30+ Beautiful Jewish-Slavic Baby Names – Kveller
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Jewish baby names

30+ Beautiful Jewish-Slavic Baby Names

These names are perfect for families whose ancestors came from countries such as Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Serbia.

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Photo by Michal Bar Haim via Unsplash

Are you looking for a name that reflects your family’s heritage? Part of a multicultural couple where one member is from a country such as Belarus or Croatia, or a Jewish family living in Krakow or Prague? Or perhaps you’re simply a fan of the beauty of Jewish-Slavic names? This list is for you. 

Many European Jews came from, and still live in today, countries where languages from the Slavic language family are spoken, such as Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Serbia. Slavic languages also had a large influence on the Jewish language of Yiddish, in terms of both grammar and sentence structure as well as individual words in Yiddish. For instance, the well-known Yiddish terms tchotchke, nebbish, blintz, pupik and latke are all of Slavic origin. 

Languages such as Slovak and Ukrainian utilize a number of traditional Hebrew or Jewish names of Biblical figures, some of which have their own versions within the Slavic language family, such as the name Ewa in Polish for the Hebrew girl’s name Chava (or in English, Eva). Even after the devastation of the Holocaust, Jewish communities have continued to rebuild and thrive in many Slavic-language countries today.

 

Boys’ Names

Adam: “earth” in Hebrew, commonly used in Slavic languages, spelled Adem in Bosnian and Serbian

Amir: “prince” in Bosnian, “crown” or “treetop” in Hebrew

Amos: “carried” in Hebrew, used in Czech and Polish

Avram: “exalted father” in Hebrew, Russian and Serbian

Daniel: “God is my judge” in Hebrew, used commonly in Slavic languages

Gavril: “God is my strength” in Russian, from the Hebrew Gavriel

Jakub: the Slavic variant of the Hebrew name Yaakov

Lev: “lion” in many Slavic languages, “heart” in Hebrew

Mihael: Slovenian and Croatian variant of the Hebrew name Michael

Natan: “give” in Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian and Polish

Orel: “eagle” in Czech, Slovak, Macedonian and Russian, “light of God” in Hebrew

Salomon: Polish version of the Hebrew name Shlomo, which has the roots of the word “peace” (shalom) and “whole” (shalem).

Semyon: “God has heard” in Russian, from the Hebrew name Shimon

Tobiáš/Tobijaš: “God is good” in Czech, Slovak and Croatian from the Hebrew Tuvia

Toma: Croatian, Bulgarian and Macedonian version of Thomas, was also a traditionally popular name among Romanian and Hungarian Jews

Uriya: “God is my light” in Russian, Croatian and Hebrew

 

Girls’ Names

Alja: “defending man” in Slovenian, version of Aliyah, “to go up” in Hebrew

Alona: “goddess of the dawn” in Ukrainian, “oak tree” in Hebrew

Amira: “princess” in Bosnian, “saying” or a female version of Amir, “treetop,” in Hebrew

Brina/Bryna: “juniper” in Slovenian, “brunette” in Yiddish

Hana: “grace of God” in Hebrew, Slovak and Czech

Inna: “young girl,” in many Slavic languages, commonly used by the Russian Jewish community

Iva: “life” in Czech and Slovak derived from the Hebrew name Chava

Judita: “woman of Judea” in Czech and Slovak

Mila: “gracious” in many Slavic languages, “word” in Hebrew

Mira: “peace” in many Slavic languages, “rising water” in Hebrew

Perla: “pearl” in Yiddish, Czech and Slovak

Siana: “God is gracious” in Bulgarian, the Bulgarian version of the Hebrew name Chana

Raisa: “leader” in Russian, “rose” in Yiddish

Raya: ”queen” in Bulgarian, “friend” in Hebrew (sometimes spelled Ra’aya)

Tamara: “date/ date palm” in Hebrew, commonly used in nearly every Slavic-language country

Tosia: used in Yiddish and Polish, sometimes used to mean “priceless” and sometimes “reaper”

 

In regards to unisex names when it comes to Slavic Jewish baby names, there’s really not many options out there as all Slavic languages are gendered in terms of grammar when it comes to names. However, you could use “Sasha” (a nickname for both Alexander/Aleksandr and Alexandra in Slavic languages, both used traditionally by Jews as well for centuries).

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