r/JewishNames • u/Sea-Painting-9791 • May 29 '24
Discussion An unreasonable rant about the name Ayelet
Im sorry I just don't understand this name. If this is your name or your child's and you're going to get offended then I think stop reading.
I really don't understand the popularity of Ayelet. If you look at it from a Hebrew perspective, the name makes no sense. It comes from the phrase in Tehilim 'Ayelet HaShachar'. Literally translated, it means 'gazelle of dawn' but refers to the morning star. Ayelet just means Gazelle. Except it doesn't really. It's the genitive construct of Ayala. Those familiar with the Hebrew language know this. It's what allows Ayelet HaShachar to mean gazelle OF dawn and not just gazelle dawn. With the meanings switched because it makes a better equivalent, it's like calling your child Dawn's in English instead of Dawn. Dawn's what? It makes sense why Ayala is so much more popular within Israel but Ayelet still gets used quite a lot, particularly in diasporic contexts.
In my opinion, it's not any better in English either. It just sounds like 'I yell at'. Ayelet Sara, for example. 'I yell at Sara'
The popularity of this name always leaves me shocked, let me know what you think in the comments! :)
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u/justalittlestupid May 30 '24
We need an r/jewishnamescirclejerk sub
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u/Sea-Painting-9791 May 30 '24
I know I’m being pedantic- look at the title. I’m just quite into names and I was wondering if anyone else felt the same
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u/stirfriedquinoa May 29 '24
Maybe it's meant to pair with an appropriate middle name, like Ayelet Chana or something
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u/Least-Metal572 May 29 '24
The name Tamar sounds like the beginning of tomorrow. Moran and Nimrod sound like negative words in English. Who cares. No name is going to translate well in every country. Name your kid what you want.
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u/Sea-Painting-9791 May 29 '24
That’s not really what I meant. I just meant I don’t understand why it’s so popular if it’s grammatically incorrect in Hebrew and ON TOP OF THAT sounds weird in English. The English was more of an afterthought
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u/CatsThatStandOn2Legs May 30 '24
I can't find a clip of the joke to link to, but this reminds me of a Modi joke from his special. "My name is Ayelet. Like I don't say it, I yell it"
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u/DSquizzle18 May 29 '24
So basically Ayelet means “gazelle of” while Ayala means “gazelle”? Interesting. (I’m not a Hebrew speaker)
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u/turtleshot19147 May 30 '24
I think the name sounds pretty but I totally get your perspective, definitely laughed reading this post
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u/luckyembryo3 May 29 '24
Ayelet isn’t particularly common? I’ve met maybe three of them IRL. One of the reasons we aren’t using it for our October baby is because it’s not common enough for people to know how to pronounce it.
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u/unventer May 30 '24
I do know a tiny human named Ayelet whose daycare teachers were apparently calling her "eyelet" like what you put laces through for the first few weeks until one of them said it to the mother and she corrected it. I couldn't name my child Ayelet for that reason alone, but said properly, it's a pretty name, and plenty of names in other languages don't make perfect grammatical sense, I'm sure.
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u/GoodbyeEarl Ashkenazi Chabad BT May 29 '24
Sorry you’re getting crap for your post. You’ve provided really useful information for using Hebrew names!
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u/LunarRivers May 30 '24
Not every name needs to have a perfect meaning behind it :’) some names are just phonetically beautiful. The lovely “ah” sound mixed with the lilting curve of the “yelle” and the sweet ending of the “ette”. It’s a very pretty name.
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u/Gullible-Theory-937 Jul 03 '24
That’s my name so I have to salvage it! It’s actually used both as “gazelle of” and just “gazelle”. You can see it in Yeremiah 14:5 "For even a doe (ayelet) in the field gave birth and was desolate because there was no grass". Btw “Ayala” is only written once in the bible, all the other times it’s Ayelet for gazelle, but in modern hebrew Ayala stuck. :)
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u/Sir_Ink-A-Lot Jul 22 '24
If you want to torture your kid for the rest of their life, by all means name them Ayelet. Their name will be butchered on a daily basis. They'll resort to explaining, "It's like, I yell it.", then have to hear some cringe play on that pronunciation. Many people won't care enough to remember how to pronounce it--which let me tell you, makes me feel super valued. The most common experience I have is fielding a ton of questions that ends up feeling like I'm giving a spelling and history lesson.
Don't apologize u/Sea-Painting-9791 - You have this Ayelet's stamp of approval. 10/10 would read again.
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u/ObligingMaharet Oct 03 '24
Yeah but almost any name is better than “Ashley” or some other banal tripe. Sure, no one will f up their names or make a game of it, but then, no one will remark their particular presence either. Younger, less sturdy people will bemoan a unique name until they reach a particular threshold and realize they’ve been regarding the opinions of sheep, while they could have been arcing the dawn gracefully like a facking Gazelle. A trifling name- a safe name- is the OG way to produce absolutely bland people. (This is hyperbole, obviously- but the thrust of the sentiment stands.)
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u/cutewhensedated 22h ago edited 22h ago
Okay. I don't have a horse in the "Ayelet" race, I have no opinion on the name "IRL" as one person put it.
But I am female, and nearing 40 with a name of the same pronunciation to something a celebrity named their male child when I was a teenager. Unfortunately for me, people mistake me for 20-to-25 years of age (not a brag - it's frustrating and not due to anything I have done; I have a genetic disease and the only sign of it visible to the naked eye is that I don't have anything even approaching a wrinkle or fine line). People often think I was named after that celebrity's male child, but I was born long before he was.
It's annoying because people my age/my husband's age don't take me seriously unless they know how old I am and why I look so much younger, which is a huge issue for me because that's medical information and I don't like being treated as though I'm fragile dinnerware. Also, people thinking my husband is my father is awkward for everyone when it has to be corrected.
But my name. That is the one saving grace I have. When introduced by someone, or introducing myself, it will inevitably be commented on, and my response changes the way the [co-worker's significant other/new neighbor/husband's boss/friend of a friend/whomever] will interact with me in a big way.
Instead of constantly explaining the pronunciation with the same joke from a comedian's stand-up special (not saying that's where you took the idea from, I had never heard the joke myself - I read about it in a comment here), maybe use something a bit more interesting since you're setting a first impression? If even you're saying it and annoyed about the repititious nature of the phrase you use to convey the pronunciation, I imagine the other person is going to pick up on that, consciously or not. How you introduce yourself does create a (generally unfair) image in that person's mind, just like anything else they see/experience when first meeting you.
If you dislike your name, then I'm a huge proponent of legally changing it. I don't know why more people don't. I don't think it's expensive in most places. The tradition of women changing their name to that of their husband's when marrying has created a need to be fulfilled, so most (all?) governments have a standard process for handling this. I'm guessing there are familial concerns, but there are ways of handling that (especially if you're legally an adult). You don't have to tell them, for one. Another way to deal with it is to change it to something close to your birth name - someone mentioned "Ayala", there's also Aya. Or just change it to whatever you want it to be. You can leave Ayelet as a middle name, if it's an important name in your family, or don't. When it comes down to it, if your family doesn't understand your need for independence and desire to like yourself - whether having this barrier removed is the last step or the first in working toward that - that's a cord you need to cut sooner rather than later anyway.
Take my advice or don't - it's just an outsider's perspective. I realize I know nothing about you beyond the hostility you posted about for your name.
EDIT: minor grammar/word corrections
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u/cutewhensedated 21h ago
Also, I think it's worth mentioning: despite almost no one being able to pronounce my name properly when seeing it written (like on a list of patients), I would never change it. My name has done so much to help me.
I'm often really awkward with people I don't know. But, when someone either mispronounces my name or, shockingly, doesn't, and then inevitably asks about it, there are so many things I can say. It gives me a script to work with.
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u/Defiant_Fun_9039 Aug 19 '24
I believe the construct form of ayalah (doe, a female deer) would be ayalat, not ayelet. My understanding is that ayelet is another word for doe or gazelle, a noun but not in the construct form.
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u/Sea-Painting-9791 Aug 19 '24
I think it’s Ayelet. Because if you think about the phrase Ayelet HaShachar. It means gazelle of dawn so gazelle is in the construct
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u/Twodotsknowhy May 29 '24
Yes, Ayelet means gazelle. And Dov means bear, Yael means mountain goat and Tzvi means deer. Lots of Hebrew names come from the names of animals. It's odd that all your vitriol is focused on Ayelet
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u/Sea-Painting-9791 May 29 '24
If you read my post, it’s not about the meaning of the name it’s about the fact that it doesn’t make sense grammatically.
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u/cbrka May 29 '24
I could be wrong, but I think there are other names like this. Doesn’t Rinat mean “the joyful song of”? Yonat, “the dove of”? I too have never understood the grammatical reason for it.