I want to choose a Hebrew name for myself. This isn't changing my name in my regular life, just in a Jewish community context. My given name is already Hebrew, but that's by mistake; it's a false cognate with an Italian and Greek name, and my parents just liked the way it sounded. Plus, I've never really related to it. So anyway—I want to pick one that's just mine and mine alone. (I do have a 'true name', for lack of a better term, that really fits me in my head; I feel no emotional distance from it. But it's not Hebrew, and it's kind of private.) After poring over a lot of lists and taking notes, including the meanings of each name (if anyone knows Hebrew and these are wrong, do correct me!), these are the ones that stand out to me: Raviv ('rain') Raz ('secret') Zoharit ('light'/'brilliance') Zeeva ('wolf') Ketzya/Keziah/Ketsiya (unknown, possibly cassia) Izevel is Jezebel in Hebrew, which is awesome, but would probably be looked on strangely in the Jewish community since she's not exactly a protagonist. I may use it for an internet pseudonym instead. Does anyone have any commentary on these? Ones that sound weird for some reason? Particularly difficult to pronounce? Associations you have with them? Your opinions are appreciated.
I've always kinda gotten a "cooling summer shower on a monday morning, maybe even a bit of fog" vibe from you if that means anything at all. Plus raviv is a very nice sounding name imo
Aww, that's really sweet ^_^ the summer shower is my favourite weather in England (fuck any temperature over 20ºC/68ºF tbh), and fog is the beauty of the weather in my hometown in California (SF Bay Area ftw!). As is now evident, I've gone with Izevel as an online name, but I'm not gonna use it IRL.
I'm digging Ketzya a lot! I've heard Kezia/Keziah a few times, but Ketzya is such a neat version of that name.
In Hebrew it's spelled קציעה, with a צ ("tz") rather than a ז ("z"), so it's just a different way to transliterate it :) it can also be Keziya, Qetsiya, Qetsiah, Qetzi'ah... all kinds of options.
I figured it was a matter of differing transliterations, but I had no idea there were that many variants! :0
Update: Raviv is apparently a male name, and Hebrew speakers I've asked have never heard it used for a woman. :/ I'm not sure I want a masculine name; I'd be cool with it in English, but not in a language I don't know. Zoharit has begun to draw me much more, but I've confirmed the pronunciation: the stress is on the last syllable (like zo-hah-REET), whereas I'd been thinking of it as stressing the second syllable. I'm not sure how I feel about that pronunciation, but I'm going to think about it a little more.
Zeeva makes me think of Ziva David from NCIS and that's not a bad association :P My trollsona is named Kezria as a variation on Kezia (I wanted a "ri" sound included for nickname reasons, so I just added the r. I wasn't concerned with keeping it actually Hebrew lol)
I've drawn more towards Tsilah/Tzilah/various other spellings lately, once I thought about the pronunciation "zee-la". I like that. I might stick with it; I've already started contacting a group (long story) under that name, but with the spelling "ts", whereas I think I prefer "tz". It means shade or shadow, which is nice and goffik.
Ohhh, that's really pretty! :0 And I also kinda like Tz- more than Ts-, but honestly both spellings are gorgeous and the pronunciation is really lovely. c:
Thanks! :) I think I ought to switch to z, though I feel mildly embarrassed telling [the dude I told that was my name] that I'm changing it. I think I'm going to just say that I normally write it in Hebrew... which is true, to be fair. I'm still very attached to Zoharit. In my journal I've been experimenting with writing Zilah Zoharit, though it feels sort of childishly ironic, since it basically means "Shadow Light". Sounds very MySpace, you know? But I have an emotional attachment to Zoharit's connotation of "brilliance".
Shit. I might be leaning back into Ziva. Sounds like Tzilah but has the same meaning as Zoharit. Perfect compromise, right? But it didn't work out when I used it before, so it didn't feel great. Except now it's been a while, and it's starting to come back... damn, I was so close to making a choice!