Dear Cousins,

In Kiev, a relative of mine appears on a document as Khaya-Mura
(Russian spelling). I know the name Chaya, of course, but I couldn't
find Mura in the Given Names Database or in Beider's book. It sounds
like a variation on Miriam. Has anyone ever seen it before?

I also find an Elka, which I recognize. But another is named Ekha,
which I couldn't find. It might simply be a misspelling, but if
anyone recognizes it, please let me know.

Best, Steve Orlen
Tucson, AZ

At 10:25 AM -0700 8/3/06, Steve Orlen wrote:

In Kiev, a relative of mine appears on a document as Khaya-Mura
(Russian spelling). I know the name Chaya, of course, but I couldn't
find Mura in the Given Names Database or in Beider's book. It sounds
like a variation on Miriam. Has anyone ever seen it before?

I also find an Elka, which I recognize. But another is named Ekha,
which I couldn't find. It might simply be a misspelling, but if
anyone recognizes it, please let me know.

Dear Steve,

My best guess is that both of the above are probably mis-readings or
mis-copyings of originally handwritten consonants

The combination Khaya-Sura (Haya -Sara, Hayyah-Sarah) is very
common indeed. Both Haya and Sarah are girl''s names, and one of the
weekly Torah portions is called "Hayyei-Sarah" ("the life of Sarah")
because that phrase happens to occur in the first verse of the
portion. (The combination Hayyah Sarah is a nice sound-alike for the
biblical phrase.) As for Mura, I have never heard of that as a
variant of Miryam or in any other context, though the name Miriam
itself is sometimes abbreviated to Miri, (especially in modern
Israel).

As for Ekha, again I think this is almost certainly a misreading of
Elka (or possibly of some other name that does not spring readily to
mind). By an odd coincidence, Ekha (or Eikha) is the traditional
name for the biblical book known in English as The Lamentations of
Jeremiah, which we read last night and today in observance of Tish'ah
b'Av. "Eikha" is the first word of the Hebrew text of Lamentations
and means "How?" -- in context asking "How did the destruction of
the temple and the city of Jerusalem come to pass?" (Not exactly
the name one would expect parents to choose for their newborn
daughter! )

Judith Romney Wegner

I think that my own personacl experience could be of use here. My full
Hebrew name is Chaim Meir Charutz. I was named after my late
grsndmother, whoee name was Chaya-Meira.

While my gm came >from a small town in Lithuania and not fom Kiev, the
principle is thee same.Im one place it was written ss Meira, in another
as Mura. However, I was given to understand that the combination was not
uncommon among Eastern European Jews, at least during the 19th century.

BTW, there is a major linguistuc difference between rhe name Chaya aand
the wword in the book of Genesis "chayei Sara"
Chaya has two related meanings; "alive" or "animal". "Chayei Sarah"
means "the life of Sarah"
IHTH

Chaim Charutz.

At 5:48 PM +0200 8/4/06, Charutz wrote:

BTW, there is a major linguistuc difference between rhe name Chaya
aand the wword in the book of Genesis "chayei Sara"
Chaya has two related meanings; "alive" or "animal". "Chayei Sarah"
means "the life of Sarah"

There may be a semantic difference, but there's no major *linguistic*
difference. To the contrary, the reason hayyah can have the meaning
"animal" is because it really means "a living creature." n the
biblical context hayyah is often used to distinguish wild beasts

from domesticated cattle (behemah). All three of the forms you

mention come >from the verb "to be alive", hayah (whose first letter
is not a heh but a het , so the "h" should be underdotted -- but i
can't manage that on e-mail) The verb hayah spelled with initial
het is to be distinguished >from the verb hayah spelled with initial
heh, which has the somewhat related meaning of "to be."

As for the cultural norms that make it possible to give a female
child a name that can also signify "wild beast," that's a discussion
beyond the scope of this forum, so the less said, the better!

Judith Romney Wegner

MODERATOR NOTE: Please keep replies related to genealogy.

In Judith Romney Wegner's reply to Steve Orlen, she writes the following:
""Eikha" is the first word of the Hebrew text of Lamentations
and means "How?" -- in context asking "How did the destruction of
the temple and the city of Jerusalem come to pass?" (Not exactly
the name one would expect parents to choose for their newborn
daughter!)"

I would like to point out that, as unusual as it might be, there is an Israeli
"short" movie about a young lass coping with the name her parents gave her
"Eikha"!!!

Rachel Heller Bernstein

MODERATOR NOTE: Always an exception around when you need it!
Further replies should relate to genealogy.