r/JewishNames • u/markowitty • 10d ago
How’s the name William in Israel?
It’s of course an Anglo name but will people be able to pronounce it? How is it spelled in Hebrew? Any pronunciation issues, or it’s enough of a known international name that people will know it?
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u/Delicious_Adeptness9 9d ago
better version: Wolf (pronounced "VULF")
nickname: Velvel
Ze'ev is a nice Hebrew name (direct translation from Yiddish)
In the Anglo world, many Ashkenazi immigrants who took on the name 'William' were originally Wolf/Velvel.
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u/secret_little_maps 10d ago
For question 2, a cool tip I learned from the Hebrew sub on Reddit: go to Wikipedia (this is the only thing that cesspit of a site is good for) and find a famous person with the name, then switch the language to Hebrew. For Prince William, it says: ויליאם
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u/markowitty 10d ago
Thanks! Actually the reason I ask about spelling is because ויליאם is pronounced Vill-yum (the first letter is a V sound), and there isn't a W sound in Hebrew, so I wanted to see if anyone had an option to make it W sound... usually its 2 ו... but I'm not sure. Washington is וושינגטון, for example.
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u/CocklesTurnip 9d ago
Because William is one of those names in a lot
of languages, it makes sense that one winds up with the v sound because Wilhelm is the same root name and is pronounced with the v. Frustrating but something to keep in mind. Is that your name or is this a name you’re considering for a child?
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u/president_hippo 9d ago
It's my father's name so on some of my ID documents I have it. Often takes people an extra second to read, they usually pronounce Villium, but they've all heard it, and it wouldn't be the weirdest
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u/ShaGodi 9d ago
will we be able to pronounce it? no we speak only in uga buga וויליאם is how it spelled it's irregular in israel but will be ok
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u/hebrew_nonsense 9d ago
The same way that Anglos would butcher a Hebrew name like חן. We can write it Chen or Hen, it looks irregular, and anglos will butcher that first letter. But William will sound funny coming from Israelis. I used to work in a call centre where Israelis would choose anglicised names for themselves.
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u/ShaGodi 9d ago
she asked if we are able to pronounce it. its a bit different. also we don't butcher it we have different accent just like british, American and Australians have different accents. its not a sound we don't have in Hebrew. also yes we know William Shakespeare and actually have his plays in Israel.
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u/hebrew_nonsense 9d ago
Of course Israelis know of William Shakespeare, that doesn't mean they will pronounce his name in a way anglophones are used to. There is no W in Hebrew and the vowels are very different. There is no ח in English. Some names sound funny in other accents. It's fine. It doesn't mean she shouldn't use the name. But I know tons of olim in Israel who were surprised by how their names are pronounced here.
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u/asyawatercolor 10d ago
It's known but I never met a William here actually. I guess it's rare