ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3350 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3350 ************************************ 24 Mar 2009 From: Juetta Copin Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether was a suitable name for a Jewish woman living in the Ottoman Empire or the Middle East during the 15th or 16th centuries. We apologize for the delay in answering your question, and hope the information is still useful to you. You said that you intended to be a variant of the biblical name . [1] Unfortunately, we did not find any evidence that or any other form of was ever used as a name by medieval Jews. If you would like to pick a different name, this article focuses on your period of interest: "Jewish Names in Ottoman Court Records (16th C Jerusalem)" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien) http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/Jerusalem/ seems to be an alternate spelling of , which is the Yiddish form of . was a popular name for Jewish men in Germany and the Slavic countries. [2] If you want to use the name or for your father, we can help you choose a given name for yourself that would be appropriate for Germany or Eastern Europe. [3] If you prefer to set your persona in the Middle East, we recommend that you choose a different patronym. You might be interested in or , respectively the Arabic and Hebrew forms of . [4] Ursula Georges, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Bronwyn ferch Gwyn ap Rhys, Juliana de Luna, Brian Dorcha ua Connail, and Talan Gwynek assisted in researching and writing this letter. On behalf of the Academy, Juetta Copin and Jibra'il `Attar 24 March 2009 / 29 Adar 5769 --------------- Notes: [1] is itself feminine, the name of a woman mentioned in Judges 4:17. This name is usually spelled in English, though would better represent how it is pronounced in Hebrew. [2] Beider, Alexander, _A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations_ (Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2000), pp. 414-415 s.n. . [3] This article includes names for Jewish women in Germany: "Names from Hebrew Chronicles of the 10th to 13th Centuries" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/crusades.html [4] appears "Jewish Names in Ottoman Court Records." (op. cit.) One notable 16th-century example of was Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, author of the poem "Lecha Dodi." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Halevi_Alkabetz