Picture by Lara Doel
Today we have three readers seeking help with baby names:
- Is Yaeli a common first name in Israel or just the nickname for Yael? We like Yaeli more, but here in Germany we have to prove that it’s a “real” name at least in another country. BTW, you already helped us last year to decide for a girls name. Finally we didn’t choose Avigajil / Abigail because of it’s bad connotation in German. Now we’ve got the sweetest Noa (almost one year already).
While Noa might be a kind-of-boring-choice in Israel, in Germany there are only boys named Noah. But we – -mostly – get nice comments. And now in October Noa will get a sister – or brother? Thank you for any help!
I also enjoy the rest of your blog. Very interesting female point of view on Israeli culture. - I’m a long-time reader with a baby name question I am hoping you or your readers can help with. We are expecting our third child (a boy) around Rosh Chodesh Elul. We have gone with modern Hebrew first names for our other children (a boy and a girl) but are having a hard time coming up with names this time around. We plan on giving the baby a middle name after my grandfather Chananya. My husband and I both have Israeli parents but grew up and still live in the US, we are modern orthodox and would like the name to work well in both countries.
- We have a little girl named Dalia and I am pregnant again.
I really like the name Mika for a girl and I think it would go well with Dalia. However, I live in the US and all my family is in Israel. After Dalia was born my cousin said she was surprised I gave her such an old fashioned name (here in the US she has three friends named Dalia!)
How common/modern or accepted is Mika in Israel? We live in the DC area.
For more ideas, see links to baby name posts and comments: Israeli Baby Names.
love these baby name posts. To give a suggestion for #3- I have three daughters Eden Neshama- 10, Dalia Aviv- 7 and Noa Orli- 4. I think that my girls names sound good together :).
Mika is quite popular and acceptable girl’s name in Israel 🙂 So if “too popular” isn’t an issue, go for it.
Yaeli isn’t “a real name” AFAIK, but indeed a nickname for Yael. How about Yahel/Yahli ? The 2nd one sounds very close to Yaeli and is indeed a real name (spelled yod, heh, lamed, yod. Google and see for yourself :)) Also, Ayyala and Yaela.
#1 I’ve heard Yahel as a boys’ name with Tahel being the girls’ version. (Off topic, a bit, but our two oldest daughters are Avigayil – we’d been married for four years and she made her father very happy, and No’a, because that’s our favorite name out of all of Tzofchad’s daughters; we wanted a Zionist name, from the Tanach.)
#2 If you want a short middle name, Chen is good for Chanaya.
B’sha’ah tovah to all!
I like Chen a lot–of course, it has the dreaded CH.
I know a baby who is named Yaeli. The mother wanted it to be official, not just a nickname.
My father-in-law’s name was also Chananya. We called our last son Elchanan. Very modern, same meaning.