Many are the aspects of names and naming: names affect the persons who bear them, names are taboos, names act as charms or prophylactics. Look, for example, at the beneficent intentions of such names as Alter, Zeydel (‘grandpa’), Khayim (‘life’), and so forth. The Jewish sages attached so much importance to names that the tractate Gittin in the Talmud, which deals with the laws of divorce, was supplemented, centuries later, with various treatises (Tiv Gittin) on names—motivated, among other things, by the great danger of mistaken identification.
The choosing of names for offspring offers a difficult problem to most parents. Not so—at least in theory—with Orthodox Jews, who traditionally name their children after worthy forbears, and so perpetuate the same names from one generation to another regardless of changing fashions. Therefore it is a piece of historical irony that in our present environment, the names of Orthodox Jews supposedly so perpetuated have become so transformed—sometimes ludicrously, sometimes almost scandalously—as to be unrecognizable. Isaacs have grandchildren “christened” for them after their death who answer to the names of Erwin, Eric, Edward, and Edmund. Nathans have grandchildren called Norman and Norbert. And have we not seen how Moses hath blossomed into Morris, Maurice, Moritz (in Germany), Murray; Morton, Milton, Mortimer, etc.?
But most Jews still bear an “original” Jewish first name underneath the complementary or protective Gentile name. And it is perhaps a comment on human vanity that it is this original Hebrew or Yiddish name that is pronounced over them—following a whispered conference between rabbi and relatives—just before the last remains are gathered to their fathers.
Particularly painful to the lover of the traditional is the neglect Jews show toward that richest of all treasuries of given names, the Bible—a treasury preeminently their own.
The cover of the June issue of COMMENTARY showed the names of sixteen writers who are Jews. Only three of them bore traditionally Jewish first names. Of the six names shown on COMMENTARY’S editorial staff, only two have traditionally Jewish first names. But let no one be tempted into rash sociological or ideological conclusions about the Jewishness of this particular group, or any other. The names of the presidents of three (out of four) of our leading Jewish theological seminaries are Louis, Stephen, and Julian—while the three chief officers (out of four) of the American Jewish Committee are Joseph, Jacob, and David. Of the sixteen officers of the Zionist Organization of America, only seven have traditionally Jewish names—and these officers, mind you, belong to an older generation.
Alas, the habit seems well-nigh universal. What causes Jews in every country, not only in the United States, to discard their traditional Biblical names and adopt Anglo-Saxon, French, German, or Slavic ones instead? Protective coloration is the obvious answer—and hand in hand with that goes the typically Jewish desire to provide one’s offspring with every advantage.
Which reminds us that it is only fair to mention that one should not hold the individual responsible for his name. This is a literal instance of the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children.
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The assimilation of alien names from the surroundings in which they happen to find themselves is no recent habit among Jews. It dates from Babylonian days. A surprisingly large number of Tannaim and Amoraim, the creators of the Talmud, bore Aramaic, Babylonian, and even Greek names—thus Rabbi Tarfon (Tryphon).
From this period on, every age of Jewish history saw a small number of alien names trickling into the community. These names were naturalized and—time’s revenge!—in the course of time became regarded as typically Jewish names. To cite but a few examples: Feivl, or Feivush, or Feibush, comes from the Greek Phoebus; Kalman from the Greek Kelonymos; Sender from the Greek Alexander; Todres from the Greek Theodoros(‘God-given’); Shprintze from the Italian Speranza(‘hope’); Bunem from the French Bonhomme (‘jolly fellow’). And Yente comes from the Italian Gentile (‘well-born’)!
More than half of these names—originally considered “classy”—have not only lost their distinction but have become, like Todres and Yente, precisely those appellations that characterize the vulgar man and woman. Thus the formerly “well-born” Yente is now the generic ignorant housewife.
Jewish names of German origin have suffered a similar decline; like Getzl from Goetz(see Goethe’s Goetz von Berlichingen), or Feitl from Veit, they are now used almost exclusively in a comic context. Thus the once most respectable Gomprecht (cognate with Gompert and Gompers) has become the jocular Gumprakh, used only in proverbial turns of speech.
The moral of all this would seem to be: the higher they fly, the harder they fall. Fancy names have a brilliant but short lived career. But the more “homely” Jewish names of Biblical origin, for all their present unpopularity, have never fallen into quite the same universal desuetude; while Jews proliferate in Cliftons, Leslies, Kenneths, and Stephens, Gentiles continue to name their children Joseph, David, Miriam, Esther, and Sarah. And at the same time the vogue of certain Gentile names among Jews seems inevitably to lead Gentiles to shy away from these names. In Germany Moritz disguised Moses for many decades until it began to dawn upon Jews that Gentile Germans had dropped the name from their original repertory. And Hugo, which disguised Jacob, and Kurt, which might be Hersh, were recently beginning to meet the same fate. Once Gentiles abandon a name because of its predominance among Jews—i.e., once that name becomes, despite its alien origin, a typically Jewish name—then Jews themselves must adopt a new substitute. And when the substitute, too, gilded though it may be, begins to savor of the ghetto, the hunt must be spread even further a field.
It has been the same story in this country and in England as in Germany. A historical dictionary of Jewish names could be compiled, showing their evolution or devolution.
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Let us hazard a few examples of what such a dictionary might contain:
Abraham—In England Bram is popular; in Austria it was Adolf (which means ‘noble wolf’); in Russia it would be Abrasha; in France, Alphonse or Armand; in Germany Armin was rather popular; in this country the evolution has been Albert, Alfred, Arthur, and Alvin (perhaps the most popular). One ventures to predict that the next phase will be Aldrich.
Berl—There are, of course, Bernard, Bertram, Bennett-but what’s wrong with Beryl?
Velvel or Volf—Inevitably William, but Warren and Wilton are on their way, and I predict Wellington in the near future.
Khayim—German Jews started with Heymann, which American Jews took over, discarding the e; but when Hymie began to sound even more Jewish than Khayim itself, Herman, Charles, and Chester, in that order, stepped in to fill the breach. In Latin America the Jews have a godsend in the name Jaime, which sounds practically the same as Khayim, even though it is really cognate with Jacob.
Samuel, Simon, Solomon, Sholem—These can be lumped together, since they have a common fate in this country. The evolution goes: Sidney, Stanley, Seymour, Shelley, Sanford, and Salwyn or Selwyn, presumably in the direction of ever greater elegance. But Seymour, meaning originally “sea moor,” is not one whit more aristocratic than Sidney, which came into vogue in the wake of Sir Philip Sydney’s fame (it was originally derived from a Phoenician root that means “charming”—see the Biblical city of Sidon). Nor, for that matter, is Shirley—which became popular in England because of Charlotte Bronte’s novel of that name—any more elegant than Rachel; or Sybil any more distinguished than Sylvia, though the former has lately been gaining popularity among Jews.
Isaac—This name was never popular among ambitious Jews. In Galicia it was masked under Ignatz; in this country its disguises are legion. Isidor or Isadore, hailing from France and the old country in general, was the first variant. In America it became, somehow, closely associated with Irving—which means a “fierce sea-faring companion,” whereas Isaac is derived, according to the Bible, from the root “to laugh.” Irving came into vogue some sixty years ago, helped no doubt by Sir Henry Irving’s fame. Lately, however, it has fallen from grace—for the obvious reason that too many Jews bear the name. Other forms have been discovered and other names resorted to—Irwin, Ervine, Eric, Edward, Edmund. Next in line are Eugene, Evan, and heaven knows what.
Moses—This is another name that Jews in the West fight shy of. In Russia it is Misha, an assonant, if not logical, equivalent of Moishe; in France Maurice; in Germany, as we mentioned above, Moritz. In English-speaking countries it has been metamorphosed into Morris, Morton, Marvin, Melvin, Martin, etc. It is true that Moses seems derived from the Egyptian Musa (‘child’), and it is possible that Moses himself came of Egyptian parents, as Freud suggests. But the fact remains that Moses was the Jew of Jews, the greatest man we have produced, and surely his name should carry at least as large a halo as Mortimer or Malcolm.
Hershel (from Hersh or Hirsh)—This became in turn Harry, Henry, Herbert, Howard, Harold, Harvey—and even George(through the Russia Grisha; the Russians substitute g for h always).
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To give any more examples would be redundant. When a girl whose grandmother was called Sarah received the name Sadie, the change was made in order to lift the girl out of the common run. As she grew older the girl often discovered the disadvantages of Sadie and tried to pass as Sophie or Sally; her grandchild, the chances are, received the name of Sylvia, which, as she too grew up, she might take the liberty of changing to Sybil. If a man of Polish descent is called Stanley, you can be reasonably sure he was baptized Stanislaus; but if he happens to be Jewish, you can be equally certain that his grandfather was called Samuel. When asked once whether I knew the given name of Jacob Schiff’s father, I answered that it might be Moses—though I had never looked it up. “Why Moses?” was the next question. I answered: “Because Jacob Schiff’s son is called Mortimer.” My deduction proved correct.
The “fancy” name must, of course, have a certain currency among Gentiles before Jews will use it. As a rule the name is not picked out of the air, or unknown to celebrity in literature, public affairs, or the movies. But why, in a given time, Jews will be seized with a mass-mania for two or three specific names, when so many other equally elegant and equally current ones are available, remains to be investigated by a social psychologist or cultural historian. A rich chapter in the history of Jewish acculturation in America could be written under the title “Sidney, Irving, and Sylvia, Shirley.”
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Have we no sense of incongruity when a 11 Shapiro child is named Tyrone, which is just as Irish as Patrick and derived from the Greek word for “tyrant”? Not until the boy in later life changes his euphonious surname—which in Aramaic means “beautiful”—to Speare or something like that, will the discord be resolved (that is, if his features and intonations permit). But a boner becomes a howler when a Jewish child is given a name like Natalie (Yiddish: Nitul), which, like the French Noël, is associated with Christmas and is cognate with the Latin word attached by traditional usage to the birth of Jesus. A similar faux pas is committed when a Jewish girl is named Dolores, which is derived from the epithet given Mary as she viewed her son on the cross—mater dolorosa. It is to be noticed, however, that American Jews have shown a reluctance to adopt such names as John, Thomas, and James—Dolores and Natalie may be one thing, but these three apostles seem to be quite another.
The bridge between the Jewish name and, the camouflage name usually consists in nothing more than a slight assonance (or asininity): as when Gittel (ordinarily transformed into Gertrude, bad enough in itself) becomes Christina. Usually any real semantic connection is lacking. Nevertheless, many Jewish names are translated into Gentile equivalents with a certain appropriateness:—thus Malkeh (‘queen’) into Regina; Gittel into Agatha (both meaning ‘good’); Baruch into Benedict; Nathaniel into Theodore (‘gift of God’); and even Saul into Paul; and Shepsel into Shepard. Here at least the alien name becomes less frivolous and self-humiliating.
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It is claimed that a characteristically Jewish name is a drawback in the matter of a career. What is meant, of course, is that it is a drawback to be known unmistakably and immediately for a Jew. But aside from the fact that such diminutives as “Abe” or “Ike” have acquired comic, vulgar-seeming overtones (often at the same time affectionate ones—vide “Ike” Eisenhower), Biblical first names seem to have proved no more of a worldly liability in actual fact than any other sort of name. This becomes quite evident once one consults one’s own experience.
When Gentiles dislike Jews they do not say, paraphrasing Juliet to Romeo:
Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, not a Cohen or
Levy.
What’s Cohen? It is not hand, nor
foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. 0, be some
other name!
The fact probably is that when a Jew appropriates a fancy Anglo-Saxon or Scotch name like Stewart or Gainsborough, the Anglo-Saxons and the Scotch dislike him all the more for it.
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Almost four hundred of the names in Evelyn Wells’ recently published Treasury of Names (New York, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946) are of Hebrew or Aramaic origin—a greater proportion than one would have supposed still current among Americans at large. More’s the pity that so few Jewish children in this country bear them nowadays. For a name is a sign, and, as the philosophers tell us lately, signs constitute the basis of human culture. A name is a symbol that traverses and links generations, especially among Jews. It is the Platonic eidos surviving many successions of hands and feet and arms.
Names in a very deep sense are identities. To some extent the name is to the individual and family what the flag is to the state. If our neighbors are content to retain their Hoggs and Butchers, their Cowards and Bastards, their Crooks and Bloods, why should we Jews discard our Moseses and Josephs, Solomons, Ruths, Hannahs, Leahs, and Miriams?
