# Male first name that's definitely not Jewish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777 "2003-11-06T21:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/41 "2003-11-07T11:37:02Z")
G’day I suggest “Xavier”. Or “Tiberius”. Or “Uriah”. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/42 "2003-11-07T12:01:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GilaB \* > \*\* > Somewhere up there someone asked what the H in John had to do with it - Jon tends to be a nickname for Jonathan, a popular Jewish name. (I know several (Orthodox) Jons; a more public example would be Jon Stewart.) Even though I think John is just a Latin-y adaptation of Yonatan (the Hebrew name that Jonathan is the English cognate of), it’s got more of a “Christian” association, and so some Jews avoid it. I know of one man whose mother gave him the English name Jay, even though his Hebrew name is Yonatan, because she was worried that Jonathan would be shortened to Johnny, which was “not a nice name for a Jewish boy.” (This was in the fifties, FWIW.) \*\* Gila - while Jon is short for **Yonatan** (“God-given” - prince, buddy of David), John is a completely different name - a translation of **Yochanan** (“God-absolved” - baptist, buddy of Christ). It’s just coincidential that they sound the same in English. Because the first documented Yochanan was John the Baptist, many Jews would just as soon call their kid Jesus. Basically, any “OT” name can be considered “Jewish”, except perhaps Nebucanezzar, Haman or Onan. I know of several prominant Israeli public figures named Zvulun (“Zebulun”) or Yedidya (“Jededia”) - although the latter is usually shortened to Deedee. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/43 "2003-11-07T12:06:20Z")
C’mon. Haman. What Jew would name their kid Haman? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/44 "2003-11-07T12:07:28Z")
A point I see **Alessan** just made. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/45 "2003-11-07T14:22:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cicada2003 \* > \*\*MsRobyn, the Phil Smith I know is Jewish, too! \*\* Maybe we know the same Phil Smith? Robin ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/46 "2003-11-07T14:59:21Z")
try a very English name (anglican), like Stewart (Stuart) or Richard. or a very catholic (irish) one: James - Seamus john - sean (owen) patrick - padraig I’d say any italian/Hispanic name would do, too. Romeo Giovanni - (John) Pablo Pedro … good luck ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/47 "2003-11-07T15:00:26Z")
Cecil sounds nice and generic. So do John and James. I think the Census Bureau recently put out their periodic study on the most common first names. Though on rereading the OP, I see you want a name that’s emphatically not Jewish, yet remains Western. How about Francisco Pizarro? Or a rough translation of that name, Frank Place? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/48 "2003-11-07T15:23:28Z")
> [@](#): > > but I’m sure there are Jewish Christians out there. (I tried to think of a less confusing way of saying that, but it’s impossible. Try it.) Okay … I’m sure there are Jews named “Christian” out there. Not so hard, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/49 "2003-11-07T15:31:26Z")
Or … I’m sure there are some people out there named “Christian” who are Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/50 "2003-11-07T16:00:51Z")
“God”? Wouldn’t that be a blasphemous for someone to use? **Cicada** : Who do you want to make the mistake? I think you want protagonist to seem to have been making a mistake, as opposed to p’s husband making overgeneralisations. Is that right? In that case, I don’t know that you can do it as you describe - the consensus seems to be that there is no name that it would be stupid to think could be of a Jew (aside: is it polite to say ‘Jew’ or ‘Jewish person’?) You could create most of the effect by choosing a name that very few jews have. But you might want to think about some other obvious sign: surname, if you can think of one; some comment he made; etc. ---
**Author:** ![nickannan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bcef8e/32.png) [@nickannan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nickannan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/51 "2003-11-07T16:16:33Z")
isn’t it obvious… nicholas 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/52 "2003-11-07T17:09:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mace \* > \*\ ***Exapno** : > > You’ve got to be kidding about **Len, Herb, and Nathanael** , right? Sigh. What part of **most of these** did you not understand? ---
**Author:** ![IzzyR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@IzzyR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IzzyR)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/53 "2003-11-07T17:19:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > (I know two different WASP moms here in the Heartland who named their little boys “Israel”), there may also be no such thing as a _totally_ “non-Jewish name” Israel is also a relatively common name for Hispanics. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alessan \* > while Jon is short for Yonatan (“God-given” - prince, buddy of David), John is a completely different name - a translation of Yochanan (“God-absolved” - baptist, buddy of Christ). It’s just coincidential that they sound the same in English. Because the first documented Yochanan was John the Baptist, many Jews would just as soon call their kid Jesus. What’s all this about? Yochanon is an extremely common Jewish name. It is also untrue that the first documented Yochanon was John the Baptist. E.g. the father of _Yose ben Yochanon ish Yerushalayim_, a disciple of _Shimon HaTzadik_ (who was roughly contemporaneous with Alexander the Great). Also I don’t think Yochanon translates to “absolved”. More like “likes”, or “favored”. ---
**Author:** ![Monkeypants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Monkeypants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeypants)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/54 "2003-11-07T18:21:22Z")
Nanjoo. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/55 "2003-11-07T18:51:58Z")
i’d suggest some old german names: hanno eike armin kuno gerfried heiko ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/56 "2003-11-07T19:15:32Z")
Most Indian or Hindu or Sanskrit (the three are not exactly the same) names would do as well (note, many of these names can be either masculine or feminine depending on the pronuncation of the final “a”)– Arabinda/Arvind Arun Shankar Rajesh Chandra (although there was that unfortunate Levy girl) Krishna Kumar Ananda/Anand Heck, take a look at [this](http://www.purespeed.com/personal/mazumdar/bengname-home.html) page. Or, you could use an obviously Islamic/Arabic name, such as Abdullah Bahauddin Jehangir Aurangzeb Timur ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777/57 "2003-11-07T19:27:30Z")
The obvious solution would be: Father \_\_\_\_\_ or Reverend \_\_\_\_\_ or Sister \_\_\_\_\_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-first-name-thats-definitely-not-jewish/211777.md?page=2)