Talk:Hanukkah

Former good article nomineeHanukkah was a Philosophy and religion good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
October 4, 2018Peer reviewNot reviewed
December 11, 2018Good article nomineeNot listed
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Current status: Former good article nominee

Can we rename the article?

This article is currently named "Hanukkah," but this spelling is incorrect if you look at the Hebrew (חֲנֻכָּה), you will see that there is a better spelling. Let's go letter by letter. First we have חֲ, making the sound Chah (The "ch" is a guttural sound from the back of the throat without a proper English letter combination). Next we have נֻ, making the sound noo (or new). Then כָּ, making the sound kah. Finally we have ה, which is silent, but means we should have an "h" at the end of the word. With all this in place, the proper spelling is "Chanukah" or "Channukah" (I do not know the rules for the double n). So can we change all instances of "Hanukkah" to "Chanukah"? Bitten87 (talk) 19:21, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

hi! can we not do chanukka spelling discourse. since its not an english word, there isnt actually a "correct" way to spell it in english. while personally i prefer "ch" for that sound, i know many people prefer just a plain "h". 96.225.171.246 (talk) 15:04, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The spelling "Hanukkah" is a decent rendition based on the ancient Hebrew pronunciation, if not the modern Hebrew pronunciation. I prefer "Chanukah" also. However, the evidence seems to indicate that "Hanukkah" is the more common spelling, and it makes a better article title for that reason. AJD (talk) 15:30, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
i am still baffled as to why the "H" version usually gets a double K but the "Ch" version does not. that is, we are all debating "Hanukkah" vs "Chanukah", but what about "Hanukah" and "Chanukkah"? is there some "8 letters for good luck" superstition or something?
btw, i feel that the "Ch" version was far more common 50 years ago when i was young. did linguists simply sour on this transliteration, same as they did on "Peking" or "Bombay"? 2601:18A:807C:1C40:9113:1381:A8CC:9CA7 (talk) 15:55, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The spelling "Hanukkah" is based on the ancient Hebrew pronunciation, while "Chanukah" is based on the modern Hebrew pronunciation. In Ancient Hebrew, the word began with a pharyngeal fricative (whose best approximation in English spelling is "h"), and had a double K. In modern Hebrew, there are no double consonants, and the pharyngeal fricative has been replaced with a velar or uvular fricative, which is rendered as "ch". That's why the "ch" goes together with the single K and the "h" does with the double K. AJD (talk) 15:53, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
ok thanks. i think u basically said this already, but i didn't quite grasp it the first time!
that said, do u agree that "Ch" was the default back in the 70s or so? or is this mandela effect on my part? 2601:18A:807C:1C40:9113:1381:A8CC:9CA7 (talk) 16:00, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have no idea. Google Books ngram viewer suggests that "Hanukkah" has been more common than "Chanukah" consistently, except in the 2010s, but I have no way of knowing how reliable that is. AJD (talk) 16:31, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
must just be particular school/temple/synagogue near me was using "Ch", and it left an impression on my adolescent brain. i have always misunderstood that to be the more common of the two....
but thanks for the tip -- now i can simply claim i grew up in the 2010s instead of the 70s! 2601:18A:807C:1C40:9113:1381:A8CC:9CA7 (talk) 06:12, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ngram is case-sensitive by default. See here for a more accurate graph. GordonGlottal (talk) 19:40, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The name begins with a ח: a chet, not a het. The word Hanukah הנוכה means the deductee. Using the word hanukah is the ס״מ trying to confuse. Use the correct word Chanukah (dedication) 81.170.18.120 (talk) 21:18, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting, so anon is correct that "Hanukkah" has been increasing in comparison to "Chanukah"! AJD (talk) 23:32, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
i lucked bass-ackward into that! ngram shows 1958 as the end of the "Ch" dominance; i wasn't even around back then.
why i would have this impression well into the 70s or 80s is beyond me. unless all the books and greeting cards in my hometown happened to be 20 years old.... 2601:18A:807C:1C40:8F4:7864:70EE:20 (talk) 20:04, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Just because the wrong spelling has been used more than the correct one is not a reason to use it as the heading. Hanukah הנוכה means the deductee 81.170.18.120 (talk) 21:43, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The "H" in "Hanukkah" represents the ancient Hebrew pronunciation, in which the letter ח represented a pharyngeal fricative more similar to [h] than to [x] ("ch") (but different from both, of course). AJD (talk) 23:35, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's not about preference, it's about accuracy Bitten87 (talk) 17:05, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Agree 2600:1000:B15D:4848:EC35:1036:4BD7:5E4E (talk) 02:34, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It should be changed. Liamlalaliam (talk) 19:33, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yes it should be changed 164.152.179.169 (talk) 21:31, 18 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Yes it should 131.150.163.32 (talk) 18:20, 13 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I personally prefer the Chanukah spelling due to what you've outlined, but per WP:COMMONNAME, since Hanukkah is the more common anglicized spelling, that's the one we should keep. drdr150 (they/she) (Yell at me Spy on me) 16:14, 16 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia article names are not determined by accuracy but rather by recognisability. It is explained at WP:COMMONNAME. If it is true that Hanukkah is the most common spelling, that's what we use. To help people who are searching with a different spelling, we have redirects. I see Hannukah and Chanukah, but more variations could be added if they are out there and don't conflict with other articles. Zerotalk 01:28, 14 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Many spelling variations of Hanukkah like Hanukah or Chanukkah can be added. 216.129.149.190 (talk) 16:10, 3 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hanukkah