Opinions about Japheth?

[name_m]Japheth[/name_m], as in, the youngest of [name_u]Noah[/name_u]'s 3 sons in the Old Testament.

I say it’s a rarely used Bible name with a lot of potential (and the hot “J” at the beginning) that deserves to be dusted off. Nameberry says it’s too difficult to pronounce. ([name_u]Jay[/name_u]-feth)

What do you say?

Where I live, the pronunciation would be no problem because the majority of people go to church or at least have read the Bible before. I think it’s pretty cool in sound. The religious connotation does nothing for me, but I assume you’re [name_m]Christian[/name_m] so it matters more to you. I am not sure about how well it would age.

As someone who has always gone to church and is aware of the name, I honestly wouldn’t have been able to pronounce it. I’d have said Jah-peth more than likely. I do think it sounds neat once you know how to pronounce it, but I would expect it to be butchered regularly.

I’ve always loved [name_m]Japheth[/name_m]; it’s so handsome! The pronunciation is self explanatory. It’s a basic rule that ‘ph’ makes the ‘F’ sound but of course some people will still get it wrong.

The more I think on it, the more I can appreciate it, but it’s almost too obscure for me. I would probably be seen by most as quite religious, and I know who [name_m]Japheth[/name_m] is, but I instantly confused him with Jephthah (the judge). I don’t know; [name_m]Japheth[/name_m] doesn’t have a great story behind him (he doesn’t have a bad one, either, but we just don’t know that much about him!), and most of the time, a really great story (or at least, a really great tidbit about the character!) is usually what draws me to a Bible name ([name_m]Caleb[/name_m], [name_m]Boaz[/name_m], [name_f]Esther[/name_f], [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f], [name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_m]Matthew[/name_m], [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], [name_m]Peter[/name_m], etc.). I agree that the pronunciation is pretty intuitive, but I grew up hearing about [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_m]Shem[/name_m], [name_m]Ham[/name_m], and [name_m]Japheth[/name_m], so I’m pretty used to hearing the name. I don’t think I’d use it, personally, but I think it could make a cool MN.

I have a very slight lisp when I speak and I tried to say this out loud and I physically couldn’t. I kept getting [name_u]Jay[/name_u]-fefff. That being said, other people may also have a difficult time with pronunciation. I think this would work better as a middle.

its a little too ancient sounding to me, and how would you give the kid a nickname?

not my style

I love [name_m]Japheth[/name_m], though I prefer the Hebrew spelling Yefet. I don’t know if it would be too hard to pronounce… Some creative spelling names are much worse than [name_m]Japheth[/name_m], which is a lovely but underused Biblical name.

I think it is a lovely name- a wonderful Biblical choice that could be a nice substitute to [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] or [name_m]Jacob[/name_m].

I think it’s lovely, a really unique choice that has a solid history

Reminds me if other names I love like [name_m]Jotham[/name_m] and [name_m]Joachim[/name_m]

I love [name_m]Japheth[/name_m], and I’m not even a religious person, one of my favorite biblical names. I had a teacher that named her son [name_m]Japheth[/name_m].

I don’t care for it, honestly. It sounds very ancient and not ready to be re-appropriated in the modern world. Like [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] said above, there is basically nothing written about [name_m]Japheth[/name_m]. Naming a son [name_m]Japheth[/name_m] would be more like “hey, look! We picked a biblical name!” rather than naming a child after someone in particular.

I do like [name_m]Joachim[/name_m] very much, if that rings your bell?

I don’t care for it, honestly. It sounds very ancient and not ready to be re-appropriated in the modern world. Like [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] said above, there is basically nothing written about [name_m]Japheth[/name_m]. Naming a son [name_m]Japheth[/name_m] would be more like “hey, look! We picked a biblical name!” rather than naming a child after someone in particular.

I do like [name_m]Joachim[/name_m] very much, if that rings your bell?

I think it is too difficult to pronounce and to spell. I think there are many other biblical names that more accessible.