Regret not giving english names

imaima

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 2:47 am

amother Silver wrote:

Yes.
My children have extremely secular names.

Dh grandmother survived the war by posing as a gentile.

There is a definite post shoa effect and he and his family all have secular names.

Eta: chassidish for reference

Does it help if you look chassidish?

justforfun87

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 7:00 am

I tell everyone this story. I was so sick with anxiety about what to do when I was in the hospital filling out my daughter's birth certificate. I live in a big Jewish community but delivered in a non-jewish hospital. In walks a frum lactation consultant. I thought it was a sign from Hashem so I asked her what should I do. Should I write an English name down? She stated she was just a shiur the night before and the Rav spoke about Mitzraim and how we kept our names. At that moment I wrote down her very Jewish name right on the birth certificate.

amother

Ruby

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 7:20 am

amother Dodgerblue wrote:

I will not be erased, my kids will not be erased. They all have jewish names on their documents and I have zero regrets.

My kids only have Jewish names. Same with myself and my siblings (we are all in our 50's).

amother

Chartreuse

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 7:26 am

My children have the English version of their Jewish names on their passport. This is not to hide lol everyone can tell we are Jewish, rather, it makes it easier at appointments and also gives them optionality if they ever want to use these names jn a professional context. But they are still biblical names.

amother

Pear

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 7:42 am

I don't see the point in putting English names on the birth certificate, it overcomplicates things.
I don't like names that are hard to pronounce so avoid giving those to my kids anyway.

amother

Topaz

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 8:02 am

Reality wrote:

Uh, no, unless they made aliyah a long time ago.

It is a huge hassle to change your name and if you ever want to collect social security, good luck!

Its offered at the Misrad Hapnim to new olim (and anyone else).

If you do change it in Israel - and you are also American, you need to process the change also in the US.

amother

Apple

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 8:05 am

Tao wrote:

I give my kids English names. Nothing to do with not being proud to be Jewish. It's just super awkward to be sitting in the dentist office and hearing the poor secretary break her teeth over your Chanoch Baruch's name.
If I name a child an easy to pronounce name like Miriam I wouldn't add an English name. It also seems to me unprofessional, if your child works in a non-Jewish environment one day or interacts with a lot of non-Jews, it gets uncomfortable.

It's also awkward when the secretary calls for "jeff"and your little Chanoch Baruch has no clue that she's talking to him.

keym

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 8:30 am

Some of my kids have names that can be easily anglicanized- like Sarah or Rachel, or David or Aaron.
We wrote the English version on the birth certificates.
For some reason, receptionists struggle with those names even more.
Ra-kel, Ro-chel, ray-shel how is your name pronounced? And the more Hebrew/Yiddish like Batsheva, Elky, Bassy they have no problem.

So I learned giving a name for the dental receptionist is not necessarily helpful

amother

Gladiolus

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 8:40 am

I have a very Jewish name but it's not a Biblical character like Sarah or Hannah. I don't like this particular name, but not because it's Jewish. In adulthood , the only people who give me a hard time about is Yidden. NonJews either "mishear" and substitute an English name familiar to them (think Rochelle or Raychel for Raizel), or say "That's so pretty, what does it mean?"

amother

Daffodil

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 11:23 am

I give their hebrew names and I don't regret it.

Giving English names doesn't make them any less known as jewish, and it just complicates things as they have two identities.

Be proud of the Jewish names!!

nylon

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 12:41 pm

I grew up not frum and have an English name that's not related to my Jewish one. I always thought this was silly. So my kids only have one name. I did use the English spelling on the BC for one (it's a common Tanach name) -- but honestly, you put Joshua instead of Yehoshua (not his name) everyone knows anyway. The last name gives it away. I did consider how Anglophones would pronounce things and there were a few names I avoided. But my Indian neighbors don't give English names. It's not 1950 anymore.

amother

Floralwhite

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 3:27 pm

paperflowers wrote:

I regret giving English names. It is so confusing!

My kids hate having English names..and it has nothing to do with Frumkeit..we are modern Orthodox and its the norm to have English names but they love their Hebrew names and want to be identified as such but in college they go by their English names and they always coplain to me about it..I always tell them it was their father's decision..I have my double hebrew name on my birth certificate.

amother

Lightcyan

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 3:36 pm

my brother found it confusing. I have a name that can go both ways and I'm grateful for that so I did the same for my kids. think rachel, david... type of names.

amother

Celeste

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 3:44 pm

#BestBubby wrote:

I put English names, but have a Jewish last name.

And my sons english name is jewish, how many
Non jews named Abraham?

Is your last name really Abraham?

amother

NeonYellow

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 4:00 pm

#BestBubby wrote:

I put English names, but have a Jewish last name.

And my sons english name is jewish, how many
Non jews named Abraham?

I was in college with a Muslim named Ibrahim, so I guess there could be a few!
Just write Avraham on the birth certificate if thats what you call him, instead of Abraham!

I am of the opinion that you can 'anglicize' a name for the BC, but dont give a different name eg Hebrew name Avraham & English name Adrian!

amother

Daffodil

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 5:35 pm

amother NeonYellow wrote:

Ibrahim is a very common Muslim name (he is their ancestor too), but when you see Abraham, that's usually a giveaway that it's a Jew. I would just put Avrohom on the birth certificate.

Tao

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 5:57 pm

amother NeonYellow wrote:

I'm of the same opinion, however my second child's name doesn't have an English version. We just picked the closest we thought of. I actually don't even like my kids English names. They have them purely for professional reasons. I know of 2 close family members of mine who were not given an English name and both gave themselves one when going into the workforce.

amother

Hawthorn

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 6:28 pm

So interesting how everyone's opinions differ so much!
My parents named each of their children with two hebrew names and two english names. A mouthful!
It was always confusing - which names do I go by where - Dr office, legal office, college etc. By the time I was nearing the end of grad school and was already married, there were so many combinations of names and I didn't know what was used where. Identity crisis!
My older sister told me that she wished she had legally changed her name, it would simplify things so much. So I bit the bullet and went through the legal process to change my name. It was a hassle and cost $ but I am so thrilled that I did it, it made so many processes easier. Now my legal name everywhere is my Hebrew name that I'm called by and my married last name.
That's my story!

amother

Snowflake

Tue, Oct 31 2023, 10:03 pm

My parents gave two English and two Hebrew names and it is a bit confusing. I tried to give my kids one set of names, but we weren't perfect on all in order to accommodate more than one naming opportunity. Both my maiden and married names are very Jewish, so I'm definitely not fooling anyone. Btw, one of my childhood friends, who is Catholic but grew up around a lot of Jews, was criticized for giving her children "Jewish names."