u/Ill_Substance_1833

This is a follow-up post to our post looking for help with a secular name. We ended up removing one of the names from consideration because it did not receive particularly warm feedback.

The secular name will not match the Hebrew name our baby boy received at his Orthodox bris (ישראל), and we are comfortable with that. This is also what we did for his siblings.

We recognize that neither of these two names is Jewish, but both have been used by many Jewish families over the years. That works for us, since our son already has a very strong Hebrew name that we love and that carries special meaning for our family.

We would love to hear which of these two names you would prefer!

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Less than a day left to name our baby BOY!

We are completely stuck between these two names.

We are from the US (Northeast) and are looking for a name that comes across as educated (whatever that means, of course!). But we also don’t mind a name with a bit of character or personality!

Even though these two names are very, very different, we love both because they feel soft to us.

And if anyone is wondering, we chose Sage for its original meaning of “wise person”!

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Context: At his Orthodox bris, we gave our baby boy the Hebrew name ישראל.

We are very happy with it, and it carries a lot of personal meaning for us.

In our family, we prefer separate secular names. One of our criteria is that the secular name should not conflict with the Hebrew name. For example, names like David or Daniel would not work for us because they have direct Hebrew equivalents.

After a lot of discussion, as well as help from this community in eliminating a number of names, we narrowed the choice down to the two names above.

Elliot — a traditional English (not Jewish) name that has been used by many Jewish families.

Sage — one of its meanings is “a wise person.” We realize it’s a bit unconventional and has no Jewish history whatsoever, but we thought it was an interesting name.

We would love to hear which name you prefer.

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Context: If you were naming a Jewish boy to honor his Eastern European heritage, which spelling would you use in the US?

EDIT: And our feelings won’t be hurt if you think it’s just not a good name or that it’s “too Slavic”!

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One of the names we are considering is:

אַלֶכְּסַנְדֶּר

For a family with an Ashkenazi background and Eastern European roots, would you spell it:

• Aleksander

• Alexander

in the US?

If you met someone Aleksander, would it come across as too Eastern European and not really be perceived as Jewish?

Curious to hear what people think.

Context: We live in the US (Northeast) but have a European background. We are looking for a name that feels timeless and educated, and that works well both in the US and internationally.

Thank you and don’t hold back, it won’t hurt our feelings!

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We are starting to gravitate toward the name Jonathan, but somehow really dislike Jon, Johnny, and even JJ.

For context, we are from Europe and live in the US, and Jonathan sounds very international to our ears.

On the other hand, Jon and Johnny are beautiful names, but they feel very much American only.

Can a child growing up in America realistically avoid becoming Jon, Johnny, or JJ, or is that pretty much unavoidable?

Does that mean this name simply isn’t for us?

Any thoughts, especially from parents of or from people with this name themselves, would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: We are also not too fond of Nathan or Nate, as they feel like completely different names.

Need a baby boy name in 3 days!

Help us decide.

Or suggest another soft name that you think is better.

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When you hear the name Sage for a boy, what comes to mind?

— A wise person?

— A green plant or herb?

— Are you surprised it’s a boy?

It seems that this name has undergone quite a transformation over the last 30 years. I think it used to be viewed more as a boy’s name meaning “wise,” but with the rise in popularity of trendy earthy and botanical names, people now seem to associate it first with the plant or herb.

What do you think of when you hear the name Sage?

Please be honest. No hurt feelings!

What is your opinion of the boy’s name Elishai (אלישי)?

Not Elisha, but Elishai, it’s a distinct Hebrew name rather than a variant of Elisha or Eliyahu (Elijah).

Elishai is pronounced eh-lee-SHYE.

What is your opinion of Elishai? What comes to mind when you hear it? Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts.

We are looking for some more “international” sounding names for a baby boy that are perhaps not direct Hebrew names like Daniel, David, and Michael so as not to create a direct conflict.

So far:

— Simon

— Jonathan

— Joel

— Jacob

— Perhaps Emil (frequently used historically)

Any other ideas?

What are your favorite “international” names which work well across countries and have Jewish roots directly or indirectly?

What is your favorite baby boy name from this list?

— Elliot

— Elisha

— Elishav

— Emmett

— Eliya

Any other adjacent names that you like (excluding Elijah and Ilya)?

When you hear the nickname Ezzy, what Hebrew name comes to mind?

We have seen Ezriel/Azriel map to Ezzy, and we have also seen Ezzy used for Eliezer.

Are there any other Hebrew names that have traditionally used Ezzy?

Also, would it be a stretch to use Ezzy as a nickname for Yisrael/Israel?

We are aware of Izzy but we don’t like it. To us it sounds a bit less elegant and not like a full name, and we are also not looking at the usual Srulik/Sruli-type nicknames for Israel.

What is your first instinct when you hear Ezzy?

And can it be a derivative of Israel, even if it’s not a common mapping?

Looking for unique Russian names for our son.

We already spent two days sifting through all the common names like Alexander, Roman, Ilya, Anton, Kirill, Artem, Andrey, Igor, Yurii, etc.

Looking for help!

Names we agreed to avoid:

— Any SLAV names

— Names impossible to pronounce

— Names like Ninel (Lenin backwards)

Looking for help with our son’s name. Ideally, it would have at least some connection to his Russian heritage or even be just Russian sounding.

The challenge is that many Russian names sound either very distinctly Slavic or heavily Greek/Roman (e.g., Vladimir, Roman, Anton, etc.).

Unfortunately, we cannot use Lev.

Alexander is an option, but we are not particularly excited about it.

Does anyone have suggestions for unique boy names that might fit?

We love the name Meir, but no one seems to know how to pronounce it, so we are thinking of using either:

Meyer

Myer

Mayer

Or are all of them still too difficult, and our son will end up constantly having to correct people on the pronunciation?

Will people make fun of him and call him Oscar Mayer, or think he is named after the supermarket?