Reply To: Girls name Raylah

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zogt_besser
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To answer the OP, I’m pretty sure that Raylah is a Yiddish version of the name ‘Rochel’. Not sure how it is spelled or where it comes from, but I assure you it’s a real thing.

About names bichlal, Rav Moshe has a teshuvah (I.M. orach chaim 4:66) where he says clearly about non-lashon kodesh names–“?? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?????.” In case this is shayach, he also says it is fine to name your kid after a relative that had a sheim laaz, since it’s an inyan of “kovod hamishpacha.”

Aside from the halacha, there is a midrash that says ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???? ??, and some kabbala/chassidish mekoros (arizal shaar hagilgulim, sefas emes, etc) mention the power that a name to effect your neshama and reflect your whole purpose of existence. vehameivin yovin… Maybe that is why Rav Chaim frowns on certain modern names. Or, he sees Israel as a time/place of gezeiras hamelech (ie shmad), in which case Jews shouldn’t even change their shoelaces (sanhedrin 74a). Rashi there implies that any “minhag b’alma” that has a “tzad yehudis” should not be changed during shmad, which certainly includes old customarily Jewish names. Tzarich iyun..