Sunday, January 13, 2008

About Kali's name.

Kalanit is the name of a flower that grows in northern Israel. It looks like this:



It grows wild and even adorns places like minefields and mountain bunkers.

Yarden is the Hebrew translation of "Jordan". The Jordan is the river that brings fresh water, and thus life, to much of the land of Israel. (side note: all those gospel tunes and church songs about the mighty Jordan river? We of North America would probably call it a creek. Towards the end of the summer if you go rafting on the Jordan, you can feel your butt scraping the bottom of the river in places.)

We chose a name beginning with the letter Y in honour of Mr. December's paternal grandfather Yehuda. He was the first generation to really abandon traditional Jewish life and assimilate into North American culture - to the point where he never used the name Yehuda... his parents also gave him the name Julius (it's hard to think of a less Jewish name), and that's how he was known. Our hope is that by naming Kali after him, we're bringing that process full circle and returning the family to a place where we can be proud of our heritage.

So that's the story of her name. Thanks for waiting patiently!

10 comments:

lltanderson said...

what a beautiful name and what a beautiful story behind it! thank you for sharing this with us!

ms. c said...

What a gorgeous name. The Kalanit flowers are so pretty.
Mazel tov again and again!

Dagny said...

What a beautiful name. For a beautiful little girl.

Love the story.

xoxox

BigP's Heather said...

beautiful flowers - and a beautiful name

Chris said...

A beautiful name with beautiful meaning! Congrats again!

Anonymous said...

beautiful...the whole thing!
the world is small and i heard of the great mitzvah you performed at kali's baby naming....
Todah Rabah!
peace
shlomit

Aurelia said...

It's a great story and a great name. And a very cute baby!

Barb said...

That's beautiful!!

es said...

I saw that name in a Hebrew name baby book and wrote it down as a potential for my girl! I love it!! (My husband vetoed it though).

Ms. Perky said...

What a beautiful name. Mazal Tov! I'm so happy for you, Mama!