Comments (Meaning / History Only)
Okay Folks! The name Rachel is from the Hebrew Bible, as we know. Therefore it is a Hebrew name. The Hebrew pronunciation is something like this: “RawHEYL.” Or the similar “RawKHEYL.” The emphasis is on the second syllable. It could be argued that the diphthong in the second syllable is two syllables. I wouldn’t argue that, but the second syllable is the accented syllable, and therefore should be longer and more stressed. The “R” is not pronounced like the English “R.” The name sounds quite beautiful actually. Every form of the name that we regularly use in English is a bastardisation of the original pronunciation... The English sound CH is not like the Hebrew sound KH, which is closer to “H.” If you want a typical English spelling that’s closest to the Hebrew, it would be Raquel. But that’s not quite right either! But does any if this really matter? I say go for it! However you want to spell it! There have certainly been many spellings of the name in English throughout history, other than “Rachel,” including “Rachael.” From what I have seen, the spelling “Rachael” is more common in Great Britain than it is in the States. As an aside, from Arabic, the English rendering is often “Rahel.” I like that one a lot! Anyway, especially given that the Hebrew Bible was first put down in writing over 2,600 years ago, we can safely say that “Rachel” is not the only rendering of the name in English. Do a historical search; you will see this. And if we’re looking for authenticity, “Rachel” is certainly not the “right” pronunciation. I’m not sure who “owns” names, but we might be unhappy to live in a country where you must give your child a name from a list of approved names, with approved spellings. And there ARE such countries!
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Actually, this spelling of Rachael predates the more conventional spelling of Rachel.
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Israel and Michael are actually pronounced with three syllables in Hebrew. Rachel is not.
Spelling Rachel as Rachael does make it look as if it should be pronounced with three syllables. Maybe not in English, but in Hebrew so it just looks weird to me.
I think Rachael looks just plain ugly and makes no sense at all, sorry.
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Spelling Rachel as Rachael does make it look as if it should be pronounced with three syllables. Maybe not in English, but in Hebrew so it just looks weird to me.
I think Rachael looks just plain ugly and makes no sense at all, sorry.
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