Reply To: How do you translate your Hebrew name?

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writersoul
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My family is very into English names because my mom grew up with her whole family called only by their English names. My dad’s side is all Hebrew names so we compromised. While I’m technically called by my Hebrew name, until this year I was basically called 50/50 by my Hebrew and English names as my Hebrew name is difficult for Americans to pronounce. (I love Israel! Everyone can pronounce my name!) One sister with a similarly annoying name is also basically called 50/50, a third sister has only one name because it’s a very typical name, and my brother has a really random English name that nobody uses (his Hebrew name was after somebody but his English name was after somebody else- it went out of fashion about thirty years ago).

My dad works with a lot of Indian people and while most of them do go by their regular (unusual, long, and ethnic) names legally, 99% of them go by nicknames IRL (Saravanakumar is Sar, for example). The Jewish people all go by English names, though.

I would go totally by my Hebrew name if it were less prone to mangling by the average American. (If I move to Israel though… Reason #23047.)