These unique Jewish baby names might trend in 2025

Kveller

Kveller’s Instagram posts a popular weekly feature called “Name This Baby,” where followers respond to an anonymous request for help choosing a Jewish name for their baby. After a few years of sifting through the anonymous requests, a pattern has emerged: Many parents want a visibly Jewish name that’s both unique and easy to pronounce. With that in mind, combined with traffic to the Kveller’s baby name bank and a deep dive into TikTok baby name trend predictions, here’s a list of unique Jewish baby names we could see spiking this year.

BOYS

Gideon
A new baby naming trend seems to surface nearly every day on TikTok. Our latest favorite? “Hot nerd’ names.” One of TikTok’s favorite baby naming experts Colleen Slagle offered up “Gideon,” a Hebrew name meaning “mighty warrior,” as a hot nerd name suggestion.

Brody
Adam Brody, Adrien Brody – need we say more? Brody is starting to be synonymous with “Nice Jewish Boy” energy, which is a name quality we see requested often on Instagram. Though the first name of Brody is generally believed to originate from the Irish word for muddy ditch (pretty!), it’s also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname and the name of a village in Eastern Europe that was largely Jewish before the Holocaust.

Stanley
Stanley is one of those names that doesn’t have a Hebrew or Jewish origin, but was adopted by so many Jewish immigrants around the turn of the century that it’s now firmly a Jewish grandpa name – meaning it could soon be a Jewish baby name for those following the Ashkenazi tradition of naming after lost loved ones.

Amos
Popular baby name site Nameberry predicts lesser-known biblical names will start popping up this year. Might we offer up Amos, one of the 12 minor prophets of Israel, and often called “the social justice prophet?”

Jesse
Speaking of lesser-known biblical names, Jesse is the English variation of Yishai, who was the father of King David and means “G-d exists.” Jesse is often offered as a suggestion on our Instagram.

GIRLS

Nessa
Nessa means “miracle” in Hebrew, is familiar without being too popular, and was recently spotlighted in pop culture as the name of Elphaba’s sister in Wicked .

Zelda
In Yiddish, Zelda means “happy,” and although I currently know three toddlers named Zelda, it’s only ranked as the 705th most popular baby name for girls. Nameberry lists Zelda on its “baby names everyone thinks are cool” list.

Shalom
With peace at the forefront of everyone’s mind, the name Shalom – the Hebrew word for peace (as well as hello and goodbye)-feels ripe for a jump in popularity.

Orli
A new baby is a light during dark times, and parents are taking that literally by giving their babies names related to light.

Ayala
Ayala means “doe” (as in deer) and is currently the second most popular name in Israel. “Name This Baby” sees a lot of requests for modern Israeli names, and this one is cute, feminine, and easy to say.

Palomba
Palomba, the Ladino word for dove, is a reference to much-needed peace and calm, and similar to a “cool girl” baby name that’s currently spiking.

GENDER NEUTRAL

Evan
This name, historically leaning male but increasingly seen as a gender-neutral option, received a lot of love in the Kveller baby name bank this year. Though most Evans are probably named with the Welsh meaning of “G-d is gracious” in mind, Evan is also the Hebrew word for stone.

Shai

The name–meaning “gift” in Hebrew–comes up as a frequent suggestion on “Name This Baby.” This Hebrew name is short, sweet, and easy for English speakers to pronounce (just tell them to pronounce it like “shy”).

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Daci Platt is the audience engagement associate at Kveller and the mother of two. Find her at @dacijaye.