Jewish Names

A rarely heard biblical name, Zadok is borne by no less than nine Old Testament men.

Raz is one of the many modern Israeli unisex names. It's simple and sleek and translates easily to English.

A feminization used more before Jordan joined the girls' camp.

It looks like a creative respelling of battle, but this name is anything but. Instead, Batel is a Hebrew name with a lovely meaning.

Sprightly name popular in Israel with beachy meaning and international flex.

Botanical Hebrew choice that leads to the sweet vintage nickname Nettie.

Elroi can be considered a variation of Leroy, which uses the Spanish "El" instead of the French "Le", and the Roi spelling over the Roy option, either to make the pronunciation clearer, to mirror French Eloi, or just to be different. In this case, the name would mean "the king".

The original form of the Hebrew Meyer.

Part of a group of similar midcentury names rarely given to babies today.

In the US, best known as the name of Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and White House Chief of Staff under President Obama.

Tomer was once a Top 100 name in Israel — it fell out in 2016.

Hallel is derived from the Hebrew word halall, meaning "praise."

Mordechai and Mordecai are equally valid — both are used as transcriptions from the Hebrew bible, and one did not originate before the other. But although popular culture tends to prefer the (slightly simpler) Mordecai, Mordechai has always been the more common version for babies born in the US.

Old Testament name of a son of Moses used by the Puritans, and now by Orthodox Jews.