We were raised Jewish, and fairly religious, too, though I’ve been an atheist as far back as I can remember. Our parents spoke Yiddish to each other, and I’m pretty sure my brother and I were given Hebrew names, in addition to our English names and our Yiddish names, but I haven’t heard them in so long (4 decades?) I cannot remember what our names are in Hebrew. My brother needs to use his formal Hebrew name in some religious ceremony that his daughter is having (she became religious, God help her, with no encouragement from him) and asked me if I can rememberhis Hebrew name. I can’t.
His legal name in English is Michael. His Yiddish name is Mottel. What do you suppose his Hebrew name might be?
Hebrew names aren’t always related to English ones. My son is Aaron, but his Hebrew name is Yosef (middle name is Joseph). My Kate is Esther Hava. However, Mottel is often Mordechai, which works with Michael.
Now you got me curious. Are both English and Jewish first names recorded on the birth certificate? Or is just the English one recorded and the family uses the the Jewish name at home?
Jewish names are used ritually in Synagogue, though one might use them as a term of endearment. They aren’t included on US birth certificate. They are used when called to read Torah or some other ritual.
The format during a ritual is to call the Hebrew name and the parents names, so an example would be if I was:
Miriam (hebrew name) bat (daughter of) Dovid (the dad David) v’ (and) Leah (the mom Lola).
This works for adult kids too. The weekend of my daughters bat mitzvah we used our full Hebrew names for fun: Sara bat Dovid v’ Leah, pass the salt!
If you are a convert, thus without Jewish parents, then for ritual use you are <your Hebrew name> bar/bat Abraham v’Sarah (son/daughter of Abraham and Sarah, the original Jews).
Well, no, because he was being named for my mother’s brother Yosef, not someone named Aaron Yosef. His English name is Aaron Joseph. It would not have made sense to name him Aharon Yosef (or Aaron Yosef in English as I wanted him to have English names) because that wasn’t the intent of the honor of the Hebrew name.
Here, the Hebrew name is generally in honor of someone who has died (for Ashkenazic Jews, Sephardic can use living relatives). The English name may or may not have an obvious link to that honorific Hebrew name. Generally it does, though I know someone named Paul Michael whose hebrew name is Moshe, and another named Joseph whose Hebrew name is Shlomo.
The American custom is generally- the Hebrew name is the name in honor and the English name is the day-to-day name. The Hebrew name is not meant to be a translation of the English name. It’s generally intended to be an honor, so that’s the actual reason the names don’t always seem connected.
In my family, it’s more because someone else that has an English name that doesn’t translate directly to Hebrew or provide a result that parents like. So cousin Jeff gets called ‘Aharon’, because the parents like it, and then when someone else comes along and gets named Aaron, whoopsie, can’t call him ‘Aharon’.
I’m named Blumah, after my Great-Grandmother. Her English name was Bertha- You can see clearly what bullet we were dodging there.
I’m pregnant at the moment, so I’m currently hashing all this out with my (non-Jewish) partner.
My aunt was Blumah (that was her Yiddish name, though she never picked up an English name here). She was a great woman- it’s a great name you got there.
I am Marc, and I’ve never heard that before. My Hebrew name is Monesh, but I don’t think that’s typical. (I’m named for a great uncle.) Most have expected my Hebrew name to be Moshe, which I believe is often used when the English name is Michael.
To the OP, did you have a Bar Mitzvah? Is the synagogue still around? They would likely know your Hebrew name.
It’s best referred to not as the Hebrew name, but as “shem hakodesh”, the holy name. In contrast to “kinnui”, the secular name. Sure shem hakodesh can be the same as the secular name, or inspired by it, or visaversa, but there is no particular reason for that. Day to day you use one name that you just like the sound of. For holy purposes you use one that you may not love the sound of, but has meaning, generally that beng whose memory is being honored.
I have, essentially, five names. An English first/middle, a Hebrew first/middle, and then my last.
As near as I can tell, the main reason was to pacify as many relatives as possible. My mother nearly had a nervous breakdown over the sheer weight of phonecalls lobbying for me to be named after this or that dead relative.
Interesting. It’s a concept that doesn’t really exist in Israel. Your name’s your name. I don’t know anyone whose first name on their driver’s license is different than the one said at their bris, except maybe for immigrants (and even then, they often change their names to their Hebrew names).
I think, in context of the previous replies, as well as the fact that the Synagogue is no longer standing, that you can pick your favorite hebrew name and “adopt” it as your own.
