Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Simple Pleasure ~ What's in a Name

You're right.

Penina, one of the names I liked got 10% of the vote.  It was a little little-girlish.

Levana was better, but only 15% liked it.  I think it has an elegant sound, but the people have spoken.

Margalit (26%), I find hard to pronounce and I think it sounds like I'm trying too hard to match the Hebrew to the English name.  Yes, most people do that but I've never been like most people.

Thanks to a long-ago discussion with my late father (which I won't relate here), I know he'd approve of Miera, as did 45% of you.  And since my father's name is part of mine, this comes full circle.

Hebrew names are formally (your name) son/daughter of (father's name).  I guess that's pretty common in different cultures.  "Ben" or "ibn" in Jewish/Arabic culture.  And depending on where he lived, Donald's offspring might be Donaldson, O'Donald, McDonald, or MacDonald.

For the record, Miera is pronounced May-ee-ra.  It can't be My-ra because there's no hard "I" sound in Hebrew.  It means "illminate."  In Hebrew, it's מֵאִירָה.

So if Meg is ever called up to read from the Torah, she'll be Miera bet Huni Yosef.


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