What could his hebrew name have been?

aidelmaidel

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 5:18 am

My greatgrandparents were George and Charlotte. They were high-society German Jews. Nobody in my family knows what their Hebrew names were.

Okay for Charlotte, we figured we could have a Chaya and a Chana and our bases were likely covered (I'm lubavitch). Also, Charlotte's son married a woman named Anna Julia (Chana Yovel!) So likely she was a Chaya.

George is a lot harder! When my gradnfather passed away, (the son of george and charlotte) my uncle guessed and had them put Gershon. But that has never felt right to me. So we did some investigation - what does George mean? It's a french name, meaning "farmer".

So then I looked up "farmer" in Hebrew. I got "Oved Ha'adama". Literally, slave or worker of the land. I thought, "Aack, what am I supposed to do?" Someone pointed out the root there was ha'adamah - Adam.

So I agreed if it was a boy, we could call the baby Gershon Adam or Adam Gershon. But she turned out to be a girl.

Ruchel

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 6:29 am

amother wrote:

My FIL's English name was Samuel.

His Hebrew name was Shimon. Come again?

A semi-religious friend of mine in college went by her "English" name, Rebeka Sarah, but she told me once her "Hebrew" name was Raizel Sheyna. Uh, no. Maybe your JEWISH name is Raizel Sheyna, but the only Hebrew names among the four are Rebeka and Sarah.

I never get why people use a Hebrew, or Hebrew origin, name as secular name when it doesn't match the Jewish name.

I see some charedim use Hebrew, or Hebrew origin name for the papers and Yiddish at the Torah, especially for girls. I have seen a few examples of people doing it with Ladino or Judeo Arabic, too.

DH's ruv is into that.

Ruchel

Thu, Jul 28 2011, 6:30 am

aidelmaidel wrote:

Charlotte is often Shaindel.
George isn't French lol http://www.behindthename.com/name/george

Thu, Aug 04 2011, 12:47 pm

Ruchel wrote:

I never get why people use a Hebrew, or Hebrew origin, name as secular name when it doesn't match the Jewish name.

Because they like the name. Not everyone matches the secular name to the Hebrew (or Jewish) name. My own Hebrew name - after beloved relatives - has nothing to do with my English name, which my parents chose because they liked it.

Let's say a boy is named after his ancestor Shlomo, but his parents don't like the name "Solomon" in English. They may choose another "S" name, such as Samuel. Or another name altogether such as Joshua. Those are well-liked English names that happen to have biblical roots. Not a problem as far as I'm concerned. The secular and Hebrew (or Jewish) names serve different functions in some families.

Teacup9

Mon, Aug 08 2011, 3:07 pm

This kind of guessing is so hard. I have a great grandfather known has Hymie with records calling him Herman and Hymen. I assumed he was Chaim and had thoughts of naming a future girl Chaya. Later ancestry.com and jewishgen lead me to a picture of his gravesite and there it read Yehezkiel. However his wife known as Mira and Minnie had the predictable Hebrew name Miriam.