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In vol. 11, Eiji asks Ash about his real name while they are on the Staten Island ferry. Ash claims that his first name, Aslan, is a Hebrew word referring to daybreak.

Eiji: Remember what you told me once? That your mother gave you your name — your real name, "Aslan". It's not a common name … What does it mean?

Ash: It's an ancient Hebrew word that was used in prayer. It means "daybreak," cuz I was born at dawn.

But as far as I can tell, the Hebrew word for dawn is שחר (shachar). I tried guessing various Hebrew spellings that could be read as Aslan and looking those up on the internet, but I haven't yet found anything convincing. Aslan also happens to be a variant of a real Turkic name that means "lion," so Ash's etymology could also be the result of author error. I am not proficient in Hebrew or Aramaic, however, so I'm not sure if I'm missing something. Is there any truth to Ash's claim at all?

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Maroon
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  • Aslan is not a name in hebrew and it is not common in israel at all but, Atslan (עצלן) means lazy in hebrew sooooo... maybe and most likely that it is an error, but maybe by some sort of fluke it's a very good joke. – Hara Kaved Lapanim Apr 28 '20 at 15:48

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Yes, this quoted dialog response by Ash is incorrect.

Aslan is not even a Hebrew word, it is a Turkish word, and it does not mean "daybreak" in Hebrew. Daybreak can be "shachar" (שחר) as you found, which is a very common name, or "zricha" (זריחה) which is the action of the sun arriving, and isn't used as a name.

Aslan, in Turkish, means a lion, and it is used a lot for names, even in Hebrew (not very common, but we do have this name as last name), this might be the source of confusion for that author.

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