The name Talia is traditionally used by Jewish people, and yes, it comes from a Hebrew word (which is not true of all traditionally Jewish names). The name Mary is traditionally used by Christian people. Mary is, in a sense, a Christian name. I am sure there are Jewish Christinas out there, as I'm sure there are gentiles named Raisa. But that doesn't erase the heritage of those names.
For a name to have a Jewish heritage, it is not necessarily Hebrew. Hebrew is an ancestral language that has not been spoken in many Jewish lineages for many hundreds of years. "Jewish" and "Hebrew" are not synonymous when it comes to names. There are names of Hebrew origin that many Jewish parents would find quite unsuitable for their children because they are not "Jewish" names. On the contrary, there are many names of non-Hebrew origin that have a long history in the Jewish community and are identifiably "acceptable" to those same Jewish parents. (Bracing myself: not *all* Jewish parents, of course.)
Names that are Jewish but not Hebrew (in case you can't tell the difference) include Wolf, a traditional Jewish name with English roots, Charna, a Slovakian Jewish name, Esther and Mordecai, which are Persian Jewish names. Yentl, a Jewish name, is a Yiddish take on a French name. This is leaving out all the names that are *strictly* Yiddish which add up to a huge part of the category that is "Jewish names."
If a name can be traditionally *not* Jewish, such as Natalie, Christopher or Noel (and I don't think you can deny that those names are *not* Jewish), then it only logically follows that names can, in fact, be traditionally Jewish.
Now, I realize that there are people who believe that "Jewish" refers to nothing more than a religion. I disagree with those people, as I believe that Judaism goes beyond religion and is also a rich heritage: a culture. And as a culture, it has traditional names (as does *any* culture -- this is how a name can "sound" southern like Maybelle or Earl). Talia happens to be a traditionally Jewish name.
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The name Talia is traditionally used by Jewish people, and yes, it comes from a Hebrew word (which is not true of all traditionally Jewish names). The name Mary is traditionally used by Christian people. Mary is, in a sense, a Christian name. I am sure there are Jewish Christinas out there, as I'm sure there are gentiles named Raisa. But that doesn't erase the heritage of those names.
For a name to have a Jewish heritage, it is not necessarily Hebrew. Hebrew is an ancestral language that has not been spoken in many Jewish lineages for many hundreds of years. "Jewish" and "Hebrew" are not synonymous when it comes to names. There are names of Hebrew origin that many Jewish parents would find quite unsuitable for their children because they are not "Jewish" names. On the contrary, there are many names of non-Hebrew origin that have a long history in the Jewish community and are identifiably "acceptable" to those same Jewish parents. (Bracing myself: not *all* Jewish parents, of course.)
Names that are Jewish but not Hebrew (in case you can't tell the difference) include Wolf, a traditional Jewish name with English roots, Charna, a Slovakian Jewish name, Esther and Mordecai, which are Persian Jewish names. Yentl, a Jewish name, is a Yiddish take on a French name. This is leaving out all the names that are *strictly* Yiddish which add up to a huge part of the category that is "Jewish names."
If a name can be traditionally *not* Jewish, such as Natalie, Christopher or Noel (and I don't think you can deny that those names are *not* Jewish), then it only logically follows that names can, in fact, be traditionally Jewish.
Now, I realize that there are people who believe that "Jewish" refers to nothing more than a religion. I disagree with those people, as I believe that Judaism goes beyond religion and is also a rich heritage: a culture. And as a culture, it has traditional names (as does *any* culture -- this is how a name can "sound" southern like Maybelle or Earl). Talia happens to be a traditionally Jewish name.
Love it! Sounds like she could be a little princess or climb a tree with rips in the knees of her jeans.
Kara
Than
I LOVE the name Talia - it was what we were going to name our son if he was a girl.
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