Nomen est omen

The Latin proverb that got the honor of serving as this post's header is something I sometimes believe in. The name is an omen. The RMS Titanic sank – after all it was named after the gods that were overthrown by a better race in Greek mythology. Titanic nor the Titans lasted to see the future. Or what about the Finnish football team called Atlantis? Needless to say, they declared bankruptcy and nowadays have disappeared and are never to be found, much like their more famous namesake island.

Jewish names, both first names and family names are a very interesting topic for anyone interested in etymology and history. This is where the nerdy part of this post begins, so stop reading unless you really are interested :). There is the most obvious source for first names: Biblical writings. Abraham, Jacob, Adam, Noah, Ruth, Sarah, Deborah... All familiar names even to the Christians. On a more general note, nearly all names that have an ending -el can be traced back to the Hebrew language: Daniel, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael... Other common first names used by the Israelis or Jews have a more simple explanation in the Hebrew language.

There is a superstition in Judaism (especially among the Ashkenazim) that you must not name a child after a living relative. The Angel of Death might confuse these two persons carrying the same name – and accidentally grab the new-born from here to eternity. And by the way, how is a Jewish naming ceremony of a baby since there is no baptism or Christening? For boys it is at the brit milah ceremony (circumcision, at the age of 8 days) and for girls at a ceremony in a synagogue.

There is a trend among the Jews returning to Israel that they change their change or translate their last name of more foreign origin into Hebrew. Sometimes the Hebraization of the name is very literal: Abrahamovich (the -ovich/-owicz/-owitz ending meaning “son of” in Slavic regions) becomes Ben Avraham. The famous Israel Prime Minister David Ben Gurion chose a more of a free styling change for his name: Gryn became Ben Gurion. Some chose a more thorough road and abandoned their old name altogether, and started using e.g. Ben-Artzi, meaning “son of my land”.

(Mind you, a similar trend aspired in Finland during the 1800s when independence was still a dream – but a desire for a Finnish nation lived among the people. Many people with a Swedish last name changed or translated their last name according to whatever circumstances the family had. Even I would be called Eriksson nowadays if there hadn't been a switch by my great-great-grandfather.)

Many of the Ashkenazi Jews have a very German-sounding last name. Only three family names are of pure Jewish origin to begin with (Cohen, Levi and Israel). But as most did not have a family name but were merely called the son or daughter of someone, the German and Austro-Hungarian empire that in the 1700s imposed the Jews living in the region to adapt a last name... There are beautiful examples of e.g. Edelstein (“precious stone”), Rosenthal (“rose valley”) to more humble names such as Klein (fine, it means “small” but is associated a big fashion house nowadays) or Fisch (needs no translation). You can't judge a person by their last name though: not all German names mean that the person is Jewish. The Sepharic Jews had, by the way, adopted the use of family names much earlier.

Those going through conversion to Judaism usually adapt a Hebrew name for themselves. Traditionally, males pick Abraham and females Sarah. These names are favored because Abraham is quoted in the holy book to be “the father of a multitute of nations” (= hence, he can be the father of a convert having a totally non-Jewish background) and Sarah was his wife. Not everyone goes with the flow, of course. Madonna is known as Esther, and Marilyn Monroe never revealed which Hebrew name the Rabbi gave her from the Bible. My first name would not need much Hebraization: change one letter and there you have it...

This post is merely a scratch on the surface of the interesting world of names. If you're interested to learn more, dig in at behindthename.com, for example.