterall Judaized German) are considered Jewish names whereas Spanish names (Judeo Spanish or Judeo-Arabic) are considered goyish?
I'd like to see common German names like Fruma, Gittel, Leibel and Golda all become Hasida, Tova, Ze'ev, and Zehava instead.
Lead by example.......when all of you get your Hebrew names, then you can tell the rest of us to do as you have done, rather than do as you say-but not as you do.
By the way, Mussia is an Arabic name for Frankensence. Braina is Russian. Mendel is also a German name. Shpritza actually comes from the Spanish word Esperanza, and neither is a Hebrew name ! Bluma is "flower" in German. Is it somehow more kosher than Rosa?
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I am not sure if i am jewish matrilinealy or not...still researching this but believe I am. Coincidentally, I have already a hebrew name, though spelled differently than some..If I find I am not jewish and then convert, do I pick another hebrew name or keep the one i have?
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