View Message

[Opinions] Boy Name Ideas
Help me come up with boy name ideas for a theoretical next child! We want something Hebrew or otherwise Jewish, easy to spell and pronounce, and relatively normal-sounding to Americans.
I want something that will look 100% normal on a resume someday and never be misspelled when my child buys an insurance policy over the phone (I literally spent 3 hours calling allstate yesterday because my name is too complicated and they wrote it down wrong originally).My very favorite names are already taken by relatives David, Isaac, Levi, and Eli.Names I like but have some issues with:
Ari or Ariel (maybe sounds too feminine?) (also we have another child with a name in a different language that means the same thing)
Adin (maybe too weird)
Elan (might remind people of Elon Musk, also might be subject to misspellings)
Noam (also maybe too odd)
Yonah (I like Yonah but Jonah not so much. maybe Jonah as legal name but call him Yonah?)And that's it.. I would really love more suggestions because none of these feels quite right to me.

Replies

I think I like some similar names. It may not help if you like meanings which it sounds like you do but I also liked Elwyn when I saw it. Then I found out there was an ancestor who had the middle name Elwin, I could not believe it! Name meaning isn't that cool. I was looking up names that meant oak and passed on Elon as well. I think I discovered Eik (Norwegian) and I kind of like it. Ike not so much maybe it's because it's a different meaning but I really liked Eik I guess spelling would be hard with both of these probably. I had a Lemuel in my family and a Ashael which I think had decent meanings. I like the meaning of Zuriel but it's not too common. Jedidiah is my favorite. I can maybe think of some more
Well, just keep in mind that even common well-known names are subject to being misspelled. Ask my husband who alwaysalwaysalways has to say that he's "Phillip with two l's."Some ideas:AdamAaronBenjamin ( my favorite)DanielElijah (or is that too close to Eli?)JoshuaJacobJosiahJonathanMicahNoah (much better choice than Noam, which is going to be misspelled and misheard and which sounds too much like the old-fashioned contraction for "no, ma'am" No'm)Nathan or NathanielAsa (the one Asa I know is Mennonite)Jonas (kind of a twist on Jonah)Adin is sure to be assumed to be a weird spelling of Aidan, so I'd discard that.
Ari is nice, but Ariel is too much established as a female name, and a Disney one at that.
Thanks! Of these, I like: Aaron, Benjamin, Daniel, Noah (might be too popular now)
I like the Hebrew form of Elijah but I don't like the j sound in any name
I know a wonderful man named Selwyn. Not a Jewish name, though he is a Jew (and his parents needed an S- name). Selwyn David would be stunning!
It looks like you also prefer shorter names, so I'll focus on those. Normal-looking and easy to spell: Aaron, Asher, Bram, Ethan, Ezra, Isaiah, Jacob, Jared, Jesse, Micah, Nathan, Noah, Seth, Tobias (or Tobin). Ethan, Jacob, and Noah are really popular right now, fwiw.Might be subject to mispelling, but I like them: Aram, Ilan, Joah, Javan, Kenan
Thanks! I like Aaron, Noah, Ilan (this is the same name as Elan in my original post, I've met people with both spellings)
Daniel is good, I like Daniel and Ben from this list. Thanks!
I really like the Hebrew of Caleb (pronounced kah-lev) but not kay-leb so much. Maybe if I could come up with a good nickname, but I don't like Cal that much either
What about CaleAaron
Asher
Elias
Elijah
Josiah
Jesse
Nathan
Simeon
Jacob
Joseph
Noah

This message was edited 7/16/2024, 10:31 AM

Cale makes me think of kale!
Asher is the opposite to me where I don't love the full name but I do love the nickname Ash.
Aaron, Noah, and Nathan are nice.