# Is Rivkah Chaya a common Jewish name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 27, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025 "2016-07-27T14:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/21 "2016-07-28T12:11:00Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > My last name is Maccaby. Too Jewish. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/22 "2016-07-28T12:36:26Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Again chiming in with expositional dialog: > > Some readers may not be aware of the tradition among Jews (or more specifically among Ashkenazi Jews) of not naming a child after a living ancestor. Or a child that died in infancy. I wanted to name my son after my mother’s brother who died as a baby in the ghetto and that was a big no-no. So I picked the brother that died as an adult in the ghetto. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/23 "2016-07-28T13:20:29Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Without knowing your last name, I don’t know if this observation is relevant, but there are many names that sound Jewish – Goldberg, for example – that are Jewish by virtue of being rooted in Germanic naming and then attached to European Jewry. OT, but this is also true of many “Jewish” foods. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/24 "2016-07-28T13:47:55Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Again chiming in with expositional dialog: _Immediately_ before reading this post I was listening to a movie podcast (/filmcast) where they were ripping to shreds a film over its clunky use of expositional dialogue. At least you were up-front about it.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/25 "2016-08-04T13:26:12Z")
I must say, I always assumed **RivkaChaya** was your username–you know, anonymous like everybody else around here (\* different OP \*. ) Now you tell us about your Hannuka roots. Respect. I guess. Don’t you ever plan to tell us about your sexual peccadilloes (the best kind), Post-It thieveries from the office, the royal asshole your neighbor is being recently? That’s why dogs exist. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/26 "2016-08-04T13:31:24Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Or a child that died in infancy. I wanted to name my son after my mother’s brother who died as a baby in the ghetto and that was a big no-no. So I picked the brother that died as an adult in the ghetto. Lucky you. So many choices. / NB: this is Jewish humor. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/27 "2016-08-04T13:40:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > FWIW, my son’s Hebrew name is Yochanan, and it says that on his certificate for his bris. He will be called that when he is called to Torah. If he ever decides to move to Israel, he can be called any variation of that. But his American birth certificate says John. I always – well, often – say “my name is Leo, but God knows me as Moshe,” which is my Hebrew name. Since I mentioned a type of Jewish humor above, another main line is assimilation, naturally enough. The life-long getter-along who changed his name to Peter Christianson is lying in the street hit by a car—“Oy, Gottenyu, help me, help me.” God squints down: "Moshe? Is that _you_? ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/28 "2016-08-04T16:58:09Z")
My mother, who is Robin in English, is a Rivkah. But no Hebrew middle name. I’m a Bluma (after my great grandmother, a ‘Bertha’ in English) despite the screen name. No Hebrew middle name here, either. ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/29 "2016-08-05T05:39:20Z")
Right before my son’s bris, the mohel asked for my Hebrew name - Riklah, I replied. The mohel was aghast - No! That’s _not_ your name, it doesn’t even exist! It must be Rivkah. I explained that I was named after my great grandmother from Russia, and Riklah was indeed her name. The mohel was still upset, and insistent that I was obviously mistaken. I didn’t want to argue the point, but I’m still a bit upset that he refused to let us name my son Ari after my grandfather, and had to go with Aharon instead (my father’s Yiddish name was Leybl, although his Hebrew name was _not_ Ari). ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/30 "2016-08-05T05:54:38Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Lucky you. So many choices. I laughed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/31 "2016-08-05T11:04:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Lucky you. So many choices. > > / NB: this is Jewish humor. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/32 "2016-08-05T11:20:08Z")
> [@Wallet](#): > > Right before my son’s bris, the mohel asked for my Hebrew name - Riklah, I replied. > > The mohel was aghast - No! That’s _not_ your name, it doesn’t even exist! It must be Rivkah. > > I explained that I was named after my great grandmother from Russia, and Riklah was indeed her name. > > The mohel was still upset, and insistent that I was obviously mistaken. > I didn’t want to argue the point, but I’m still a bit upset that he refused to let us name my son Ari after my grandfather, and had to go with Aharon instead (my father’s Yiddish name was Leybl, although his Hebrew name was _not_ Ari). What the hell is wrong with Ari? It’s a perfectly normal Hebrew name, although usually short for “Ariel” or “Aryeh”. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/33 "2016-08-05T12:12:30Z")
I didn’t even know they were Jewish names. I’d always thought it was Hindu. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/34 "2016-08-05T12:37:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I didn’t even know they were Jewish names. I’d always thought it was Hindu. Sounds American to my ears … or I guess I should say it looks American to my eyes … meh ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/35 "2016-08-06T23:04:29Z")
As an Israeli grownup said to me in the mid-1980s in Tel Aviv: “Meh! These young people, naming their children for sticks and twigs!” I think his objection, occasioned by my roommate Ayelet (which references the morning star, Venus), was that naming people Dawn, Moon, River, etc. was dangerously close to idolatry. ---
**Author:** ![Wallet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e99b99/32.png) [@Wallet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallet)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/36 "2016-08-07T10:14:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What the hell is wrong with Ari? It’s a perfectly normal Hebrew name, although usually short for “Ariel” or “Aryeh”. Because my father, who was still alive at the time, had the Yiddish name of Leybl which also means lion. His Hebrew name was completely different, but the mohel insisted that my Grandfather’s “Ari” and my father’s “Leybl” were the same name. Sorry, truly a mundane story. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/37 "2016-08-07T15:11:56Z")
Mrs. Bloom is a Rivka Rachel. FTR. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/38 "2016-08-10T13:51:50Z")
> [@Wallet](#): > > Right before my son’s bris, the mohel asked for my Hebrew name - Riklah, I replied. > > The mohel was aghast - No! That’s _not_ your name, it doesn’t even exist! It must be Rivkah. > > I explained that I was named after my great grandmother from Russia, and Riklah was indeed her name. > > The mohel was still upset, and insistent that I was obviously mistaken… My wife has a triple Hebrew name - the first is Yiddish, the second we’re unsure about, the third is Hebrew. She can’t stand the name, so she insists on using her English name, even in Israel. And between my wife and 3 daughters, we have no Rivkahs or Chayas. (We do have a Chanah as a middle name.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/39 "2016-08-10T15:00:32Z")
> [@Wallet](#): > > Because my father, who was still alive at the time, had the Yiddish name of Leybl which also means lion. His Hebrew name was completely different, but the mohel insisted that my Grandfather’s “Ari” and my father’s “Leybl” were the same name. Depends on how far you want to take it. My friend Efrayim was named for his grandfather Yale. My friend Earl – a product of a totally secular Jewish family – went all baal teshuvah and became Chanoch. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025/40 "2017-03-26T03:38:53Z")
Waking up a zombie, since someone linked to it in a recent thread, and I realized there were replies I never saw. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I mean, if you knew an Italian family that named their kid Joey (or, any of the other three or four names the 75 people in my family seem to pick from), I could tell you it’s not a coincidence. See:\* Joey \*Tribiani (and notice that two of his sisters have the same name). IIRC the same joke was used in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There was a very observant Roman Catholic family in my Queens neighborhood. They all went to our public school kindergarten, because the Catholic school started at first grade, but they all went to the Catholic School after that. There were, I think, 12 kids in the family, IIRC, 7 girls, 5 boys. All the girls were named Mary, with different middle names, and were called by nicknames based on their middle names. Mary Catherine was “Cat” (she was the oldest, and 17 when we moved there). There was a Joanie (Mary Joanne), a Terrie (Mary Theresa), a Dee (Mary Bernadette), and so on. > [@Wallet](#): > > Right before my son’s bris, the mohel asked for my Hebrew name - Riklah, I replied. > > The mohel was aghast - No! That’s _not_ your name, it doesn’t even exist! It must be Rivkah. > > I explained that I was named after my great grandmother from Russia, and Riklah was indeed her name. > > The mohel was still upset, and insistent that I was obviously mistaken. > I didn’t want to argue the point, but I’m still a bit upset that he refused to let us name my son Ari after my grandfather, and had to go with Aharon instead (my father’s Yiddish name was Leybl, although his Hebrew name was _not_ Ari). FWIW, I know many Aaron/Aharons, who go by Ari/Arie. One is even a goy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-rivkah-chaya-a-common-jewish-name/761025.md?page=3)