Watch That Name.

If you're thinking about giving your child what you think is a name in a foreign language make sure you do lots of research to be sure its correct. As you've probably heard by now Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have named their daughter Suri. Cruise stated it was Hebrew for princess, but apparently thats news to people in Israel. Its not a name they recognise there. Avshalom Koor, an Israeli media personality who has presented many programs on the Hebrew language, claims its an Eastern European Jewish pet name for Sarah. Chances are the name came from some inaccurate online list of baby names or a baby name book. I know I've seen at least a couple of these where my limited Japanese vocabulary was enough to know that some of the Japanese baby names listed either had wrong translations or weren't even Japanese. In the end its probably best to ask a native speaker of the language what a name means, or even if its an actual name, before using something exotic. It can also be a good idea so you don't give your kid some name that is currently seen as outdated. We can all think of English names that you wouldn't give a child today, like naming a boy Gayle.