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.
