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[Opinions] Yoni
Yoni is a very common nickname for Yonatan in jewish circles. I have a cousin called that, I know multiple other people called that... but I just learned it's slang for female genitalia? Is that true, is that commonly known?? Is that the first thing other people would think?Yonina is an unrelated Hebrew name (strictly feminine version of Yonah) - would that have the same problem?

This message was edited 1/29/2023, 1:37 PM

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It’s definitely my first thought when I hear it, sorry.
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This is the first I'm hearing of it.
That sucks, it sounds like a nice nickname too.
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I second this. I think Yoni sounds fairly decent and I never heard that it was slang term for something rather vulgar. Hopefully it isn't that widely know. /:
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I read the title and thought "vagina" immediately. Sorry!I think it's okay as a nickname for Yonatan because he can switch back to Yonatan whenever he wants to.Yonina is more problematic to me because it sounds like you tried to fancify the word "yoni", sort of like Pussina or something (sorry!). Would avoid.
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Never knew that
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Yoni is slang? Huh. You learn something new everyday. Yonina is kind of cute but not the best Hebrew name. Yoni is too mature as a potential nickname. I would use it as a middle name, if you really liked it so much. It’s not that weird but I wouldn’t suggest it.
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It depends on what circles people run in. I think of the genitalia thing first, but I also know it's a nickname for Yonatan so I don't think it's that weird.
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it's not exactly slang ...It's a sort of yoga-type (sorry, I don't know for absolutely sure, though I did once) word for the female genitals; lingam is the male's genitals.
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More like an occasional euphemism for vagina. By way of the Hindu thing. It'd seem sort of synthetic to me, to use it as a slang term, but I would believe it if someone said they really did see it used that way, in some context. I could be wrong, but I think Americans say yoni (the word) to rhyme with Johnny. I worked briefly with a guy named Yoni (from Israel) and I did not think of yoni, because his name was said yo-nee, rhyme Joanie.
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"Yoni" is not slang for female genitalia. It is the actual Sanskrit word for "female genitalia" and has a special place in Hinduism, where statues or paintings of yonis and their male counterpart, lingams, have religious significance, especially for worshippers of the god Shiva.It is probable that many people outside of Israel who don't know anyone named Yonatan will first think of the Sanskrit/Hindu meaning whenever the see "yoni". I would imagine many people would also think of that meaning when seeing Yonina. This is just one of many examples of where a name or word in one language has a meaning in another language that might be embarrassing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoni

This message was edited 1/29/2023, 2:59 PM

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