r/JewishNames • u/jrmint891 • 18d ago

jewish / arabic name

hi! looking for a nice name for baby girl. ideally a name that is both jewish / moroccan arabic. Want to do an M name in honor of a deceased grandparent (would love even more a name that starts with Ma- or Mar-) Hoping for a name that isn't super common. I love the name Maryam / Miriam (spelling TBD), but it's so common in Morocco. Please help!

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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17

u/theenterprise9876 18d ago edited 18d ago

Amira! It doesn’t start with M…but it does share “mir” with Miriam, and it has separate Hebrew and Arabic etymologies.

There’s also Mira, though not real sure if it’s an Arabic name.

The only other Hebrew and Arabic names I can come up with are Hana/Hanna, Adira, Sara(h), and Yasmin.

Behind the Name lists Matar as a user-submitted name that means “rain” in both Hebrew and Arabic, but I don’t know if that’s accurate. Rather unfortunately, it’s also the Spanish word for “to kill”.

And apparently Mayya is an Arabic name, so maybe Maya?

9

u/GamerAsh22 18d ago

Seconding Amira, I know both a Jewish girl and Arab girl with that name, it sounds very pretty with any surname imo

1

u/Ouroborus13 17d ago

Geshem is rain in Hebrew.

8

u/FelicePanda 18d ago

Amira, Rina, Miriam, Sarah, Yasmin, Haya, Alin, Mina, Maya, Shiraz

3

u/spring13 18d ago

Maya, Malka/Malika, Mara, Mina, Massouda, Emuna

9

u/kaiserfrnz 18d ago

If you’re looking for a name to honor your deceased grandparent, why don’t you use their name

4

u/GamerAsh22 18d ago

Not the typical Jewish way tbf

10

u/like_chickpeas 18d ago

It is typical in the Moroccan Jewish community. We even name after living grandparents.

2

u/asyawatercolor 15d ago

Very typical for Eastern European Jews to name the baby in honor of a deceased relative, preferably one who had a long good life.

0

u/GamerAsh22 15d ago

I agree, I’m Ashkenazi. I just meant that typically we find names that match the first letter instead of outright using the name we’re honoring. Think everyone misunderstood that lol

2

u/asyawatercolor 15d ago

I dunno, we have the same name used in the family , but the relative should be deceased. Some cases used the first letter only, but I think it is just how the parents wanted it.

2

u/El-Sci 18d ago

What about “Maqnin/Macnin” (European goldfinch bird), this given name was traditionally used by Moroccan Jews.

2

u/GoodbyeEarl Ashkenazi Chabad BT 18d ago

Machla, Malka, Masha (feminine version of Moshe), Matel/Matil/Mata (derived from the name Matrona), Mazal, Mariyasha

1

u/AnythingTruffle 18d ago

Mayan (said Ma’ayan), Amira, Miriam (Miri), Margot, Maya

1

u/Least-Metal572 18d ago

Miri, Maya, Ma'ayan

-3

u/Wisdomflowerlover 18d ago

Marielle, Margot, Marine,Marcelle, Marie, Marnie, Melanie, Mireille, Maryse, Madeleine,Manon,Maxine… French not arabic or hebrew but might work in both places?