Possible hijack: Why isn’t Jesus a more common name outside Spanish-speaking countries?
Spanish and Muslim too. The Qur’anic Arabic form of Jesus is ‘Isa, which is used as a given name in the Muslim world. (The Christian Arabs call Jesus by the form of the name used in the Arabic translation of the Bible, Yasu‘, which comes from the Aramaic or Syriac form). The Arabic and Ethiopic form of Mary is Maryam.
According to The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker, the name Mary comes from the ancient Semitic goddess Mari. Walker writes that in Syria Mari was worshiped in combination with her serpent deity lover Yamm, thus the name Maryam or Miriam from Mari-Yamm. Walker connects this name with the Hindu Lord of Death, Yama. However, (yamm is a Semitic word meaning ‘sea’.
Interesting to note that there is a Hindu goddess named Mariamma. In India, amma means ‘mother’, so the name means ‘Mother Mari’. Walker neglected to point out this Hindu connection, although a variant form of the Semitic goddess name was Mariamne.
Data point: My great-great aunt Tanta Mary Rappaport was certainly Jewish and Mary was her given name. (We’ve got her birth certificate to prove it.) My mother, in fact, changed her middle name to Marie in her memory.
A woman I used to work with had Mary as her first name. She converted to Judaism and simply used her middle name because she wanted to drop all trappings of her life as a Christian.
Robin
Well, her name wasn’t really Mary, it was Miriam, which is a good Jewish name. Just like Jesus wasn’t really named Jesus (there isn’t even a “j” sound in Hebrew), he was named Yehoshua, which was anglicized as Joshua, another perfectly ordinary Jewish name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone named Yehoshua, though. Well, except A. B. Yehoshua, the Israeli author. I don’t know if that was his given name or if he adopted it when he made aliyah.
The general feeling for centures was that Jesus was too holy a name to be bestowed on a normal child. Not only was his name sacred, but also those of the holiest saints, and even Mary for several centuries. Mary/Marie didn’t really get picked up as a given name in the Christian world until the late middle ages, and you didn’t see lots of little Patricks or Pauls either.
Around the time of the English Civil War and protestantism and all that you start seeing more Biblical names cropping up. People were naming their children all sorts of odd names they never would’ve touched before – Zebedee and Isaiah and Prudence and Elijah and such.
Onomastics is a fascinating field, really. During the 12th century, every other woman was named Matilda, Sibyl, and Alice, and all the men were named Henry, Robert, and William. Fast-forward a century or two, and everyone’s called Edward, Hugh, Elizabeth, and Margaret. The rather exotic Greek name Philippos was introduced to eastern Europe by the Russian mother of King Philippe I of France.
Clarification: My cousin’s Hebrew name is Miriam, but her “real” name - the one on her birth certificate, and the one she has always been known by - is Mary. And she and her family are very Jewish, and always have been.
Our across-the-alley neighbour was named Merry. Merry and Doug Smith, in fact, which doesn’t sound any kind of Jewish at all, but they certianly were. Their eldest son went totally Orthodox, hat, whiskars and all. ;j
Merry suited her perfectly. She was one of the nicest people I ever knew and had a great sense of humour. I’ll never forget her showing up one Halloween in rabbit ears and her husband’s red longjohns! :eek: 
There are much fewer women mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures than there are men. And even fewer still portrayed as a person of power.
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron is one such heroine. Thus, is a very popular Jewish name.
Jesus’ mother’s name was Miriam (Anglicized as ‘Mary’).
It’s not uncommon among Jews in English speaking countries to Anglicize Hebrew names, thus using ‘Mary’ for ‘Miriam.’ (Though, there are plenty of ‘Miriams’ around.)
Shalom.
;j
Actually, A.B. Yehoshua was born A.G. Yehoshua; his family has been in the country for several generations.
My name, BTW, is Yehoshua, although my VISA card and U.S. passport say Joshua, and most Israelis call me Josh.
Many of the Jews I have known used a Goy name legally, and went by their Goy name in the world at large. But for the synagogue (or Reform temple?) they used — what’s the word for it — “religion names”, I guess, names in Hebrew. My best friend in college was named Steve, but once I saw his bar mitsvah certificate, and it called him Shmuel ben Shlomo ve Devorah.
This might explain Jewish women named Mary (who have the name Miriam on their bat mitsvah certificates).
My eperience with Reform Judaism has been pretty much that. My name IRL is Eve (about as original an Old Testament name as there is), and my Hebrew name is Chava, which is a direct translation. I’ve never even seen my Hebrew birth certificate that I recall, but Mom says it’s got Chava on it.
If I were to have a Jewish wedding, complete with ketubah and the whole nine yards (which seems rather unlikely at this point given my level of observance, or the lack thereof, altrhough I think they are really cool - *ketubot, * that is), it would show my Hebrew name. But having blown off Hebrew school and never done the bat mitzvah thing, I’ve never used my Hebrew name in any other circumstance except situations like this.
Meanwhile, my maternal grandmother was born into a Protestant family, and yet was named Miriam. She married her home church’s minister, and their first child (who went on to give birth to me) received Miriam as her middle name. Mom’s brother is Paul, which brings up another question: If Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul after his conversion, isn’t it ironic that some Jewish males are named Paul by their religiously observant parents?
I don’t know what I thought he was an oleh, then. You learn something new every day!
Like Eva Luna I had a great-aunt Mary, but her name was probably anglicized back in 1924 when she got off the boat from Poland. (My grandmother’s name was changed from Betya to Bessie.)
There’s Mary Rodgers, who’s the author of Freaky Friday, and btw is the daughter of musical theater composer Richard Rodgers. Then there’s the lead singer from '60s teen group The Shangri-las, Mary Weiss. (“Leader of the Pack” is their biggest hit.) Actually I think another one of the Shangri-las is a Mary too. Hang on …
Okay, one Google later, I have the answer: Mary-Ann Gasner. Anyway, both of 'em are Jewish.
That’s all I got. 