UPDATE: Thanks to help from @bertus this thread has been overtaken by events. I am now properly spelt.

[This post is just an explanation for those who followed the link from my signature and may be of no interest to you, which is, of course, perfectly fine.]

I appreciate it if you call me “Ya’akov”, with the apostrophe (single quote) because that is the correct orthography of my name. It comes from the Hebrew “יעקב” and there is no English diacritic, so an apostrophe is used. (Though I will take no offense at all if you don’t, it’s just a nice thing if you do.)

It indicates a small pause. The proper pronunciation is YA AH KOVE, with the gap being so subtle that you can simply omit it unless you want to try. Much more important is the KOVE, pronounce like the English work “cove”, with the long O.

My name is properly rendered “Ya'akov”, with the apostrophe between the two a’s. Unfortunately, there is no apostrophe key on the keyboard which means that apostrophe can’t be distinguished from single quote. This presents a problem for computer languages that uses single quote to quote literal characters. In the past this could be a vulnerability in things like web forms. The ”solution“ was to prohibit the use in things like usernames.

Sometimes a website will accept “Ya’akov” but then render it “Ya\’akov” or if it goes through several programs it could be like “Ya\\\\’akov”. Sometimes for “security” it just drops everything after the single quote and I become “Ya”. There are other, even more ugly rendering that I will omit for lack of space and reader patience.

If “Ya'akov” doesn’t render correctly for you, it’s because the “a'a” contains a UTF-8 apostrophe and not a single quote like “Ya’akov”. Most modern fonts have two different glyphs for these and they should be distinct if you look carefully.

(An argument could be made for the spelling “Yaäkov” since in English the dieresis (the two dots over the second a) is used to indicate that two vowels do not form a blend as in naïve and coöperate, but for whatever reason, it’s not done that way.)

[EDIT; typo patrol]

 

So then of course we run into problems with tags, @ Ya’akov will not alert you while @Yaakov will. Where someone whom English is not their main language, you are very fluent. Just out of curiosity what is your mother tongue? I am a very nosy person.

 

Is there two versions of the name?
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis better known as Yakov Smirnoff (stage comedian) who is of Ukrainian descent, spells it with no apostrophe. .

 

So then of course we run into problems with tags, @ Ya’akov will not alert you while @Yaakov will. Where someone whom English is not their main language, you are very fluent. Just out of curiosity what is your mother tongue? I am a very nosy person.

Obviously the tags have to be my username to work. I was born in the US, and my mama lashon (Yiddish for "mother tongue") is English which I am still trying to master.

 

Is there two versions of the name?
Yakov Naumovich Pokhis better known as Yakov Smirnoff (stage comedian) who is of Ukrainian descent, spells it with no apostrophe. .

All of the variations can be traced back to יעקב, because it is a biblical name. Ya'akov is transliterated Hebrew while Yakov is from the Russian Яков, but it is the same name. Yakov Smirnoff is Russian so it would be me using the name "Jacob" which is the general English version though it is actually a transliteration that makes more sense in languages where the "J" is a "Y" or "Ia" blend and the "b" is a "v". James is (somehow) derived form the Greek Ιάκωβος because the New Testament was in Greek and so in English we have both Jacob and James. Strangely, the Greek Γιαάκωφ is promounced almost identically to the Hebrew version of Ya'akov.

So, "kind of". There is only one name but there are a lot of transliterations.

This is like my son's name פסח, which is Pesach (Passover). In the French it is Pasca (which is his English name) and you might recognize Pasquale from Italian, and others. Biblical names usually appear in many if not all European and Slavic languages.

 

According to my DNA results, I am 3.2% Ashkenazi Jew.
The rest, Scandinavian.

 

It strikes me that this thread would have been a good candidate for placement in AAC's (AFAIK)-infrequently-used Blog section. Especially since a link to it is now included in your signature, @Yaakov (Ya'akov). No criticism or objection to the content, it just doesn't seem to fit the mold of a typical (even off-topic) forum post.

 

I appreciate it if you call me “Ya’akov”, with the apostrophe (single quote) because that is the correct orthography of my name, from the Hebrew “יעקב”, so an apostrophe is used. (Though I will take no offense at all if you don’t)

It is much better for you and others if you will change your username in this forum from Yaakov to Ya'akov.
Simple ask administrator.

 

It strikes me that this thread would have been a good candidate for placement in AAC's (AFAIK)-infrequently-used Blog section. Especially since a link to it is now included in your signature, @Yaakov (Ya'akov). No criticism or objection to the content, it just doesn't seem to fit the mold of a typical (even off-topic) forum post.

I thought about it but I wasn’t sure off-topic content was suitable for the blogs. I could have hosted it myself but an internal link is better.

 

It is much better for you and others if you will change your name in this forum from Yaakov to Ya'akov.
Simple ask administrator.

I usually try to use the correct orthography when I sign up for things and thought I really can’t recall if I tried I on AAC the fact that I almost always do and it isn’t my username suggests it can’t handle special characters in them.

 

@Yaakov (Ya'akov). .

Just a point, I don’t expect people to add it when they want to tag my username only if they are typing my name as part of the text, if they remember, and if they want to.

 

According to my DNA results, I am 3.2% Ashkenazi Jew.
The rest, Scandinavian.

I can tell from your photo.

 

I usually try to use the correct orthography when I sign up for things and thought I really can’t recall if I tried I on AAC the fact that I almost always do and it isn’t my username suggests it can’t handle special characters in them.

Sure, it can handle special characters. For example - our member:
Hypatia's Protege

 

Sure, it can handle special characters. For example - our member:
Hypatia's Protege

Thank you. I missed that. You are correct. I’ll look into it.

 

@bertus

 

UPDATE: Thanks to help from @bertus this thread has been overtaken by events. I am now properly spelt.

 

Curious to know, do all the links to the previous name still work?

 

Hello,

The system will change the username at all posts and link to the user.
Just hover over the link and see.

Bertus

 

You have but to ask and you might receive.