Zion?

gfam23

As seen on Facebook tonight. Thoughts, anyone?

gfam23

Yeah, I don't like it at all, either. I was curious as to what people on here thought of it.

oneblessedmess

It's NMS but not ridiculously out there. It's a biblical name, two families at my church have children named Zion.

Dr.Loretta

Do not like as a name. It's a place, and often a politically charged meaning

https://hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?define=zion

 

 

NerdyLucy

My first thought is that this is a very biblical name. It's NMS, but it's legit.

jasminelorraine20

Zion is a beautiful name! I love it! I think of Lauryn Hill's son.

Ceridwen21

My first thought was Lauryn Hill.  Such a powerful song about the love for a child and motherhood.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQjh261rU8

I think it's a great name.

gfam23

I thought it was a biblical place, not a name?

aprilbaby2014

I know a Zion as well, but Ive always hated this name .

ClaireHuxtable

gfam23 said:

I thought it was a biblical place, not a name?

How can these two things not be one and the same?  Yes, Zion is a name as well.

Nechie122

It's interesting how traditionally Jewish names and imagery are becoming more popular and mainstream.

Zion has been a Hebrew name for quite a while but it's pronounced Tzee-own and spelled Tsion or Tzion. (We don't have a letter in our alphabet that makes the "tzadik" sound, often spelled in English with a Ts or Tz.)

jasminelorraine20

Ceridwen21 said:

My first thought was Lauryn Hill.  Such a powerful song about the love for a child and motherhood.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sQjh261rU8

I think it's a great name.

I'm with you! Very powerful song and name!

gfam23

MauiBliss said:

Nope, nope, nope! Zion is the holiest of places for Jews. It was the seat of the first and second Temple. No observant Jew would ever name their child this; it would be sacrilege. Not to mention the political charge that comes with the Zionist movement, etc.

Awful.

That's kinda what I was thinking...

ClaireHuxtable

Zion has implications in Christianity too. 

jasminelorraine20

ClaireHuxtable said:

Zion has implications in Christianity too. 

My thoughts exactly.

NerdyLucy

MauiBliss said:

Nope, nope, nope! Zion is the holiest of places for Jews. It was the seat of the first and second Temple. No observant Jew would ever name their child this; it would be sacrilege. Not to mention the political charge that comes with the Zionist movement, etc.

Awful.

Would it kind of be in the same category of Cohen, regarding the political charge?

Nechie122

MauiBliss said:

Nope, nope, nope! Zion is the holiest of places for Jews. It was the seat of the first and second Temple. No observant Jew would ever name their child this; it would be sacrilege. Not to mention the political charge that comes with the Zionist movement, etc.

Awful.

Um, I know plenty of Orthodox Jews named Zion (or the Hebrew version, as I mentioned above).

jasminelorraine20

VioletteGrayskies said:

I think of Zion as a legitimate name, but one with political connotations I wouldn't saddle my kid with - the same way I wouldn't name my kid Reagan.

I know a lot of little girls with the name Reagan! I actually like it. George, Bill and Abe are all pretty solid names too that I think are fine on kids. But that's just me I guess.

Nechie122

MauiBliss said:

Are they orthodox or Hasidic? That makes a difference.

Modern Orthodox (you just said observant in your post, you didn't specify sect.) There are a lot of hardcore beliefs that the Hasidic and Lubavitch have that I wouldn't necessarily take as gospel for what all Jews believe.

Dr.Loretta

jasminelorraine20 said:

VioletteGrayskies said:

I think of Zion as a legitimate name, but one with political connotations I wouldn't saddle my kid with - the same way I wouldn't name my kid Reagan.

I know a lot of little girls with the name Reagan! I actually like it. George, Bill and Abe are all pretty solid names too that I think are fine on kids. But that's just me I guess.

there were a lot of Georges, Bills, and Abe's before our presidents, from a young country, historically speaking

Laura_Elaine

It was a contender for a MN for Olivia, although I find it more masculine. We said no because I had a teacher in high school who was Mr. Zion...
I know a family than uses mountains for middle names and used Zion...
Wolfga.ng Rain.ier
St.ella Bl.ue (not a mountain...also the only girl)
Joa.quin Den.ali
Nor.ton Zi.on
Kno.x Ever.est

blu-eyedwife

Nechie122 said:

Are they orthodox or Hasidic? That makes a difference.

Modern Orthodox (you just said observant in your post, you didn't specify sect.) There are a lot of hardcore beliefs that the Hasidic and Lubavitch have that I wouldn't necessarily take as gospel for what all Jews believe.

Just to chime in on this, I wouldn't use the name because of the modern political charge to it. This isn't a Cohen thing - it's not about holiness or being offensive, but would be more like naming a child Jihad, which carries other connotations than its meaning of "struggle."

That being said, I don't think it's fair to say a Jewish person would never use it.  As @Nechie122 pointed out, Tsion/Tzion has been used for hundreds of years as a name.  My son's Hebrew name is Ben-Tsion, which was my father's Hebrew name.  The meaning is "son of Zion." 

Additionally, if someone were a devout Zionist, I could see them using the name and appreciating the politics that came with it, like naming your daughter Saorsie, which this board loves.

HattieLove

jasminelorraine20 said:

VioletteGrayskies said:

I think of Zion as a legitimate name, but one with political connotations I wouldn't saddle my kid with - the same way I wouldn't name my kid Reagan.

I know a lot of little girls with the name Reagan! I actually like it. George, Bill and Abe are all pretty solid names too that I think are fine on kids. But that's just me I guess.

This is a weird point, since George, Bill, and Abe are political first names that have been around for many years, whereas Reagan is a political last name that suddenly came into existence pretty recently. 

bcnoelle

Lauryn Hill song

melody921

I think church. Not a fan.