Reply To: Giving a Child the Name "Yenta"

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#871044
oomis
Participant

I would hope to never have to have anyone named Mordechai, as I have a close relative by that name. But yes, I believe in using Jewish names that come from TANACH across the board (except those of reshaim of course).

Though some names might be Aramaic (or some other language, i.e. Persian)in origin, they are written in our Holy Sefarim. I just personally do not believe in naming children Yiddish language names (like Hersh or Faigel, rather than Tzvi or Tzipporah), as I see virtually no difference between doing that or giving them an English name (as English is the unifying language of Jews today in this country, just as Yiddish was in Europe). Much Torah is learned in English, certainly as much as Torah was learned in Yiddish in Europe. we have discussed this in the naming thread many times, and my position is that Loshon Kodesh is Hebrew, not Yiddish, and the zechus of Bnei Yisroel in Egypt was that they did NOT change their names to the local vernacular. In Europe, Yiddish was the Jewish local vernacular. I don’t speak for anyone else, though, and I DO get the sensitivity to the Alte Heim.