What are your thoughts of this as a first name? (girl)

[HappyWifeandMum]

Elisheba

Errr....NO! A bit of a hashed together sort of a name. What about Elisa? Your name looks like Elisa and Sheba melded..a bit too much for me! Sorry.

Actually, it is the anglicized form of the Hebrew name Elisheva. Not made up or contrived at all.

how is it pronouced? I like Elisheva though, why not go for that, it doesnt look to hard to say with an english tongue.

Reminds me of Bathsheba from far from the madding crowd.

ohh just read up about Elisheva, interrresting that she is one of the midwives in the early bible and considered tha saviour of the hebrew children. I think they are both beautiful names, but I would got for Elisheva as I like V 's in names.

Elisheva is much nicer.

Sheba is a brand of cat food.

Awful.

It has a nice sound.

Elisheva sounds Hebrew. Nice, also.

I know of one too many dogs named Sheba, so it's a no for me! ...sorry!

Elisheva is nice, as is madhatters suggestion of Elisha

Dont like it.

It is pronounced E-Li-sheh-ba with the Li having a short i, like "in" and the ba having the soft schwa sound, so as not to thud. The emphasis is on the second syllable, just as it is in the English variation commonly known as "Elizabeth".

Yes... Elisheva/Elisheba is the Hebrew name from which Elizabeth is derived. Elisheba is the anglicized spelling of the two, and thus is pronounced in the same manner as Elizabeth. Elisheva is pronounced El-ih-SHEV-uh. Quite the difference for one letter's variance!

Beautiful -- lovely spelled/pronounced Elisheva too.

I know an Eliseba (pronounced Eli-SEba), known as Seba and I think it's nice but would require CONSTANT explanations/spellings/pronounciation corrections etc.

I like Elisheva, my friend`s dd is Elisha.

I like Elisheva

I would pronounce it El- ee -shiv-aa

Why give your child a name that you have to use the IPA to explain? That's just making life hard for everybody...
(In addition, I don't like the name because Sheba makes me think of pet food).

Like the hebrew version, not the other one.
Sheba- cat food/pets name

But each to their own, if you love it, then go for it.

My initial thought was that it was a made up name, maybe of some combination of first names that you like. The fact that it's a real name doesn't change my thinking, just educates me a bit.

I like Elisheva. Would you like Elish as a shortened name because that's what might happen. Or Eva, that would be pretty. Or maybe Ellie (spelled Eli...hmm no, that's a boy's name isn't it.)

I think it's absolutely stunning, but then I'm fluent in Hebrew (I'm not Jewish, I just learnt the language as I think it's a beautiful language), so I appreciate the beauty of the name.

Elisheva is lovely too, but I prefer Elisheba, as it gives the possible nn Bess because of the 'B'.

Thanks so much to all for the input! I am very grateful!

Thank you so much Hatterbox for the kind remarks... I am also not Hebrew, but LOVE the language, as well as the richness of the meanings of most Hebrew names! Both me, and two out of our three daughters have at least one, if not two or three (yes... three!) Hebrew names! (obviously, Saoirse is not Hebrew, and I didn't list our eldest daughter's name in this thread, as it is a Bible name, (Of Hebrew origin) and truly goes with anything!) Elisheba is a very special family name, but I did not mention that, as I do not want that to be the reason to name a child. I want to make sure it is a good, solid name in it's own right!

The cat/dog-food correlation does not bother me at all, as we don't have anything like it here, and no-one would make that association. I suppose it could be a point for mocking if she traveled abroad, but honestly, I figure there are bound to be comical differences between countries that will be poked at regardless, so that really doesn't matter either.

I am enjoying the comments on the sound/flow of the name, regardless of the preference of the poster... Helps me to see things from a different perspective! :)

HappyWifeandMum - I also wanted to say, don't be disheartened by some of the comments.

It often amazes me the way some people react to names they've never seen before, often assuming it's made up. I always Google a name I'm unfamiliar with before commenting, to see if it's a real name or not, as I don't know every name under the sun.

With regards to Elisheba, if you think about it, it's not that much different in terms of style and flow to names like Isabella, Arabella etc, which are HUGELY popular at the moment. People just react negatively to it as it's different.

My children all have one middle name that is Hebrew and one that is a form of a Hebrew name (two have English forms, one has a Yiddish form).

Have you seen this site...

Hebrew Baby Names

... I love it.

Just wanted to correct my earlier statement... On a pet food note, I was mistaken... My husband just informed me that we do have Sheba pet food in our area, but that he would have never made that connection, as that is not how Elisheba is pronounced. We don't watch television, so I have not been subjected to all the commercials, and since we don't have a cat/dog and I don't shop for pet food, I was not aware of that brand.

Again, Thank you so very much, Hatterbox!!! I am indeed delighted for your input! Not just because it is favorable toward the name in question, but because you have thought it out from so many different angles! Truth be told, our Saoirse was slated to be an Isabelle for nearly a decade... Then the popularity monster gobbled it up, and it was no longer a viable option for me. (I just CANNOT do the über popular names!) I am so happy now though, because we just LOVE "Saoirse", and I can assure you, our daughter is NOT an "Isabelle"!!! I still love Isabelle though, and enjoy hearing it on other people's children!

So delighted to get the website too... Believe it or not, I was off googling to find a "Hebrew baby name forum" since my last post here!!! I had not succeeded yet, so was delighted you pointed me in the right direction!

Thank you!! :)

Never seen it before but it's a gorgeous name, both versions.