Judá

Name Advice
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] there! Have any Spanish speakers heard of this name? I have a son who is [name_u]Judah[/name_u]. His siblings all have names that go well back-and-forth between [name_f]English[/name_f] and Spanish. But poor [name_u]Judah[/name_u]- usually when I introduce him to our Spanish-speaking friends, there’s a bit of struggle with understanding his name. So, I’ve started using his middle name at times when we are speaking Spanish. But, I was wondering if it may work for me to just introduce him using the Spanish version of his name. Is Judá (pronounced WHO-DAH) a name that is used at all? I much prefer the [name_f]English[/name_f] pronunciation, but I would consider using this version sometimes, too. Thanks!!

2

I’m currently living in Spain and speak Spanish, and I have never heard this name, but I think it does exist. However, I would automatically assume this was a girls name, as in Spanish, most names that end in A are feminine- that might be where the confusion is coming from.

I would pronounce it who-da, but with a jhe or ghe sound in the back of my throat in the who part that is hard to explain in phonetically.

2 Likes
3

Thank you for this insight!:blush:

1 Like
4

Boricua here!

Me personally I have never seen it irl on anyone, but it’s the Spanish version of the name [name_m]Judas[/name_m], along with [name_u]Judah[/name_u]. I honestly think it sounds very nice, but the reason it’s not used much is because of the very large association with [name_m]Judas[/name_m] Iscariot (Judá Iscariote). It’s definitely something to think about and decide for yourself whether that association is worth it

In my dialect of Spanish (Puerto Rican but this applies to multiple dialects), Y’s are very often pronounced like J’s, you could try spelling it as Yudah for them and hope it ends up being pronounced the same as [name_u]Judah[/name_u]? Honestly it might take a few time but having them learn his name is what I would do, it’s not a hard name to learn, might take a few times, but definitely not hard, and if that’s not an option introducing him with the middle name might be what’s best, but I would just push for the proper pronunciation of his name

5

maybe [xoˈdɐ] in IPA?
(for anyone interested in communicating exactly how to pronounce a name, it’s worth learning a little bit of IPA!)

2 Likes
6

I’ve never heard it, but it looks and sounds gorgeous. I don’t speak much Spanish, unfortunately, but I think that this is probably a name. Have you tried researching it?

7

Thanks a bunch for these replies!
I hadn’t considered the [name_m]Judas[/name_m] connection. I more so associate it with the [name_m]Lion[/name_m] of Judah… tribe of Judah… and its meaning of “praise.” :blush: one of our favorite kids movies is “El leon de Judá.” But, that’s a good point for me to consider.

Thanks,I’ve tried googling, but I haven’t come up with much, unfortunately! If anything, just the name in relation to the nation/tribe. [name_u]Or[/name_u], google will give me info regarding the [name_f]English[/name_f] version of the name. But nothing about bearers of the Spanish version.

8

I searched the Spanish-language Wikipedia for bearers of this name but I couldn’t find any contemporary ones, only historical. I would assume that it’s very rarely used.