Jewish names in anglosphere
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Some people also translate the Hebrew names and give an English name with similar meaning - it is convenient that Benedict has the identical initial plus meaning to Baruch ("blessed") but Leo and similar lion names can also be for Aryeh ("lion"). Felicity could be used for the Yiddish Freyde ("joy")and so on.
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I have also observed that there are some non-Jewish names that are very common among older Jews, say those born between 1900 and 1960. I assume these were mostly chosen not only because they start with the same first letter or sound, but also because they are secular--neither Jewish nor Christian. Alan, Albert, Arnold [Aaron, Abraham, Abram, Amos]
Bernard [Benjamin]
Isidore, Irving, Irwin [presumably corresponding to Hebrew names like Isaac, Isaiah, Israel, as mentioned above]
Jack, Julius [Joshua, Jonathan, Joel, Jesse, etc.]
Herbert, Herman, Harold, Howard, Harry [Chaim/Hyman]
Leo, Leon, Leonard [Levi]
Mortimer, Morton, Morris, Max [Mordechai, Moshe]
Norman, Norbert [Noah, Nahum]
Sidney, Seymour, Stanley [Shlomo/Solomon, Shmuel/Samuel]This seemed to be less common with girl's names, maybe because many Jewish female names were also generally popular (such as Sarah, Ruth) or have obvious English versions (Hannah - Ann(a), Elisheva - Elizabeth).
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We just use Anglicized versions of Biblical names.
Is there a reason to not do that?
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This seems to fit with what I understand of English-speaking Jews with Hebrew liturgical names. The system seems to be that a child is likely but not certain to be named after a recently deceased relative. Plenty of South African Jews have very modern, trendy names. Then, for liturgical purposes, they use a Hebrew (biblical) name with the same initial as their English name. My friend Desiree used Devorah, for instance, Ann used Channah, and when Denis and Jackie got married, they were David and Yael!
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