image: Chava Kovacs
See also: 20 Popular Israeli Names for Girls, 2010
Alison left the following comment:
I am an American Jew and I am trying to find popular Israeli girl names.
We are due in April with a girl and we’d like to give her a Hebrew name (her older brother is named Avishai Navon). Both my husband and I have come up with several but none we can agree upon. I have been doing lots of web searches to try and find current Israeli girl names but I keep coming up with the same few.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as we are at a road block at this point.
First of all, thank you for visiting and I wish you an easy pregnancy and birth.
In 2006, the most popular girls’ names were: Noa, *Shira, *Maya, *Yael, Tamar, Sarah, *Roni, Agam, Michal, and *Adi. My 4-year-old has friends in gan with the starred names. We also have Ayelet, Shahar, Aviya, and Dalia. Dalia is old-fashioned–I don’t know if it’s making a comeback.
A lot depends on the “migzar.” Haredim, national religious, and secular Israelis choose different types of names, although there is a lot of overlap. The trends for girls’ names change more quickly than for boys.
Readers, please comment with names of girls in your neighborhood, especially babies. Alison, let us know if you want help with the connotations of a particular name.
Popular Israeli Names for Girls
Popular Israeli Names for Boys
Help This Reader Choose a Hebrew Baby Name (November 2009)
More Popular Israeli Baby Names (April 2010)
Help Readers Choose an Israeli Baby Name (June 2010)
Israeli Baby Name Help Needed (November 2010)
What does Nissan mean? I think it is a car company in America. No offense! I like it.
Nissan is the name of the Hebrew month. Passover began on the 15th of Nissan. No offense taken, april.
So Tali is nickname for Tal, and Zivaleh is nickname for Ziva? Nicknames that i know of are shorter than the actual name. hehe. that’s cool. I like Tal. Does anyone know the origin of the name Mika? My friends nephew is named Mika like “Me-kah” and he says it is hebrew. I like it alot too. Thank you.
april, LOL. Yes, Israelis do add syllables for nicknames. “-ush” is one of the funnier ones, for small children.
My daughter is called Meital we call her Meitali or Meitalush less regularly!
The name Mika is from the prophet Michah and it means “Who is like G-d”
-onet or -yonet is another affection ending. Like they call my daughter, Talia, “Talyonet” or “boobonet” (booba is a baby doll.) I don’t know how you choose which ending goes with which name. I think my older daughter, Adele, is “Adeloosh.” Maybe it’s more for names ending in consonents, like Smadar becomes “Smadaroosh.” Sara, Yaffa, and Tova become Saraleh, Yaffaleh, and Tovaleh. Boys names often get shorter with a looser connection to the full name like Yitchak can be Itzik or Tzachi; Mordechai can be Motti.
Cool!! Thank you! I love Hebrew and Israeli names!! I want to visist Israel, alot!!! Sorry to be off topic of Israeli names. Is Tzeitel a common name?
April, no, it’s a Yiddish name not commonly used except possibly in Hasidic circles.
if maddy(my friend) was an Israeli name what ending do you think would go on it? April, i do not think can have an ending. I feel awful barging in on your baby name blog when i am not having a baby or picking out names right now. I love learning the names and i would love, love love to visit Israel and stay for…. forever maybe?:) Im sure knowing these names will come in handy.
among my israeli family,
Koral (almog),
Liel (lee-elle),
Heli,
Elinor (alinor),
Ayala,
Arianna,
Aliza,
Yudith,
Sheli,
Eilat,
Sapir,
Ofra,
and Liora
are the names that keep coming back for girls (2-3+ aunts, cousins and second cousins all with the same name LOL)
My daughter’s name is Ayala(I LOVED the name from the first time I heard it) and at her Gan there are Maegan, Michaela, Eden, Oshri, and Gabriella.
I know I’m late, but hopefully this helps SOMEBODY out some time or another.
leelee, this post still gets a lot of views. Thanks for posting!
Hi,
I am looking for pretty girls names starting with E, L or S that specifically are NOT common. I dont want to give my child a “popular” name but rather am looking for something unusual, or mystic, or exotic. However, it still needs to be easily pronouncable by non-jews as my child will have ONE name, and not a separate english and hebrew name.
If you have any uncommon but still nice sounding and pretty names for girls please let me know!
Hi,
I am looking for pretty girls names starting with E, L or S that specifically are NOT common. I dont want to give my child a “popular” name but rather am looking for something unusual, or mystic, or exotic. However, it still needs to be easily pronouncable by non-jews as my child will have ONE name, and not a separate english and hebrew name.
If you have any uncommon but still nice sounding and pretty names for girls please let me know!
What about Solia? I think it is different and beautiful. “Sole-e-uh”
Never heard of Solia, April. My daughter says it’s too close to suliah, meaning sole of a shoe.
What do you think of Eliana and Levia?
All of the Elianas I know are American or American immigrants. Levia, female lion, isn’t popular these days but I like it!
Eliezra, Eliraz, Eshbal, Lior, Lital, Liron, Liel, Sapir
I am interested in learning modern/popular girls’ names in Israel. Looking for a name that is easy to pronounce in English and (very important to my husband) is not “dated.” Other family members have already used: Noa, Tamar, Talia, Maya, Sapir, Liel, Lior. While I love those names, I am hoping to find something different. Would love to hear what is popular in Israel now for girls.
Check out today’s post, Jennifer: https://www.amotherinisrael.com/top-20-israeli-baby-names-for-girls-2010/
Thank you!!
I would love to hear people’s thoughts on the name Zelda, for an Israeli.
My thoughts are. . . don’t do it.
I’ve often wondered about a particular name. In my daughter’s school there are a lot of Adeni girls, more or less all from the same extended family, and a few of them are called Natalia.
I find this a bit strange because it sounds like a Christian name to me (Natal = Christmas?), so it’s always intrigued me but I never dared ask their mum as I don’t want to offend them obviously.
Is Natalia a common name for Yemenite girls in Israel?
I was just talking about this the other day. It seems to be common among Russians and Moroccans–the Moroccans because Natalie is a common French name. I don’t know if it’s common for Yemenites to use French names as well.
Hi ,
I m a father from Asia .
I have studied extensively the history of Israel from my childhood .
My wife now is in her 6th month pregnancy .
The ultrasound show its a girl .
Do you have any name for a baby girl ?
Starts with letter ‘ R ‘ as my 1st daughter s name is Rachel .
Rivka and Rebecca was taken by other relatives .
Thanks
Hi There,
I know this is an older thread, but have a question about a baby name for a girl I was hoping someone could help with. My husand and I are expecting and would like to name after my grandma, whose name starts with L. We want to give the child a Hebrew name. I like Leah, which is my grandma’s hebrew name, but it has just been used by a relative on his side after a different family member and I wouldn’t want to offend them. I remember briefly meeting a dati luemi Israeli a while ago with the name Livia and just fell in love with the name. Do you have any insight or thoughts on the name Livia? Are there any connotations with it? Is it tied to a particular community or generation?
Thanks so much for your help!
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Leviah, meaning female lion, is not popular these days. Lavi for boys is still used. Do you like Lior or Libi?
Love the name Livia too! There are a couple that I know (kids)…it’s a great choice!
How popular are the names Ziva and Aliyah? And in Israel do many people have double baraled names, e.g. In this can Ziva-Aliyah
Many thanks
Double-barreled names are not very common. Neither Ziva nor Aliyah is in style, but Ayala is!
I have a different kind of question. I am almost 29 and a woman; an American Jew, and didn’t learn that I was Jewish until I wa about 19 or so. I have embraced my Jewish roots, been to Israel, named my beautiful son Lev and am raising him in a Jewish home.
My question is, I want a Jewish name and am in the process of trying to choose one, which is a huge challenge for me. Any recommendations for Jewish names that are more of “my generation”? I feel strange choosing names that are popular for babies today.
Names I am feeling drawn towards are:
Carmela, Ayla, Razi, Orli, Shir, Uma.
Any insights are so welcomed!
It seems that Razi is a nickname for Raizel, which is a Yiddish name. AFAIK, Uma is neither Hebrew nor Yiddish.
Ayla is a variation of Eidel, the Yiddish word/name for gentle. The Hebrew version would be Adina.
Unless you mean the name Ayala.
Ayla (Eh-LAH) ??? can also how most Israelis pronounce Ella. It means oak tree (or goddess if you like) I’ve got an Ella, so it’s obviously top of my list. It is currently a VERY popular name in Israel.
I like Orly and Shir. Carmela might be too old, not sure. Ahuva has a similar meaning to Amanda, connected with love. Adina is also nice, if you don’t mind something pretty main-stream in the states. It’s easy to pronounce. If you ever might come to Israel, you might want to avoid anything with an ‘R’ like Shir. It was touch coming here and not being able to pronounce my own kids names! (Though there’s no reason you couldn’t still go by “Amanda”.)
My husband and I are trying to figure out a girl’s name that works well in both English and Hebrew. Our older daughter is Sophia Margalit in English and Tsophia Margalit in Hebrew. When we’ve been to Israel we’ve really loved the Galil region and had thought that Kinneret would make a nice middle name with Maya but some Israeli cousins have told us that it’s a really old-fashioned name.
Any opinions? Any other suggestions?
It is old-fashioned but not unheard of, there are some young ones around. And you’re using it as a middle name.
You can also see this discussion of Kinneret. https://www.facebook.com/AMotherInIsrael/posts/752672234747432
Thanks! If it’s a girl we’ll most likely go for it.