Tzirel vs Tzurtel | Imamother

amother

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 10:21 pm

My grandmother went by her English name and wasn't frum but said her Hebrew name was Tzurtel. We assumed for a long time is must have actually been Tzirel, since we'd never heard of such a name. The rare girls names thread though seems to have had a few posters list Tzurtel as a name. Does anyone know if it's a different name than Tzirel? Is it a diminutive of Tzirel? I'm now wondering if maybe my grandmother was right...

amother

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 10:35 pm

Wow...we're actually in the process of getting her matzeiva. Glad I came across this before it was finalized. Going to have to take this info to the family members who are handling this...

amother

Steel

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 11:16 pm

amother OP wrote:

They are different names but I do believe that they are both Yiddish names, not Hebrew. You may want to check if she got a Hebrew name as well or only a Yiddish one (which is common in the chasidish community).

amother

Maroon

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 11:23 pm

amother Steel wrote:

Tzurty here and it actually is a Hebrew name

amother

Steel

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 11:40 pm

amother Maroon wrote:

Tzurty here and it actually is a Hebrew name

As far as I know, its a Yiddish name. Its listed as Yiddish as well. Do you have a source that says its Hebrew?

https://www.behindthename.com/.....itted

https://www.behindthename.com/.....ter/t

amother

Wed, Nov 30 2022, 10:47 am

By "Hebrew" I mean Jewish. Don't mean the literal language. She was not of a chassidish background, she was never frum, but her parents gave her both a Jewish name and a secular name and always called her by the secular name. She was aware that she had a Jewish name and knew her parents' Jewish names, because she attended a progressive shul and often got called up for aliyah and always gave her Jewish name bat parents' Jewish names.

We thought it was a pronunciation issue or a diminutive because when my parents were getting married and their rav was asking them for genealogy to make sure everyone was Jewish, my dad gave his mother's name as Tzurtel and was told that's not a name and it must be Tzirel. Since my dad is bt and his mother wasn't particularly knowledgeable about Judaism, he just assumed his rav was right, so for the last 40ish years, the frum branch of the family assumed her name was Tzirel. I'm really glad to be finding this all out before finalizing the matzeiva.