The DH and I can’t agree on any names for our first child (baby boy) due in [name]December[/name]. I would appreciate any feedback on the name list below or any additional names you think would suit us! DH likes names that are super popular ([name]Max[/name], [name]Henry[/name], [name]Aiden[/name], etc.) while I favor nothing in the top 100. A couple of years back, we both liked [name]Asher[/name], but now I fear that it’s become super popular and will continue to rise well into the top 50. We prefer Biblical, Jewish, Hebrew or Yiddish names, since we are both Jewish, and our last name is fairly common (and does not sound Jewish). However, we are open to anything at this point (I also have a fondness for Irish, English and Latin names and any name with a tie to baseball).
Here is the list so far:
[name]Asher[/name] (I’ll leave it on for now - curious on your thoughts)
[name]Jonah[/name] (this is the DH’s pick and his favorite; I didn’t like it at first, but it’s growing on me)
[name]Liev[/name]
[name]Theo[/name]
[name]Morgan[/name]
[name]Nathaniel[/name]
[name]Riley[/name]
[name]Dustin[/name]
[name]Omri[/name]
[name]Aviv[/name]
[name]Casey[/name]
[name]Jeremy[/name]
[name]Jonah[/name]: I have to agree with your husband, this name is awesome!
[name]Liev[/name]: I think this name is handsome, masculine, and will age well with your son.
[name]Nathaniel[/name]: This name is cool, and has great nickname potential if you so choose to nickname your son, [name]Nate[/name] and [name]Nathan[/name].
[name]Dustin[/name]: Has a cowboy feel to me, but I’m from the southwest U.S. and a lot of cowboys are named this.
[name]Aviv[/name]: This one is cool!
[name]Jeremy[/name]: The other day I met a [name]Jeremy[/name] that went by [name]Remy[/name], I like [name]Jeremy[/name] and I thought the nn was cool too!
Thanks for your help! I love [name]Liev[/name] - it’s probably my #1 right now, but I’m worried people will have issues with the pronunciation (it’s [name]Lee[/name]-ehv, not Leave). I like [name]Lev[/name] too, but I like [name]Liev[/name] better. [name]Aviv[/name] means spring in Hebrew ([name]Aviva[/name] is the feminized version, which was on our girl’s list). [name]Jeremy[/name] is the one name that doesn’t really fit with our other choices (very popular in for my generation in the 70s/80s) but I’ve always loved it and it flows well with our last name. I like the name [name]Nathaniel[/name] from Six Feet Under (nn [name]Nate[/name]) - it’s the most popular on the list but I think it will work well in all walks of life (social, business, etc.). The husband thinks [name]Dustin[/name] is just “eh” (his exact reaction) so it might fall off soon. Thanks again!
[name]Zevi[/name] (good alternative to [name]Levi[/name])
[name]Elias[/name]
[name]Malachi[/name]
[name]Jeremiah[/name] (instead of [name]Jeremy[/name])
[name]Gideon[/name]
[name]Zephaniah[/name]
Ziph (descendant of [name]Judah[/name] and biblical place name)
[name]Ari[/name]
[name]Caleb[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Joachim[/name], [name]Joshua[/name], [name]Israel[/name] (I discovered it as a middle name of a Catholic ancestor…go figure). Best wishes!
Of your picks, I personally love [name]Jonah[/name], and I think [name]Liev[/name] is really cool. Like you, I prefer less popular names, and while [name]Asher[/name] is nice, the popularity would bother me. I love the Hebrew name Yoav, and probably won’t be able to use it myself since I’m not Jewish - it actually kind of combines [name]Jonah[/name] and [name]Liev[/name]/[name]Aviv[/name], and it’s not popular at all, but totally usable, in my opinion.
Combo ideas:
[name]Jonah[/name] [name]Sebastian[/name] (similar feel to [name]Nathaniel[/name], but wouldn’t repeat the “na” sound at the end of [name]Jonah[/name])
[name]Jonah[/name] [name]Riley[/name]
[name]Liev[/name] [name]Asher[/name]
[name]Liev[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name]
Yoav [name]Nathaniel[/name]
[name]Nathaniel[/name] Yoav
[name]Nathaniel[/name] [name]Aviv[/name]
[name]Theodore[/name] [name]Aviv[/name]
[name]Theo[/name] [name]Aviv[/name]
Have you thought about whether or not you’d like to honor a deceased relative by using the first initial of his/her name? We are Eastern European Jews, and this is the custom of our family and friends…certainly helped us to narrow things down a bit.
[name]Jonah[/name] and [name]Asher[/name] are my favorites on your list. I also like [name]Nathaniel[/name].
Other suggestions:
[name]Zev[/name]
[name]Eitan[/name] (Hebrew form of [name]Ethan[/name])
[name]Harry[/name]
[name]Samuel[/name]
[name]Isaac[/name]
I love [name]Theo[/name], [name]Morgan[/name], [name]Nathaniel[/name], [name]Asher[/name], and [name]Liev[/name]. [name]Liev[/name] [name]Nathaniel[/name] is an excellent name!
Re: [name]Asher[/name] popularity. It’s a very popular name currently among conservative Christians I know in the Southeast. I know of at least 3-4 boys and 1 girl named [name]Asher[/name], all under age 5.
I also know 1 [name]Jonah[/name]. I think it’s a fun name, personally like it better than [name]Asher[/name], too. I also like [name]Jonas[/name], which somehow feels slightly more adult than [name]Jonah[/name] to me.
[name]Do[/name] you not like [name]Theodore[/name]? It’s much more complete than [name]Theo[/name], I think!
I also [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Omri[/name], pretty unusual but easy to pronounce/spell, I think?
I like [name]Liev[/name], but you prob will have some pronounciation issues with it. It’s a great name though, so maybe worth it.
Really don’t like [name]Dustin[/name]. I grew up with a few and for some reason they were always annoying. Plus you have the nn [name]Dusty[/name]. [name]Riley[/name] and [name]Morgan[/name] also seem like a bit of a different style than a lot of your other names.
I like [name]Aviva[/name] better than [name]Aviv[/name]…maybe save it for a girl?
Other not-so-common Biblical names for you:
[name]Obadiah[/name]
[name]Amos[/name]
[name]Ezekiel[/name]
[name]Ezra[/name]
[name]Jedidiah[/name] ([name]Jed[/name])
[name]Zion[/name]
[name]Abner[/name] (like [name]Asher[/name] but cooler. also, supposedly the name of the inventer of baseball!)
more common but still great Biblical names:
[name]Isaiah[/name]
[name]Jeremiah[/name]–instead of [name]Jeremy[/name]?
[name]Josiah[/name]
[name]Daniel[/name]
[name]Asher[/name] - I like this one, it’s hard to predict future popularity but if you won’t be comfortable with it potentially reaching there I wouldn’t use it.
[name]Jonah[/name] - I do prefer [name]Joseph[/name] to [name]Jonah[/name] but it’s a nice enough name. Definitely not popular but nn [name]Joe[/name] is.
[name]Liev[/name] - I prefer [name]Lev[/name] to [name]Liev[/name], I just find the pronunciation a bit forced.
[name]Theo[/name] - Nice, though I prefer [name]Theodore[/name] nn [name]Theo[/name]
[name]Morgan[/name] - [name]Love[/name] this one on a boy!
[name]Nathaniel[/name] - Prefer [name]Nathan[/name] to [name]Nathaniel[/name] but again, nice enough
[name]Riley[/name] - Not really a fan of this, it’s a bit trendy.
[name]Dustin[/name] - I didn’t care for this until I saw the tennis player [name]Dustin[/name] [name]Brown[/name] be totally awesome a couple of days ago and it’s rekindled the name for me.
[name]Omri[/name] - I’ve never heard this before (om-ree?) but I’m not sure I like it.
[name]Aviv[/name] - Reminds me of Tel [name]Aviv[/name].
[name]Casey[/name] - I like this, I’d like to see it get more use.
[name]Jeremy[/name] - Handsome and classic, I really like this too.
@tfzolghadr: love your list of Jewish/old testament names…so many good ones. A couple of my favorites that I totally forgot: [name]Reuben[/name] (actually one of our top 5) , [name]Ephraim[/name], [name]Abraham[/name]…Also, I was surprised you said [name]Judah[/name] is more obscure than [name]Jonah[/name], because in my circles of acquaintances, they’re pretty equal. But I looked up the rankings and you’re right! Though, I do think if you combine the popularity of [name]Jude[/name] with [name]Judah[/name], you get close to the same as [name]Jonah[/name]. Also, [name]Raphael[/name] ([name]Rafe[/name]) is awesome, one I hadn’t thought about.
[name]Asher[/name] – I’ve always liked this name and the nickname [name]Ash[/name]. I don’t see it becoming SUPER popular. [name]Jonah[/name] – This is my favorite from your list. I love the name [name]Jonah[/name].
[name]Theo[/name] – [name]Just[/name] a great name. I prefer it as a nickname for [name]Theodore[/name], but it is very cute on its own!
[name]Nathaniel[/name] – This is a great name, too, with good nickname possibilities.
Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions and help!
@tfzolghadr - I love your suggestion of Matan and loved all of your comments. I’m sad how [name]Riley[/name] and [name]Casey[/name] have become more feminized. I love the name [name]Casey[/name] because it reminds me of the baseball poem “[name]Casey[/name] at [name]Bat[/name]” and [name]Riley[/name] because it was a male character on my all-time favorite TV show. But they are low on my list at this point.
I also loved someone’s suggestion of Yoav and the combo [name]Jonah[/name] [name]Sebastian[/name].
@ misshoppy- re the naming tradition, we are the last in our family to have children, so all of the deceased relatives have been named after. That being said, we have the initials of A, J (x2), H (x2), M and S, which we could always repeat. We can’t use H because the DH’s last name starts with an H and I don’t like the whole alliteration/HH initials. [name]Even[/name] if we don’t use one of the grandparents’ initials for our two English names, we will definitely name both Hebrew names after them. Also, I was cracking up at your other suggestions because 4/5 are current living close relatives of mine! I have family in [name]Israel[/name] and we have a lot of traditional biblical names in the family already, so all of the “classics” are taken. But I like how your mind works
I’m thinking now we’ve narrowed it down to [name]Liev[/name] (my favorite), [name]Jonah[/name] (DH’s fave), [name]Theodore[/name] (was always going to use the full name but will definitely use the NN [name]Theo[/name]) and [name]Asher[/name] (it’s still hanging in there). Also trying to get the DH to like Matan (as either a first or a middle).
Good morning! I actually meant to comment on this last night but I guess my computer had other plans about allowing me to post lol. I am a really big fan of your top two names. [name]Liev[/name] and [name]Jonah[/name] are both great options! I also think they sound pretty great together in either order, as [name]Liev[/name] [name]Jonah[/name] or as [name]Jonah[/name] [name]Liev[/name]. Perhaps you can bring both names to the hospital with you and wait until the baby is born to see which order you think suits him better as a first name?
[name]Jonah[/name] is used more often than [name]Liev[/name], but it’s nowhere near as popular as [name]Asher[/name] or [name]Theodore[/name]. It sounds like it could be a nice familiar-but-uncommon-name compromise between you and your husband. To me, it is in one of those naming sweet spots where everyone has heard of the name [name]Jonah[/name] but, aside from certain religious circles, it is not that popular nationally, whereas both [name]Asher[/name] and [name]Theo[/name] are pretty trendy right now (but still perfectly fine names).
On the other hand, [name]Liev[/name] has been on my mind lately, and I think it seems very usable. It should be well-known enough to the general public because of actor [name]Liev[/name] Screiber and therefore I don’t think you will have to worry about too many pronunciation problems. He has been on quite a few talk shows recently due to a new show coming out and he’ll also be in the new [name]Wolverine[/name] movie that’s opening soon, which might help even more people get exposed to the name. (I don’t see it causing a dramatic rise in name popularity because of it, I just think it will give the name some more exposure and help people be able to pronounce it intuitively.) Of your list this name is my favorite, but you really cannot go wrong with any of your choices. Good luck! =]
[name]Aviv[/name], [name]Jonah[/name], or [name]Asher[/name] would be my choice since your last name isn’t obviously Jewish and I think it’s important to have that identity. I really love [name]Theo[/name] (as a nn for [name]Theodore[/name]), though.
You can go to the Our [name]Baby[/name] [name]Namer[/name] website, click on the popularity tab, and enter your names to see the detailed data of what I’m talking about here…
Last year there were fewer than 3550 [name]Asher[/name]/[name]Ashur[/name] babies in the U.S. These names are becoming more popular, but it looks like there will be fewer than 4000 in 2013. So, based on the estimate of 2 million baby boys born in the U.S. each year, that’s about 1 in 500 boys (1 in 1000 children) named [name]Asher[/name] or [name]Ashur[/name]. Hopefully these numbers can assist you in figuring out whether that’s something you and DH are comfortable with. Best wishes!
