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Those names don't "feel Jewish" to me. There are tons of names that I recognize as Hebrew in origin, that I don't think "feel Jewish," although they would not seem strange to me as the name of a Jewish person.

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For context - I'm in the US and only speak English. My heritage - what little bit I know of it - is Christian, but I wasn't raised religious, and am not religious now.

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I've never seen Sabbath as a name, but I wouldn't expect one to be a Jew. I wouldn't expect a Salome to be Jewish either, although I doubt I'd feel surprised - I've never seen the name used at all.

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In the US a lot of Jews don't have "Jewish" names - even now, I think a lot of American Jews just prefer to use modern English names. Or mainstream English forms of Hebrew names. I know American Jews named April and Hayden. I've met Jews with Arabic names, who came from other parts of the world. Jews from Israel or who have dual citizenship, frequently have Hebrew names (that probably wouldn't be used by any Christians) - I see those a lot, too.

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I confess I am too ignorant of European history, to recognize Odessa as potentially feeling Jewish because of the city.

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"it feels almost criminal how Jewish Christian names can be" - I don't get that. Who might be harmed? Don't the two religions have overlapping canons? I think it'd be maybe weird for Christians (or non-Jewish American atheists) to use more modern Hebrew names like, say, Yarden or Kinneret, but I don't see why it would feel like an offense. Maybe you can educate me.

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I can't say for sure that any names that "feel Jewish" to me, are not used by any Jews - I don't know how I would know for sure, if it wasn't used by Jews at all. I suspect that there are some Biblical names that are not used by religious Jews, that might be used by others - like Delilah would be one. But that doesn't "feel Jewish" so much as it just looks Hebrew-origin, to me.

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- mirfak

This message was edited 9/28/2023, 1:00 PM