Hebrew names

[pne]

I find it a bit... odd to learn of people who have an "English name" and a separate "Hebrew name", when their "English name" is, in fact, of Hebrew origin! (Why would they need a different one? Couldn't they just use the cognate as their "Hebrew name"?)

One example is Michael, aka מאיר (aka, what's wrong with "מיכאל"?)

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

You've got it backwards: The Hebrew name is chosen first and only then do the parents go looking for a corresponding "outer name". In this case, they didn't want to call the child "Meir" (which is weird and easily misspelled), so they chose "Michael" as an equivalent.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Ah, hm. That makes more sense.

[leora.livejournal.com]

It depends on the family. My English name was chosen before my Hebrew name. However, my Hebrew first name is the Hebrew version of my English name and very similar. My Hebrew middle name is Leora, which is prettier and only roughly analogous to my English given middle name of Lynn. Lynn is not a proper name, so it's hard to translate.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Yours is the only Jewish family I know that does this. Were you not named after a relative?

[leora.livejournal.com]

I was not. The first three of my full siblings all were with at least one of their names, but I'm a fifth. By the time they got to me, they had run out of familial obligations... and ideas pretty much.