My grandfather was named [name]Allen[/name]. His name back in Poland’s shtetel and then ghetto was Alte Fishel, which literally translated to Old [name]Fish[/name], because he was the last of 9 born and it was the town joke or something. I am not a fan of the name [name]Allen[/name] however, but wanted to honor him with a similar name if we have a boy. My other grandfather was [name]Isadore[/name], and [name]Ezra[/name] in Hebrew, but we called him [name]Izzy[/name].
Any ideas for naming after these names?
I like [name]Ezra[/name], but it was vetoed by my husband.
The only “A” names I like are [name]Alex[/name] and [name]Adam[/name] and those are my brother and brother-in-law’s names! I’d prefer to name our child after my grandfather [name]Allen[/name] because he was much more of an influential presence in my life.
Would you consider using [name]Allen[/name] in honor of your grandfather in the middle? In my opinion, it’s a much stronger honor to use his actual name in the middle rather than using a similar one or one that has the same inital in the first slot. Otherwise, names similar to [name]Allen[/name] or [name]Isadore[/name] could be [name]Alistair[/name] or [name]Dorian[/name].
What about using a name that means the same thing as [name]Allen[/name]? [name]Allen[/name] means “hansome, cheerful.”
Boys names that mean “handsome” or “cheerful” (or both):
[name]Amare[/name]
[name]Beal[/name]
[name]Beau[/name]
[name]Bello[/name]
[name]Calix[/name]
[name]Irvin[/name]
[name]Keefe[/name]
[name]Kenneth[/name]
[name]Kevin[/name]
Also, have you considered using [name]Allen[/name] as a middle name?
Same deal for [name]Isadore[/name]. It means “gift of [name]Isis[/name].”
Boys names that mean “Gift”:
[name]Artemas[/name]
[name]Bogdan[/name]
Deodan
[name]Dorek[/name] (this actually means “gift of [name]Isis[/name]”, too)
[name]Jesse[/name]
[name]Jonathan[/name]
[name]Matthew[/name]
[name]Nathaniel[/name]
[name]Theodor[/name]
Zevid
Of course there are more names with these meanings. If the idea of a name with the same meaning as [name]Allen[/name] or [name]Isadore[/name] appeals to you you can look into it some more but hopefully these will give you some ideas.
