What kind of name is ”mamelah”?

amother

Mint

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 8:35 am

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

Hungarian ending. Mammashee and babbshee (grandmother). My grandmother's family said that and they were actually polish but I think it's hungarishe dialect

Babshee or Babshe for grandmother is Polish Yiddish and maybe Polish also. I've heard Mammashee for Mom but not as often it's either something Russian or Polish Jews would say. Neither are used by Hungarians or Hungarian Yiddish speakers. Hungarians call Mom something that sounds like the name Anya and Hungarian Yiddish speakers say Mammeh. I've only heard of Mammala as a nickname like sweetie but not saying it's not a real name just one I never heard. Kamala Harris' stepkids call her Momala.

Kiwi13

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 8:36 am

amother [ Seashell ] wrote:

Hungarian ending. Mammashee and babbshee (grandmother). My grandmother's family said that and they were actually polish but I think it's hungarishe dialect

So interesting!! He was born in Poland (I think, or Vienna and then moved there), but they moved around a lot before/during/after the war. His mother was a young widow who was close with the Gerrer Rebbe. There's an incredible story about a Bracha he gave one of her kids who was gravely ill and he recovered, B"H, and then many, many years later once the family had been in America for decades, that kid (by then an adult) went to the doctor for an imaging test of something unrelated and they found that many years earlier his appendix had calcified mid-burst.

My grandfather and his siblings were on the Kindertransport, and BH were able to be reunited with their mother in England at some point later on, then they immigrated to the US, through the Michigan/Canadian border. Fascinating history. I'll have to ask my mom if her father's mother was from Hungary. So curious now!

amother

Amber

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 8:38 am

Kiwi13 wrote:

Not the same, but does anyone know about the origins of "Mammashe?" (pronounced "mama-shee")
That's what my grandfather called his mother. I think they spoke Yiddish.

I think it could come from mama-sheinkeit or mama-shein. (I’ve heard my father in law use those terms) He speaks Polish Yiddish, for reference.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 9:46 am

A lot of Yiddish girls' names aren't real names. They're made up nice words that sounded nice and may be very remotely related to real names or words. They are the Yiddish version of Shaniqua, if you will.

ETA, Just because a name turns up in a gittin book or other collection doesn't mean it wasn't made up somewhere along the line. And for the record, I have one of those Yiddish names that really isn't a name. It's not a judgement, just a reflection of reality.

amother

Azure

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 10:20 am

All names were "made up" at some point, what's your point? Esther was ancient Persian, now it's mainstream. Moshe was Egyptian, totally legit. ANYTHING Yiddish was within the last few hundred years - MAYBE 1000, you're going to tell all the Faigas and Berels and Shaindels and Zissels and Mendels that their names aren't real? OK, go ahead.

I know a few Mamalas. Most of the ones I know are related to each other, and then there are a few who are not related to that first bunch but are related to each other, obviously named after a common ancestor. The name seems to have originated in Poland. The meaning does seem based on "Mama." How it became a name is pretty much anyone's guess as far as I can tell. I've heard something about wanting to name a child after one's mother but for whatever reason couldn't or wouldn't give the actual name.

Frumme

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 11:44 am

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

I know a few Mamalas. Most of the ones I know are related to each other, and then there are a few who are not related to that first bunch but are related to each other, obviously named after a common ancestor. The name seems to have originated in Poland. The meaning does seem based on "Mama." How it became a name is pretty much anyone's guess as far as I can tell. I've heard something about wanting to name a child after one's mother but for whatever reason couldn't or wouldn't give the actual name.

Maybe after all of the father-centric names like Avigail, Avital, Avishag, etc, someone decided to name one after the mama! LOL

amother

Indigo

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 11:58 am

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

That's exactly my point. Names get made up, and Yiddish names are no more "authentically Jewish" than Irving or Isadore or Rosie or Tillie or Benveniste or Fortuna. They are names that Jews gave to their children in a particular society, sometimes copied directly or indirectly from the surrounding culture, and sometimes just invented because they sounded nice.

I think Mamelah is actually kind of cute.

amother

Azure

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 12:04 pm

amother [ Indigo ] wrote:

That doesn't make them "not really a name." Which is literally what you said in your earlier post. Names become names through usage. And when you show me a meaningful number of non-Jews named Faiga or Mendel then you can claim Yiddish names are not authentically Jewish.

mommy3b2c

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 12:53 pm

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

I am one of those with a made up name and it’s different then berel and faigel because at least those names mean something. My name doesn’t even MEAN ANYTHING.

happy12

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 1:05 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

I am one of those with a made up name and it’s different then berel and faigel because at least those names mean something. My name doesn’t even MEAN ANYTHING.

Could be it has a meaning. We just may not know it.

amother

Firebrick

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 1:07 pm

amother [ Babyblue ] wrote:

It's like the yiddish equivalent of 'sweetheart'. Not an actual name afaik

Thats what I always thought (its what my mother and grandmother always called us girls, and called the boys "yingele"
But I actually know someone whos name is Mamela, so yes, it is a name

GLUE

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 1:54 pm

My Rebitzon used to work in a MO camp were the rule was all girls must use their Jewish name there was one girl who was called "Jenny" her Jewish name was Mamelah so the staff had pity and let her use her secular name

amother

Slateblue

Mon, Feb 08 2021, 6:25 pm

Frumme wrote:

Maybe after all of the father-centric names like Avigail, Avital, Avishag, etc, someone decided to name one after the mama! LOL

Seriously speaking,
The woman whom bnos avigail was named for, the isha chashuva, mrs. Avigayil rechnitz a"h, was avigail maima rochel, she should have a lichtege gan eden.

I've never heard of the name maima before or since.I

Is it like mamalah?