Very cool, Yael. I can't relate to most of this, so I don't have much to add, but regarding why "Yael" feels so very you, I can share a story:

When I was born, my mom wanted to give me a middle name from her (Italian) heritage: Maria. My dad said to let me choose my own middle name instead. My mom never called me by nor told me this middle name she had intended. And yet, throughout my life, people often assumed I had a middle name, and that it must be Maria. When I was 12 and had to choose a middle name for myself (Catholic sacrament of Confirmation), I chose Maria. It just felt like, on some essence, what I was. That's when my mom told me about how it had been meant to be my name all along. And people do still guess that this is my middle name, as if on instinct. In fact, when I lived in Latin America and in Latin American cultural contexts in early-adulthood, many people simply assumed my real name was María and that the "Laura" just an accessory.

I could get into the symbolism of "Maria" and how it speaks to me, but that's besides the point at the moment, apart from the idea that, simply: I think sometimes we embody particular archetypes, and this, too, can be a reason why a particular name feels like it suits us so perfectly.

In any case, in my late-20s, I became aware of a past life I had not long ago. It took me a while to realize that the "main character" of most of these scenes I was seeing in dreams and visions — a character that others knew as "Maria" — was actually.... me. Me in the other lifetime. Then as now, I suspect it wasn't my "real" name: it was an alias I either chose for myself or was assigned. And yet multiple soulmates of mine from that other life have either associated that name with me, or have accidentally called me by it. Likewise, some of them carry names in this lifetime that speak to what or who they were (one, I suspect, even recycled his name/alias too). This past life blends into my current one so palpably at times that it takes my breath away. I've been shaped by it, you could say. And I finally understood why I really felt drawn to the name "Maria" as a child.

So, all of this to say: in another life — another life with great bearing for your current one — maybe you were indeed named Yael. :)