Having an english name

↑ Rivka ↓

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 5:15 pm

Quote:

The Yiddish language, which may have 'evolved' from other foreign tongues has nevertheless become hallowed and sacred. It is the language with which Jews spoke, and learned and taught Torah almost exclusively for hundreds of years.

Hmm, well at the moment for the past 100 years English is the spoken tongue of most Jews in the world and they learn torah with English and understand their davening and bentching and everything with English.
Yiddish is not a holy language, if it is then English is on the same level and so using English names is no problem.
And names like Dovber and Raizel and Hinda and Baila were not first used by rebbeim.
There is nothing wrong with using an English name, we still keep Hebrew names by giving it at a bris for a boy or in shul for a girl.

↑ deedee

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 10:06 pm

Quote:

It's not primarily for their convenience but for our convenience, so we don't have to go through the 'what did you say your name was, what? how do you spell it?' all so that they call you a different name anyway.

I go through this with my unusual english name, so whats the difference?!?!

shanie5 ↓

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 10:49 pm

I only have a hebrew name (as do my siblings)
even jewish people mispronounce it. so what? if it matters I correc them. if it doesnt-so ill be called shawnee for a while.
my first 3 kids all have ches in their names. CHaim simCHa, CHana malka, menuCHa. my 4th has no ches. he's YIRMIYAHU! so what if the dr. cant pronounce them- we either give them the childs nickname (yimmy) or have fun watching them try to figure out how to pronounce it. at the dr.s office, I usually see the nurse look at the chart, look up, look at the chart, look up and call us by our last name Very Happy

. I am expecting that its us they are trying to figure out.
I have never had a negative reaction to my hebrew name. its always "wow what a pretty name" "that sounds so nice" etc. I usually tell them its hebrew, what its short for and what it means.
thesrangest is when non-jews call asking for 'shana'. I say 'speaking' and then they start talking about college or something pertaining to my daughter I say 'oh-you want my daughter CHana'. I just picture them Scratching Head

↑ TzenaRena ↓

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 11:21 pm

Rivka wrote:

I don't like CH names personally so I wouldn't call any of my kids a name like that.

Rivka what is your reference to CH names? could you explain?

↑ TzenaRena

Sat, Nov 05 2005, 11:38 pm

1stimer wrote:

Quote:

I'd like a source for that.

Rav Moshe Feinstein has a teshuva about this, he says it is no longer a big deal to be called by a hebrew name. Already from the time of the gemarra they were called by aramaic names, abaya and rava. But if uncle moishie says different...

Would it be too much trouble for you to write the source? Igros Moshe etc.

And as I wrote

Quote:

Names that have been accepted by the Jewish nation and become customary amongst Jews have acquired the holiness of Jewish custom.

and

Quote:

Another example of a tongue spoken by a nation that oppressed the Jews! but was adopted by the Jewish people is the language of the Gemara - Aramaic! This language in which Jews spoke learned and prayed during times of Galus,for hundreds of years has a degree of holiness, according to halacha.

↑ Rivka ↓

Sun, Nov 06 2005, 1:23 pm

Ok, I don't know what u mean about CH names being Menachem Mendel or Chaya Mushka, maybe you are getting foncused. CH doesn't always refer to Crown Heights or Lubavitch.
"Ch" names with a "ch" eg Chana, Chaya, Mordechai, Chananaya....etc etc etc etc etc.

Tefila

Sun, Nov 06 2005, 1:58 pm

Quote:

"Ch" names with a "ch" eg Chana, Chaya, Mordechai, Chananaya....etc etc etc etc etc

Thats what I thought you meant to begin w/h glad to know I've not entirely gone meshuga Confused

su7kids ↓

Sun, Nov 06 2005, 2:10 pm

I didn't think about how others would pronounce my kids names, and except for maybe Ester, they all have a problem with:
Menachem
Sholom
Chaya
Shneur Zalman (who now insists he is no longer "Zalman" but "Shneur"
Yisroel
and poor Sara who wants to be "SURU" and is always sai-ra!!!

↑ su7kids

Sun, Nov 06 2005, 2:12 pm

Also, I go by my English name, in fact, got a brocha from the REbbe to do so.

My Hebrew name, is embarrassingly Shmuela and I'm named for my grandfather. For many years I was the only Jewish person named for him, and my father is still alive, so I don't want to change my name out of respect for him.

I asked the Rebbe what to do, since he was makpid on using the Jewish name, and h e said "Lehitnaheig kmo ad achshav" to behave as until now, so I go by my English name.

↑ shanie5

Sun, Nov 06 2005, 6:35 pm

motek- I do know someone who named their son yirmiya, but my son was named after his great gandfather yirmiyahu. never heard of a conflict w/ that though. and I know a few other yirmiyahu's

anybody else know anything about this?

↑ Pearl

Mon, Nov 07 2005, 6:40 am

Quote:

Motek wrote:

why do Jews feel they have to adjust their names so non jews can "feel comfortable" with them? Do non jews pick names that are comfortable for one and all? Haven't you noticed that even born and bred Americans are picking weird names for their kids? Sometimes, when reading an article, don't know if the author is male or female from their name Confused

a lot of non jews pick jewish names for their children (sharon, daniel, ruben).
I really don't see a problem with naming a child with only a jewish name. my parents, their siblings all have hebrew names, and all named their children with only hebrew names (and almost all of them are completely not frum!).

and btw, Fanny is used in Israel as short for Penina.

↑ amother ↓

Mon, Nov 07 2005, 12:16 pm

Pearl wrote:

a lot of non jews pick jewish names for their children (sharon, daniel, ruben).

Herschel Walker was a big-time African-American football star. Wish I knew the story behind that. Many blacks chose Biblical names because they drew parallels between their slavery and the slavery in Egypt. But Herschel is not a Biblical name. Anyone have a clue?

LubavitchLeah ↓

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 2:25 am

I proudly named my children yiddishe names ONLY. I intentionaly did not use any english versions. For me, a name is your essence, so eloquently put in SaraYehudis's comments:)
We are Yidden in our essence and we are yidden in this world using our physical beings to elevate it. What best way can one elevate a world of darkness, other then using your innermost light, through your essence, which shines through A NAME.
So for me naming my children after great Tzadikim, will Y"H give them the added abilities/ middos to reveal Hakodesh Barachu in our world. It is after all not simply tokenistic to name a child, it is using the energy of that name to further elevate this world through your child.
I hope this makes sense to some.

↑ chen ↓

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 2:11 pm

LubavitchLeah wrote:

I proudly named my children yiddishe names ONLY. I intentionaly did not use any english versions.

Dinah--pronounced DYE-nuh--is an English version of a Hebrew name
Levi--pronounced LEE-vye--is an English version of a Hebrew name
Just like Rachel, Daniel, Sarah, Leah...

Not Mendel, though.

↑ LubavitchLeah

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 2:53 pm

Chen youre post has me laughing here. If I pronounce your nick, CHEN, the way its spelt in english as you did with those names, could it be Chinese perhaps? Smile

)

↑ Rivka ↓

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 8:21 pm

No it would be Hen, which actually is a Scottish name.
So what are people saying? I call an English name Samuel, Sarah, Rebecca, even though they are Jewish names but in English.
I doubt there are any proper English names because they all either originate from German or Latin or Greek.
Oh Esther is a Persian Goddess and Mordechai is also a Persian name.
Alexander is Greek, Alexandria/Alexandra

Natalie is a Hebrew name. Lee is Hebrew even and so is Ella.
But alot of Hebrew names would be the same as English names, just because they are in Hebrew letters doesn't make them any better....or does it?

↑ hadasa ↓

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 11:52 pm

Quote:

Yiddish is not a holy language, if it is then English is on the same level and so using English names is no problem.

Rivka, please don't take offense at what I am about to say, but I find it disrespectful when someone quotes the Lubavitcher Rebbe and you make a statement saying "that's not true". I understand that everyone here has their own Gedolim whom they follow, and I wouldn't mind if you said "I don't understand" or "there are other opinions" or even "I don't feel that way", but I think that no matter what your feelings are towards Chabad or the Rebbe, it is rather presumptuous to imply that you know more about where holiness lies than he.