What’s in a Name? – Bnos Tzelafchad
And these are the names of his daughters: Machlah, Noah, and Choglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. (27:1)
The Rokeach provides a Midrashic interpretation of these names:
הלחמ העונ – ו ל תלל וחמו םשה י נפ הלחמו הל וחמב ר יש. — Machlah – song with dancing/twirling (מהלוח), she pleads to Hashem (הלחמ) and waits for Him (תל ל ו חמ).
.ר יש י לכ םיענענמ ומכ ,תענענמ – העונ — Noah – She moves (נענמ)( תע, as one shakes a musical instrument (such as a rattle or castanet, see Shmuel II 6, 5).
הלגח – . הל י ג ו ג ו חמ — Chaglah – dancing (in a circle – ג ו חמ) and rejoicing.
הכלמ – . הר ו ב ג ה י פמ השמ ךלמ י הל הכ י רצה — Milcah – she caused Moshe to consult (ךלמ י הל) with the Almighty.
הצרת – ה נ ו ק ן ו צר הצ ו ר ו הצ ו רמ. — Tirtzah – She is satisfied (מהצור) and wants the will (ר הצורן וצ) of her Creator.
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Rashi on this verse comments that their lineage is traced to Yosef because they inherited his love of Eretz Yisroel. In the 1910s archeologists discovered tax receipts from the reign of Yoash and Yeravam II (the thirteenth and fourteenth kings of the Northern Kingdom) who reigned approximately five hundred years after Bnos Tzlafchad made their request. These receipts were for the area owned by the tribe of Menashe. The data recorded on many of these ostraca include not only the town, but the beis av of the taxpayer. The names found are ר ז ע י בא ע ד י מש, ה ל ג ח , םכש , ק לח , ל א י רשא and הענ (the writing on several of the ostraca is illegible; perhaps we can assume that is why the other daughters are not mentioned). According to the names of the towns mentioned on the receipts seems that the Bnos Tzlafchad collectively inherited an area larger than that of their uncles combined.
