Hello! I am pregnant with our second boy. Last year my mother (Barbara) died very unexpectedly and I would like to name our son after her. We are having a lot of difficulty coming up with a name that resembles Barbara in any way that we like. Also note, we are Jewish. That means it can not be a name in use in our families (names Benjamin, Brett, Abram, and Robert/Bob are off the table). Also it doesn’t have to be Hebrew/Yiddish, but it has to feasibly belong to a Jewish person (ie no Barnetts or Brantleys).
One workaround could be that her last name was a variation of bear. So we have considered names that mean bear (Arthur, Dov, etc.) instead of going with a B name. But it can not be Bear/variations of bear since that is already my first son’s middle name.
Any advice appreciated!
Such a lovely idea to honor your mother! A few thoughts…
Honoring through the “Bar-” / “B” beginning:
[name_m]Barnaby[/name_m]
[name_m]Bernard[/name_m]
[name_m]Barabbas[/name_m]
[name_m]Barry[/name_m]
[name_m]Brendan[/name_m]
[name_m]Beau[/name_m]
[name_m]Boaz[/name_m]
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] (a little stretchy, but has the “br”)
Honoring through meaning (“foreign” & “bear”):
[name_m]Wallace[/name_m]
[name_m]Orson[/name_m]
[name_m]Christopher[/name_m]
[name_m]Newman[/name_m]
Does your mother have a middle name that could be used as well?
It’s also possible to use a name based off of something your mother loved, for example if she loved bird-watching, you could go with [name_m]Jonah[/name_m] because it means “dove”, etc.
I hope this helped strike some inspiration! Best of luck!
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Thank you! Bernard/Bernie is on the list. I hadn’t considered Gabriel/Gabe for [name_f]Barbara[/name_f] before but I love the name! It is a stretch but so are some of the others we are considering (Arthur, Robin/Bo).
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[name_m]Arby[/name_m], [name_m]Jarah[/name_m] or [name_m]Barrett[/name_m] maybe?
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I’m sorry for your loss! My first thoughts (like [name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m], [name_m]Barnabas[/name_m], Bartimaeus) feel too [name_f]New[/name_f] Testament for a little Jewish babe, but I do think they’re lovely if you’re open to them. I would say maybe [name_m]Baruch[/name_m] but I’ve had other Jews tell me it’s not usable in Jewish culture because it’s too similar to the way your prayers start? I just think of the prophet Jeremiah’s assistant but I can see why it would be off-limits. [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] and [name_m]Dov[/name_m] are lovely, though!
My other thoughts were something like [name_m]Breccan[/name_m], [name_m]Brendan[/name_m], [name_m]Brennan[/name_m], [name_m]Bram[/name_m] (is this too similar to Abram?), [name_m]Boaz[/name_m], [name_m]Barclay[/name_m], [name_m]Barzillai[/name_m], [name_f]Bryn[/name_f], [name_m]Brooks[/name_m], [name_m]Bruno[/name_m], [name_m]Brynmor[/name_m]?
Good luck!
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Bᴀrbᴀrᴀ shares a nickname with Robɛrt, so Robɛrt nn [name_m]Bobby[/name_m] (girl’s spelling: [name_f]Bobbie[/name_f]) could work.
[name_f]Many[/name_f] Bᴀrbᴀrᴀs go by Bᴀrb, so names that have -ar- in them work, whether it be [name_m]Barnaby[/name_m] or [name_m]Lars[/name_m].
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Is [name_m]Bram[/name_m] too close to [name_m]Abram[/name_m]? Maybe in the middle spot?
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[name_m]Ari[/name_m]? Pulling from Barbara’s 2 “ar” sounds.
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Mayyyybe:
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m] “Teddy” (like the [name_m]Teddy[/name_m] bear?)
[name_m]Oberon[/name_m] (a little out there but has a solid bear tie)
[name_m]Torben[/name_m] (another bear tie)
[name_m]Benno[/name_m] has the sound and ties to bear
[name_m]Osborn[/name_m] (another bear tie)
Or you could consider bear-ish things like [name_m]Kodiak[/name_m] or bears of mythology like [name_m]Otso[/name_m] or [name_f]Callisto[/name_f].
Hopefully these help! 
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I like the suggestion of [name_m]Baruch[/name_m].
[name_m]Bennett[/name_m] could also work great.
What about a ‘Mo’ name for mother? [name_f]Moe[/name_f], Moses… [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] for matriarch?
I’ll add [name_m]Barlow[/name_m], [name_m]Bartleby[/name_m] and [name_m]Eben[/name_m] to the mix. Good luck with your search!
People always misinterpret the Ashkenazi tradition of naming after dead relatives. No, it is not forbidden to use a name that a living person in the family has, it’s just a tradition to name after a dead person as opposed to a living person. There is nothing wrong with using the name [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_m]Brett[/name_m], [name_m]Abram[/name_m] or Robert/Bob so long as it’s after a dead relative, although I understand if this would cause distress in your family because they have the same misunderstanding.
Who are these Jews who claim [name_m]Baruch[/name_m] is unusable in Jewish culture? It’s a very Jewish name, common in the Orthodox Jewish world (at least as a religious name). I’d be surprised to meet a non-Jewish [name_m]Baruch[/name_m] (although supposedly [name_m]Baruch[/name_m] and other Hebrew names are acceptable among Christians in the Netherlands). However, I wouldn’t recommend the name [name_m]Baruch[/name_m] in an anglophone country (like I assume op is from) because no one can pronounce it properly.
I happened across [name_m]Bara[/name_m] / [name_f]Bara[/name_f] on here recently. Might be worth a look. Here’s a bit more info on the boy’s name: tB & A. And here’s another place to look at for the girl’s name: BtN.