Ahinoam

Ahinoam — אחינועם — is one of the more lyrical biblical names, meaning my brother is pleasant or pleasantness of the brother, and it belonged to two women in the Hebrew scriptures: the wife of Saul, and a wife of David who bore his firstborn Amnon. In modern Israel the name was revived in the twentieth century and carried with grace by the singer Achinoam Nini, known abroad as Noa. Three syllables move with soft consonants and open vowels, giving it an almost sung quality. Rare outside Hebrew-speaking communities, it feels ancient and intimate at once, a biblical name that still sounds freshly spoken.