American Ear Needed, Please!

sivan99

I need an American ear desperately!
I’m 13 weeks pregnant with a boy, and wanted one of his names to be a Hebrew name; I would still like the name to sound good in the states…

I've gone through many many names, and found the ones that might translate best. Could anybody give their opinion on the following?
Eilam
Korren
Zeev
Kedem
Hillel

Thank you so very very much!
(Haven’t had much time to make American friends since I moved to FL, so I got no one to ask...)

Read more: https://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/index.php?/topic/1170850-american-ear-needed-please/#ixzz43g2fViAg
Follow us: @essentialbaby on Twitter | EssentialBabyAU on Facebook

DunkinDecaf

None of them sound American to me. That's not a reason not to choose them, but they all sound foreign to me. Zeev most of all. Hillel reminds me of the name of the Jewish organizations at many American colleges. I think Eilam is quite beautiful, though!

penelope4612

I would get rid of Kedem and Hillel.  I think Korren and Zeev are pronounceable.  I think Eilam could be pronounced either with a short i sound or a long e sound, and I'm not sure which is correct.  I agree with PP, all of them look/sound foreign.

AmberLiz99

Eilam and Kedem are my favorites.

kmvisioli

Kedem and Hillel both sound more like organizations than names to me (Hillel is common around US university campuses). I like Eilam, though not sure of pronunciation. Zeev also sounds cool. Korren is fine, but reminds me of the feminine Korinne.

austinjl

Zeev and Eilam are best

ashleyandely

Eilam is my favorite. 

thepicklemonster

I don't like any of these.  Hillel is the most familiar for people, but that's because of the organization that PPs mentioned.  Is Zeev supposed to be pronounced the way it looks, or two syllables like Ze'ev?  I assume the latter, and you will have problems with that -- people will pronounce it to rhyme with Steve, which I think is not what you would want.  If you'd consider Zev, that would be better. Kedem reminds me of the grape juice.

Here are some suggestions:  Tal, Noam, Avi, Leor, Akiva, Dov, Boaz, Ezra, Lev, Oren, Ronen

little_bren

They all sound very foreign. Maybe use one as a middle name?

growingournest

I love Korren!

vulpini

I think Eilam and Korren will be pronounced correctly.  I agree with spelling Zev with one e to avoid confusion.

Other names you could consider:

Adar
Ari
Asher
Avi
Eitan
Gil
Ilan
Lev
Lior
Noam
Shai

And obviously any of the old classics will work.

SmrBrd2012

kmvisioli said:

Kedem and Hillel both sound more like organizations than names to me (Hillel is common around US university campuses). I like Eilam, though not sure of pronunciation. Zeev also sounds cool. Korren is fine, but reminds me of the feminine Korinne.

Feel exactly the same way

Rshapiro86

We're Jewish and my DH prefers Hebrew names so I'm pretty familiar with most of these names.

LOVE Zeev. I think that's my favorite. I also like Zev if that's an option for you. I know they're pronounced differently.

Wanted to suggest:
Lev 
Ezra (though it is becoming more popular)
Eli (prounced the Hebrew way- like Ellie)
Calev
Feival 

scotten

I like Korren! I actually know an (adult) Hillel who is American, so that name isn't totally uncommon for me either. 

[Deleted User]

Eilam gets my vote!

LadyDi711

Zeev is my favorite from your list. It's way to pronounce and I think is pretty cool. "Z" makes a great nn too

Lusitano8

Korren works great! It's like the Greek name Corin so I think it's familiar enough.

I would not recommend Hillel at all because it's the Jewish community organization on most college campuses. 

groovylocks

Are you Jewish? My dad and his family are. (Technically i'm not as it goes through mum but try telling that to my dad's family lol) 

Anyway, yeah, none of them sound English per se (You've also got a Canadian ear here) But I don't see them as being a huge issue because one thing that's hot ticket in america and canada right now are unique names. And these fall well into that category. 

Per pp's suggestion, Feival is actually a huge namelove for me. Hubby said it reminded him of American Tail -_-

But of your list, Zeev/Zev has to be the best of the bunch. I also support Eilam and Korren. 

BlueJuice

I'm not familiar with any of these names, nor do I have any preconceived ideas about them. I'm fairly sure I'm not pronouncing some of them (most of them?) correctly in my head. That said, the ones that seem most easily pronounceable to my midwestern American ear, or that I just like the looks of, are Eliam, Korren, and Kedem. Hillel is difficult in my mouth for some reason (all the Ls, I guess?), and I'm not at all sure  how to pronounce Zeev, although I love the way it looks.

JadaBlue

Just to highlight a random American reference, wasn't Feival the mouse protagonist in An American Tale?? 

CaboBride2015

JadaBlue said:

Just to highlight a random American reference, wasn't Feival the mouse protagonist in An American Tale?? 

Yes

alyssa0714

I think all of them would be fine, might be mispronounced occasionally but I feel like even a lot of American names get mispronounced. My name is pretty common and I've still often had people pronounce it wrong. 

I do think that most people think of Hillel like most previous posters mentioned more than as a name though.

2winterbabies

From your list Zeev or Korren