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HelpRe: Name I'm using: too Jewish?
in reply to a message by bananarama
Lazare is the French form of Lazarus, which is the name of a character prominent in the New Testament who is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic church. One of the main suburbs of Montreal, Quebec, is called Saint Lazare:
http://www.ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/index.shtml
What is the context of the story? Where and when is it set? Is it possible you can mention the character being named after the Christian saint within the story to make this clear to the readers?
http://www.ville.saint-lazare.qc.ca/index.shtml
What is the context of the story? Where and when is it set? Is it possible you can mention the character being named after the Christian saint within the story to make this clear to the readers?
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The character is from France, so I thought it would sound more interesting than Jean, Pierre, or Jacques. Those names are bland in my opinion.
Sometimes biblical names, even when used by Christians, were more popular with Jews because they shared texts.
I might be getting misinformation, but I heard that a lot of people had biblical names in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. But many of the more religious names were not popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I guessed when Jews came en masse to America starting in the late 19th century, many Americans decided that names like Lazarus, Abraham, and Naomi were too Jewish because a lot of Jews had those names. But now, religious biblical names seem to be popular again, so nobody might notice.
Sometimes biblical names, even when used by Christians, were more popular with Jews because they shared texts.
I might be getting misinformation, but I heard that a lot of people had biblical names in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. But many of the more religious names were not popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I guessed when Jews came en masse to America starting in the late 19th century, many Americans decided that names like Lazarus, Abraham, and Naomi were too Jewish because a lot of Jews had those names. But now, religious biblical names seem to be popular again, so nobody might notice.
This message was edited 8/30/2008, 8:23 AM
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About what year was the character born?
Lazare would be an unusual name for a man born in France during the 20th century. But depending on when the character was born, there would be lots of other choices than Lazare that would sound more "interesting" to Americans than Jean, Pierre, and Jacques but which would actually be names common in France. For example, the top ten names for boys born in France between 1980 and 1984 were Nicolas, Julien, Sebastien, Mickael, Mathieu, Guillaume, Cedric, David, Jerome, and Vincent. :)
Lazare would be an unusual name for a man born in France during the 20th century. But depending on when the character was born, there would be lots of other choices than Lazare that would sound more "interesting" to Americans than Jean, Pierre, and Jacques but which would actually be names common in France. For example, the top ten names for boys born in France between 1980 and 1984 were Nicolas, Julien, Sebastien, Mickael, Mathieu, Guillaume, Cedric, David, Jerome, and Vincent. :)
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He was born during World War I, so I guess it would be unusual. I'm changing his name to something less archaic anyway.
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