NameInHebrew

Most names were transliterated into Hebrew. Names of Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic origin, that had undergone little alteration, were mapped back to their original form.

The choice of translitering names into Hebrew was predicated on the goal of maintaining a connection to the original name. This approach was chosen over translation as many names have multiple or uncertain origins, and many names have no accepted or direct translation into Hebrew. However, this approach also presented a new challenge, as it was observed that individuals may possess names that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently. To resolve this, the most commonly used pronunciation was preferred.

In accordance with the guidelines established by the Hebrew Academy, the transliteration was performed based on pronunciation rather than spelling. The Hebrew Academy's rules for the transliteration of names into Hebrew can be found in their articles linked here and here.

It is important to note that some names have accepted Hebrew spellings that diverge from the rules established by the Hebrew Academy. In such cases, the accepted spelling was employed. The name Alexander is an example of this phenomenon.

English employs between 14 and 21 vowel sounds, while Israeli Hebrew only has five. This difficulty was somewhat mitigated through the use of diphthongs. Nevertheless, the schwa sound proved to be particularly challenging to transliterate. While Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew possess a schwa sound, Israeli Hebrew does not. Unfortunately, the Hebrew Academy's articles did not specify how to transliterate the schwa sound into Hebrew. In a personal communication, Dr. Barak Dan of the Hebrew Academy suggested substituting it with no sound or using the vowel sound that is closest to the schwa sound in the original name. This rule was generally followed, with some exceptions. In cases where it was not clear which Hebrew vowel sound was closest to the original vowel sound, the English spelling was often used as the basis for determining the appropriate vowel.

Dr. Barak Dan brought to my attention, that although in foreign words adopted into Hebrew, the rules for adding a Dagesh Kal are no different than for other Hebrew words, Dagesh Kal is not added to the letters Gimel, Dalet and Tav of transliterated names.

Two names presented unique difficulties.

The name Autumn has no clear transliteration into Hebrew, and in this case, the Hebrew name for the season between summer and winter was used.

The name Pippi also presented a problem, as it would have naively been transliterated as pee-pee. However, this issue had been previously encountered, when the 1969 film Pippi Longstocking was dubbed for Israeli audiences, the name was translated as Bilbi. Thus, I adopted the this precedent.

If a voice is available for Hebrew, your browser's speech synthesizer is used. Otherwise, the Hebrew is converted to a phonetic spelling, and eSpeak is used. If you hear an extremely nasal voice, eSpeak is being used.