A to Z Reflections 2024

May 7, 2024 by Carrie-Anne

This was my lucky number eleventh year doing the A to Z Challenge with this blog, and my also lucky number thirteenth year doing it with two blogs. (Why are so many people so superstitiously terrified of 13?) For my seventh year running, I had a fairly simple theme instead of a research-heavy one like I used to. I also waited till March to start researching, writing, and editing my posts on both blogs, a bad habit I know I should never have gotten into.

However, this year’s theme of Jewish names, like the themes of the past two years (Ukrainian and Persian names), was too important and timely to even consider doing anything else. For the fourth year, the themes on my two blogs were linked.

In years prior, I put my posts together many months in advance, sometimes as early as July and August. But over time, I began drifting closer and closer to the deadline, until I developed the procrastinating habit of waiting until the second half of March. That causes so much stress and makes me crash as soon as I’m finished. It takes awhile to recover from that!

Though the themes I’ve been doing here since 2018 seem on the surface simpler than the kinds I used to do, they’re really more stressful and difficult in some ways. I have to go back and forth between multiple lists of names in that language or those categories, keep everything in alphabetical order, credit the source language(s), alternate the order of male and female names without forgetting which one comes first that day, put the names in bold, and give the definition and etymology if known.

Compare that to how themes like mythology, The Divine Comedy, and The Decameron only involved writing about one male and one female name each day, with a simple, singular focus for my research.

I’ve been sitting on just such a planned future theme since 2017, and perhaps next year will finally be the time to do it. The nature of that theme would compel me to research, write, image-gather, edit, and proofread well in advance of March. It’ll stay a secret until then!

The fear of losing the WordPress classic editor at the end of 2024 also makes writing future posts well in advance more urgent.

This year, I featured three categories of names on most days, since modern Hebrew has so many unisex names. That really says a lot about how egalitarian Israeli society is. A few letters (W, X, Q) were extremely difficult to find any names for in any Judaic language, but I didn’t need to do wildcards for them, since some languages did/do use alphabets with those letters.

Last year’s theme of Persian names also featured many unisex names, since they’re also common in that language.

Since this blog is called Onomastics Outside the Box, I tried as much as possible to focus on lesser-known names instead of featuring a lot of familiar Biblical names. Everyone knows names like Sarah, Isaac, David, and Miriam, but most people don’t know names like Bonenfaunt, Kressia, Nuriel, Uram, and Yuvalor!

Post recap:

The Zs of Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, and other Judaic names

April 30, 2024 by Carrie-Anne

Male names:

Zalema is a Judeo–Catalan and Ladino form of the Arabic name Salama, which means “peaceful, safety.”

Zalman is a Yiddish form of Solomon (original Hebrew name Shlomo), which means “peace.”

Zamir means “nightingale” in Hebrew.

Zarc is Judeo–Catalan.

Zelig means “blessed, holy” in Yiddish.

Zev means “wolf” in Hebrew.

Zindel is a Yiddish form of Alexander.

Zusia, Zusya means “sweet” in Yiddish.

Zusman means “sweet man” in Yiddish. This is a rare name.

Female names:

Zafira (Judeo–Arabic) means “sapphire.”

Zaha means “pure, clean” in Hebrew.

Zahava, Zahavit means “gold” in Hebrew.

Zehara means “brightness” in Hebrew.

Zelda (Yiddish) may be a feminine form of Zelig.

Zerlinda means “beautiful dawn,” a combination of the Hebrew name Zerach (shining, dawning) and the Spanish and Portuguese name Linda (beautiful).

Zeuna is Judeo–Anglo–Norman.

Zimbula, Zumbula, Zinbula (Ladino) derives from the Turkish word sümbül (hyacinth).

Zipura is a Judeo–French form of the Hebrew name Tziporah, which means “bird.”

Zisel, Zissel means “sweet” in Yiddish.

Zlate, Zlata (Yiddish) means “gold” in the Slavic languages.

Zubayda (Judeo–Arabic) means “prime, élite, cream” in Arabic.

Unisex names:

Ziv means “radiant, bright” in Hebrew.

Zohar means “brilliance, light” in Hebrew. This is also the name of a mystical work of Kabbalah.

The Ys of Hebrew, Yiddish, and other Judaic names

April 29, 2024 by Carrie-Anne

Female names:

Ya’alom means “diamond” in Hebrew.

Ya’ara means “honeycomb, honeysuckle” in Hebrew.

Ya’arit means “forest” in Hebrew.

Yael means “ibex” (a mountain goat) in Hebrew. This name is written as Yaël in French, Jaël in Dutch, and Jáél in Hungarian.

Yaen means “ostrich” in Hebrew.

Yaffa means “beautiful” in Hebrew.

Yakira means “precious” in Hebrew. This was the name of one of my younger campers when I was a camp counselor.

Yartina is Judeo–Arabic.

Yasmin means “jasmine” in Hebrew.

Yekara (Judeo–Anglo–Norman) comes from a Hebrew word meaning “dear, expensive.” Amuletic names were very popular during the Middle Ages.

Yente, Yenta (Yiddish) derives from the French word gentille (noble, aristocratic). Because of the character in Fiddler on the Roof, it’s taken on the slang meaning of a gossip.

Yifat means “splendour” in Hebrew.

Yocheved means “God is glory” in Hebrew.

Yvetta is the Judeo–Anglo–Norman feminine form of the French name Yves, which derives from the Ancient Germanic name Ivo (yew).

Male names:

Ya’ari means “forest” in Hebrew.

Yagil means “he will rejoice” in Hebrew.

Yair means “he shines” in Hebrew. The feminine form is Yaira.

Yanai, Yanay means “God answers” in Hebrew.

Yankel is a Yiddish form of Jakob (original Hebrew form Ya’akov). Though traditional etymology claims this name means “heel” and “supplanter,” many modern Biblical scholars believe it comes from Semitic roots meaning “may God protect.”

Ya’qubu is a Judeo–Arabic form of Jakob.

Yaron means “to sing” in Hebrew. The feminine form is Yarona.

Yechiel means “God will live” in Hebrew.

Yishai is the original Hebrew form of Jesse, which means “gift.”

Yochanan is the Hebrew form of John, which means “God is gracious.” The original form was Yehochanan.

Yoram is a contracted form of the Hebrew name Yehoram, which means “exalted by God.”

Yusufu is a Judeo–Arabic form of Joseph (original Hebrew form Yosef), which means “he will add.”

Yvelin is the Judeo–Anglo–Norman diminutive form of Yves.

Unisex names:

Ya’ar means “forest” in Hebrew.

Yahel means “to shine, to make a halo” in Hebrew.

Yarden is the Hebrew form of Jordan, taken from the name of the river and the root yarad (“descend” or “flow down”).

Yitav means “it will be good” in Hebrew. This is a rare name.

Yona means “dove” in Hebrew. This was originally an exclusively male name, but has become unisex in the modern era.

Yuvalor means “stream of light” in Hebrew. This is a rare name.

The Xes of Judeo–Catalan names

April 27, 2024 by Carrie-Anne

Male names:

Xixó is the Judeo–Catalan form of the Hebrew name Sasson, which means “happiness, joy.”

Sorry, this was the only verified name I could find anywhere! I love the letter X (though I’m not childishly obsessed with it like a certain eccentric who thought it would be cool to throw seventeen years of iconic branding and an established company name down the toilet), but it’s almost impossible to find names in any Judaic language that start with it. Feel free to let me know if there are any I can add.

The Ws of Judeo–Arabic names

April 26, 2024 by Carrie-Anne

Female names:

Warda, Wardah (Judeo–Arabic) means “rose” in Arabic.

Male names:

Wahnun is the Judeo–Arabic form of the Arabic name Hanun, which means “graceful, merciful.”

Sorry, I couldn’t find any other verified names! W is a very hard letter in Judaic languages, since it almost never occurs natively. Feel free to let me know if there are any other W names I can add.