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ArchivesRe: Jewish naming customs
in reply to a message by Anthony
True. Most Jewish people not living in Israel will give 2 names, a religious and a secular, two their children.
Sometimes the secular will be the English/French/whatever version of the religious (Mary Miriam), or the translation (Belle Yaffa), or just begin with the same letter (Mathilde Michal), or sound a bit alike (Andrew Dror), or they’ll not be related but the religious name will be the name of a grandparent (Claire Rahel for me lol).
The full religious name is, for men: [religious name] ben [religious name of the father], meaning X son of Y.
For example my dad = Yehiel ben Moshe
Women have two names: [religious name] bat [religious name of the father] and [religious name] bat [religious name of the mother], meaning X daughter of Y.
For example me = Rahel bat Yehiel, or Rahel bat Miriam
Nowadays a man would never be called X ben [mother name] unless he was an illegitimate child or his father converted to another religion or was excommunicated, 3 most horrible things that he wouldn’t want to show off anyway. In Biblical times it was a bit different, the son of a very great woman (Batyah, Moshe’s sister Miriam…) could be called “son of [mother name]”.
Jesus would have been: Yehoshua ben Yosef. Well, unless you believe he is the son of God, then he would be Yehoshua ben Miriam? This one is tricky.
Sometimes the secular will be the English/French/whatever version of the religious (Mary Miriam), or the translation (Belle Yaffa), or just begin with the same letter (Mathilde Michal), or sound a bit alike (Andrew Dror), or they’ll not be related but the religious name will be the name of a grandparent (Claire Rahel for me lol).
The full religious name is, for men: [religious name] ben [religious name of the father], meaning X son of Y.
For example my dad = Yehiel ben Moshe
Women have two names: [religious name] bat [religious name of the father] and [religious name] bat [religious name of the mother], meaning X daughter of Y.
For example me = Rahel bat Yehiel, or Rahel bat Miriam
Nowadays a man would never be called X ben [mother name] unless he was an illegitimate child or his father converted to another religion or was excommunicated, 3 most horrible things that he wouldn’t want to show off anyway. In Biblical times it was a bit different, the son of a very great woman (Batyah, Moshe’s sister Miriam…) could be called “son of [mother name]”.
Jesus would have been: Yehoshua ben Yosef. Well, unless you believe he is the son of God, then he would be Yehoshua ben Miriam? This one is tricky.
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