Last Names as First Names

Isramom8

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 3:39 am

My dd told me that her friend's brother is named Gordon after the mother's family's last name. I didn't know that frum people do this, or maybe they became frum afterwards.

What do you think of it, or a version of it - like naming a child Golda or Zahava if the mother's family name was Gold?

Ruchel

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 6:51 am

Why not, as long as the name given is a real name.
Sterna for Stern, sure.
McKenna for McKenna, no way.
Bluma for Blumkin, of course, it even comes from Bluma to begin with.
Madison for Madison, only if it's a boy and your name is Maud.
Etc.

DrMom

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 7:23 am

I think the current trend (in the non-Jewish English-speaking world) of giving babies first names that are derived from last names is odd. Names like "Carter" and "Cooper" and "Hunter" have risen in popularity in recent years. I suppose people like it because it makes them sound aristocratic and "WASPy".

Doesn't work so well with many Jewish names. Who's going to name their son "Goldberg" or "Fishbein"?

amother

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:09 am

My brother named their son Yitzchok Mayer. The Mayer is his second name and they did this because my mothers parents last name was, Mayers and she's an only child, so this was a way to pass on their name.

Isramom8

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:12 am

DrMom wrote:

Some might be cool, like Cohen or Levi or Israel or Jacob or Miller.

amother

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:15 am

I did something like this - don't want to give away what the name was - it was a cool English version of the Hebrew name and we love it - for example, if the Hebrew name was Eliyahu, then the English name could be Elias, which is a last name but also has been used as a first name over the years and I think is cooler than Elliot. So, e.g. the kid could be Elliot Schwartz (generic) or Elias Schwartz (hmm, Ivy league, maybe he has European roots?)

theoneandonly

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:21 am

I had a student (girl) whose middle name was Finkel, and she went by both names, eg called Chana Finkel, full name Chana Finkel Goldstein.

anon for this

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 9:06 am

DrMom wrote:

I think the current trend (in the non-Jewish English-speaking world) of giving babies first names that are derived from last names is odd.

I'm not sure about first names, but giving babies last names as middle names is not a new trend in the English speaking world. It's one way of keeping the mother's maiden name in the family.

My husband had his mother's maiden name given as a second middle name. He disliked it though and omitted it from his drivers license and other official documents.

hadasa

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 9:42 am

Somebody in my family recently did this. My grandmother's only brother was killed in the holocaust with his family, so even though my great-grandfather has many descendants, there's noone with his family name. The name was one derived from a female name, so someone came up with the idea to name a girl with that name in memory of the family name.

theoneandonly

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 10:38 am

Ruchel wrote:

Finkel IS a first name to begin with.

Really? I never ever heard of it before, which is why this girl's name sounded so weird to me.

peanut37

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 5:41 pm

There was a TV show on TLC about Bakers who had triplet boys, one of the kids first names was Adler... they're not jewish and I found that hysterical, but I guess they liked it

OOTBubby

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 7:00 pm

theoneandonly wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

Finkel IS a first name to begin with.

Really? I never ever heard of it before, which is why this girl's name sounded so weird to me.

It certainly is. My DH's great-great grandmother had a sister named Finkel (this is in the mid-late 1800's in Europe).

amother

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 7:58 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

theoneandonly wrote:

Ruchel wrote:

Finkel IS a first name to begin with.

Really? I never ever heard of it before, which is why this girl's name sounded so weird to me.

It certainly is. My DH's great-great grandmother had a sister named Finkel (this is in the mid-late 1800's in Europe).

It is a name used in my family (even now) although it is uncommon in our community.

saw50st8

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:00 pm

We're considering Harrison if we have a boy, because my grandfather's name was Harry...but its typically a last name.

I like a lot of last names as first names...but not Fishbein LOL.

Sun, Feb 13 2011, 8:00 pm

peanut37 wrote:

There was a TV show on TLC about Bakers who had triplet boys, one of the kids first names was Adler... they're not jewish and I found that hysterical, but I guess they liked it

Did they say if it was a family name? I had a non-Jewish college friend whose last name was Adler.

ewa-jo

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 1:12 am

saw50st8 wrote:

We're considering Harrison if we have a boy, because my grandfather's name was Harry...but its typically a last name.

I like a lot of last names as first names...but not Fishbein LOL.

Harrison Ford????

I think your future son would think it was cool to be named after Indiana Jones and Hans Solo.

chavamom

Mon, Feb 14 2011, 1:47 am

DrMom wrote:

I believe the book The Yiddish Policeman's Union has a baby named "Goldberg" (a boy) called Goldy for short. LOL