When you think of the name Eli,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Nathan is a beautiful name; it means "gift from God," no? I love it.

FWIW, I think Nathan means gift, and Nathaniel means gift from god.

[Anonymous]

i think jewish when i hear the name.

[Anonymous]

the mean pp's should really shove it. especially the ones who always like to rip on OPs who ask questions with the attack about how messed up their kids will be because they "care too much about what other people think." puh. freaking. lease.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like a nickname to me - short for Elisa, Elianna, Elizabeth, etc...

[Anonymous]

Gosh (dare I say god here) I was wondering why this thread got 7 pages. Wow.

If you like the name - enjoy it. Don't worry what some of these crazees think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That was one of our top 2 choices for DS 18 mo. ago. We are Catholic so didn't cross our minds that some may think it is a Jewish name. I have plenty of Jewish friends & when I told them afterwards that it was one of our choices, they didn't say anything about it being a Jewish name. We didn't go with it b/c the Giants had just won the superbowl & didn't want to think we named him after Eli Manning. Now pregnant with #2 & if it is a boy we are still considering Eli, but I must warn you, I am starting to hear the name on the playground & in grocery stores so I fear it could be very trendy.
All that being said, name your kid whatever you want.

Eli=Manning
Nathan=Lane

i'm the WASP mom of Nathan....LOL about Nathan Lane. Never made that connection before. I should be so lucky to have a kid end up on Broadway - would help pay for college!

[Anonymous]

At least one pre-schooler at our christian church is Eli. I think using old testiment names is less exclusively "Jewish" in modern times. And, I doubt many people think about what sounds jewish or christian nowadays. That is pretty old fashioned.

[Anonymous]

I understand OP's question perfectly as i really loved the name Micah and wanted to name my DS this. It wasn't that i was worried people would think he was Jewish, it was just that we weren't Jewish and this seemed like a strongly Hebrew name and i didn't know if it mattered. I would've named him that anyway except that it was overruled by my husband for other reasons (too alliterative with last name, etc).

[Anonymous]

I think Jewish when I hear Eli, but if I met a Irish Catholic Eli, I would not fall down with shock. It is a cute name, I don't think the Jews have trademarked it!



Go with what you like, unless you hate Jewish people or being associated with them.

[Anonymous]

Roman Catholic family here with an strong, ethnic-sounding Turkish last name. We have named both our boys with Old Testament (i.e. Jewish) first names.

Both first names have 3 syllables, middle names have 2 syllables and our last name is 4 syllables. Needless to say, both boys' names are total mouthfuls but I LOVE their names. And that is all that matters, right?

[Anonymous]

Eli actually has a strong WASP and Jewish background - a la Eli Whitney, the founder of yale...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eli actually has a strong WASP and Jewish background - a la Eli Whitney, the founder of yale...

This Eli Whitney is sounding like Forest Gump. Has he done EVERYTHING? Lightbulb, cotton gin, Yale...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eli actually has a strong WASP and Jewish background - a la Eli Whitney, the founder of yale...

I thought he invented the gin and tonic.

[Anonymous]

Elihu Yale was not the founder of Yale - it was named after him after he gave the university a ton of money.

And Wikipedia is wrong about Eli Manning's real name - it's actually disputed in the discussion of the article. "Elisha Nelson Manning" gets about 4,000 google hits, and "Elijah Nelson Manning" gets ten.

[Anonymous]

Um, the Yale Eli was Elihu YALE, right? He was the benefactor of the school.