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ArchivesRe: Usage of Zion
in reply to a message by CruelPumps
There was a Jewish actress here in South Africa a number of years ago called Ziona. I've never met anyone called Zion. But there was a professor of law at a local university who was a lot older than the state of Israel, and his name was Ben-Zion. Son of Israel. He was always known as Ben.
When you say Zion is trendy among non-Jews, do you mean people who follow fashion trends in general, or maybe people with fundamentalist Christian ideas, or just people who like geographical names? I find it very interesting
When you say Zion is trendy among non-Jews, do you mean people who follow fashion trends in general, or maybe people with fundamentalist Christian ideas, or just people who like geographical names? I find it very interesting
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Sorry for the lateness of this answer --
Zion became fairly common for Black boys in the USA after singer Lauryn Hill named her son Zion in 1997. Her husband, Rohan Marley, is a son of the famous reggae singer Bob Marley. They chose the name because Bob Marley, a Rastafarian, was often called "The Lion of Zion." In 1998 Lauryn Hill featured a song called "To Zion" on her first solo album. The song included the line "Now the joy of my world is in Zion!"
All of the above, plus the fact that it could be seen as a "different but not too different" switch from names like Brian and Ryan, caused Zion to boom in the USA in the early 2000s. It is now sometimes given to girls as well as boys.
Zion became fairly common for Black boys in the USA after singer Lauryn Hill named her son Zion in 1997. Her husband, Rohan Marley, is a son of the famous reggae singer Bob Marley. They chose the name because Bob Marley, a Rastafarian, was often called "The Lion of Zion." In 1998 Lauryn Hill featured a song called "To Zion" on her first solo album. The song included the line "Now the joy of my world is in Zion!"
All of the above, plus the fact that it could be seen as a "different but not too different" switch from names like Brian and Ryan, caused Zion to boom in the USA in the early 2000s. It is now sometimes given to girls as well as boys.
This message was edited 2/16/2015, 7:18 AM
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Biblical names have a broader appeal to Christians than just to the fundamentalists. They appeal to Pentecostals and Charismatics, too.
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It isn't (as far as I know), but place names and other significant idioms certainly get used, if they would work in our language.
JORDAN wasn't in any of the name books* that we had when ours was born, but it was comparable to GEORGE & GORDON.
We toyed with the (girl) names, HALLELUJAH & HOSANNA, but abandoned them in their most common forms.
*I wasn't on-line, yet, in 1989 (and was still rockin' the Commodore 64).
JORDAN wasn't in any of the name books* that we had when ours was born, but it was comparable to GEORGE & GORDON.
We toyed with the (girl) names, HALLELUJAH & HOSANNA, but abandoned them in their most common forms.
*I wasn't on-line, yet, in 1989 (and was still rockin' the Commodore 64).
This message was edited 1/19/2015, 11:09 PM
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