Jewish names, specifically one's given name, have varied over time and by location andethnic group. Other types of names used by Jewish people include thesurname and the religious name known as the Hebrew name.
Given names have a range of customs within different Jewish ethnic groups. Common given names, however, remain similar in many parts of the Jewish community, with many of them based on figures in theHebrew Bible or honoring relatives.[1]
Sephardim have often named newborn children in honor of their living grandparents. This practice typically uses these names in a specific order: the father's father, the father's mother, the mother's father, the mother's mother.[2]
In stark contrast to Sephardi customs, Ashkenazim have a longstandingsuperstition about naming a child after a living person. Instead, only a deceased relative's name may be used. According to this superstition, naming a child after a living person could appear as though you are waiting for that person to die. This practice is rooted in Jewish custom and has no standing in Jewish law.[3] While not many Jewish people necessarily believe in the superstition per se, the lack of precedence makes practices such as a (living) father naming his son after himself an unusual occurrence for Ashkenazim.[2][4]
A peculiarity ofYiddish names forAshkenazi Jews was recording legal names in diminutive form. These diminutive forms could be eitherhypocoristics (pet names) or deprecative. This tradition was more widespread for female names rather than for male names. There was a wide variety of suffixes added to a normative form of the name. Depending on the country of residence, the suffixes were borrowed into Yiddish, e.g., from German, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, etc. languages. In many cases these suffixes were used to create nicknames from regular words.[5]Some examples:Leiba, Leibuța (Romanian-language) fromLeib, Berele or Bereleyn fromBerl/Berel, Khaytsi, Chayka fromChaya, Rivka from Riva which itself was fromRebecca,Motke, Mordkhe, or Mordka fromMordechai, Feygele,Faygele from Feigl/Foigl ("bird", which could also be used as a female name), etc.
See alsoBilingual Hebrew-Yiddish tautological names
While many surnames are associated with Jewish people in the United States, there are only three surnames rooted in ancient Jewish culture:Kohen (or Cohen),Levy, andIsrael. These names originate with theIsraelite tribes which bear the same name. Variations on these names are common and most often reflect different ways oftransliterating the Hebrew version.[4]
Apart from these original surnames, the surnames of Jewish people of the present have typically reflected family history and their ethnic group within the Jewish people.Sephardic communities began to take on surnames in theMiddle Ages (specifically c.10th and 11th centuries), and these surnames reflect the languages spoken by the Sephardic subset of the Jewish diaspora, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.Ashkenazi communities of Northern and Eastern Europe, however, did not take on surnames until later (c.14th and 15th centuries). As with many other European communities, it was not unusual for a surname of this time period to reflect patrilineal relationships (e.g. Abraham's son -->Abramson, Abramsohn, etc.).[4][6]
The Hebrew name is a Jewish practice rooted in the practices of early Jewish communities andJudaism.[4] This Hebrew name is used for religious purposes, such as when the child is called to read the Torah at theirb'nei mitzvah.
The baby's name is traditionally announced during thebrit milah (circumcision ceremony) for male babies, typically on the eighth day after his birth.[7] Female babies may also have a naming ceremony, known by several different names, includingzeved habat, b'rit bat, andb'rit chayim.[8][9] This may be held between 7 and 30 days after her birth.[10]
The Hebrew name follows a particular format that reflects gender:[11]
The chosen Hebrew name can be related to the child's secular given name, but it does not have to be. The name is typicallyBiblical or based inModern Hebrew.
For those who convert to Judaism and thus lack parents with Hebrew names, their parents are given asAbraham andSarah, the first Jewish people of the Hebrew Bible. Those adopted by Jewish parents use the names of their adoptive parents.[12]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Names (Personal)".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
