# How does one pronounce "Naamah"? (The traditional name of Noah's wife.)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 12, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379 "2007-08-12T22:03:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379/1 "2007-08-12T22:03:23Z")
Yes, I know she isn’t named in the Bible, but I’m reading aloud a children’s book which names her as Naamah. Apparently, this is the [traditional](http://en.bibleinfo.com/questions/question.html?id=755), if not Biblical name for her.
As I’m going to be reading it in front of a group, I’d like to not get it wrong. So can someone try to phoneticize it for me? In my head it’s something like “NAY-uh-mah”. How far off am I?
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379/2 "2007-08-12T22:25:23Z")
According to [this source](http://www.lafemmebonita.com/cgi-bin/showname.cgi?q=Naamah%5B/url), your have two choices: NAY-a-ma or nah-ah-MAH.
Also, a couple of sources indicate that the meaning is _pleasant_ rather than _beautiful_, but maybe that depends on one’s concept of beauty.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379/3 "2007-08-13T04:11:46Z")
Thanks, **Zoe**!
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### Author:  [@Zahava424](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zahava424)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379/4 "2007-08-13T04:38:54Z")
It’s still in use as a Hebrew/Jewish name, though more popular in the English-speaking Jewish world than in Israel, where the more traditional names are out of fashion. I’ve known at least one Naamah.
It’s usually pronounced nah-ah-MAH, or NAH-ah-mah if you have very American pronunciation, and it’s from the same root as the Hebrew word _na’im_, which does mean pleasant.
By the way, in the Book of Ruth, Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi is actually called Na’ami in the original Hebrew, and it’s basically the same name, with the same root.
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### Author:  [@Puzzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Puzzler)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-pronounce-naamah-the-traditional-name-of-noahs-wife/415379/5 "2007-08-15T22:03:24Z")
What **Zahava424** said, with the emphasis that in (modern) Hebrew, the proper way is nah-ah-MAH. And the middle _ah_ is the Hebrew letter _Ain_ that is a throat-generated sound not present in English.