GIVEN NAMES JUDAISM AND

JEWISH HISTORY
2. HOW JEWISH GIVEN NAMES CAME TO BE CHOSEN

2.2. THE NATURE OF JEWISH GIVEN NAMES

The given names chosen by Jews over the the centuries were dictated in part
by the factors described above.

In Judaism, the given name is much more than just a label identifying an
individual -- it represents HIM -- his values, his personality, his stance with
respect to religious, cultural, assimilational issues, in short, his essence. The
given name determines not only the person's character but also his fate, and
the name therefor takes on a highly charged symbolic value. Perhaps this is
related to the observation that children frequently resemble their grandparents
in personality and looks, more than they do their own parents, and this is linked
to frequently naming Jewish children after their grandparents. In Judaism, the
given name is the noun and the surname is its adjective.

Broadly speaking, the impact of Judaism and Jewish history on the given
names adopted by Jews may be divided into three major periods of history:

Ancient Period 2000 BCE - 587 BCE

Extended Babylonian Period 587 BCE - 950 CE
European Period 950 - 1925

During the period 2000 BCE - 587 BCE, Hebrew names were not repeated and
the borrowing of foreign names was negligible. The Extended Babylonian
Period covers the period in which there was a vigorous, scholarly Jewish
presence in Babylonia. During this period, there was a heavy borrowing of
secular names from the Middle East society in which Jews lived, and the
conversion of these names into Jewish names. After about 950 CE, Babylonian
society went into eclipse and the center of Jewish life moved to Europe; in this
period, European names were taken into the Jewish name lexicon at a rapid
pace.

In the earliest Biblical days, a Hebrew given name was the exclusive
possession of the person named, and these names were not repeated for a
thousand years or more. Thus, the names of the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak,
and Yaakov were not re-used for over a thousand years, and the name of King
David was not re-used for 1500 years (in the Gaonic period). Before the
Babylonian Exile (587 BCE), there is no record of a Jewish child having been
named after a parent or grandparent. The impression is that no such custom
existed, and indeed, that it was avoided.

Only Hebrew names were used before the Babylonian Exile, but afterwards
some Chaldean and Aramaic names became Jewish names. One group of
exiles was fiercely traditionalist and used only Hebrew names. They re-used
older Hebrew names like Yoseyf, Binyamin, and Shimon for the first time, and
even created new Hebrew names like Nechemya, Chasadya, Pedaya, and
Melatya.
However, another group (assimilationists) was attracted to foreign names and
used them actively. For example, typical Aramaic names ending in "ay" were
adopted (Mordechay). And some Hebrew names were converted into derived
Aramaic names, e.g., Shamay from Shemaya.

This tendency for Jews in the religiously observant end of the spectrum to
emphasize the use of Hebrew given names, while Jews at the secular end of
the spectrum emphasize local secular names, continued throughout Jewish
history and exists today. Accordingly, Jewish genealogists find it worthwhile to
probe the history of their ancestors with respect to their position in the spectrum
of Jewish group types.

During the Tanachic portion (2000 BCE - 500 CE) of the Ancient Period,
encompassing the time of the Tora, Prophets, and Scriptures, Hebrew given
names could be divided into five categories (2):

1. Circumstances of Birth
2. Known Events
3. Degree of Relationship
4. G-d Related (theophoric)
5. Symbolic Meanings

Some examples of Circumstances of Birth names are: Noach ("will comfort

us"), Yitzchak ("they will laugh"), Asher (his mother Leah said, "Happy am I"),
Yoseyf ("The Lord added to me another son"), Binyamin (when Rachel was
dying, she named him Ben Oni, "son of my sorrow").

Some examples of Known Events names are: Geyrshom ("stranger:" Moshe

named him Geyrshom, because "I have been a stranger in a foreign land"),
Eliezer ("my G-d has helped:" "the G-d of my father was my help and delivered
me from the swords of Pharaoh").

Some examples of Degree of Relationship names are: Avraham ("Av-raham:"

"father of a mighty nation"), Benyamin ("Ben-yamin:" "son of right"), Achimelech
("Achi-melech:" "my brother is king").

A large class of names is G-d centered (theophoric), containing G-dly prefixes

and suffixes. Some examples are: Elnatan, Yonatan ("G-d gave"), Chananeyl
("gracious"), Yerachmieyl ("will have mercy"), Uzieyl ("strong"), Zecharya
("remembers"), Yechieyl ("lives"), Elimelech ("is King"), Michaeyl ("is
incomparable").

Some examples of names with Symbolic Meanings are: Animals: Caleyv

(dog), Rachel (sheep), Tsipora (bird, female), Yona (pigeon), Dvora (bee).
Plants: Hadasa (myrtle), Chabakuk (a garden plant), Tsemach (plant),
Shoshana (lily). Concepts: Emuna (belief), Tikva (hope), Margalit (pearl),
Shalom (peace), Tsadok (just), Baruch (blessed).
Beginning with the Babylonian Exile (586 BCE), non-Jewish names found their
way into the Jewish given name lexicon and occupied varying positions of
importance, depending on which category of Jew adopted them, in which time
period they were adopted, and in which country they were chosen. By the 12th
century CE, the use of secular names had become so widespread in Europe
that the rabbis decreed that every Jewish boy must be given a purely Jewish
(Hebrew) name at circumcision. Thus, it became customary to give two
names: Shem HaKodesh, the sacred name for being called to the Tora and for
religious documents, and a Nickname, a non-sacred name for civil and
business purposes. This rabbinic statute is still binding today.

Some non-Jewish given names were imported without change, while others
were modified in pronunciation in order to "fit" the Jewish psyche properly. In
addition to the original Hebrew names, then, this decree confirmed the elevation
of Aramaic, Greek, and Latin names to be shemot hakodesh:

6. Aramaic, Greek, and Latin names

Also, by the 12th century, the development of the new Yiddish language was
gaining momentum, and Ashkenazic Jews (German, Alsatian, Austrian, Polish,
Russian) used secular (e.g., German) names widely and also generated many
Yiddish and non-Yiddish diminutives and nicknames to pair with existing
Hebrew names. This was the beginning of a broad use of vernacular
nicknames and diminutives associated with Jewish names but not having the
status of a sacred name. Some examples are:

Hebrew Vernacular
Avraham Aberke, Aberl, Aberlein, Avrom, Fromel, Everman, Evril
David Tevel, Tevele
Elchanan Elkin, Elkan
Elazar Lasar, Lazar, Lazarus
Eliezer Leeser, Leser, Leyser
Shmuel Shmulik, Shmelke, Sanvil, Zanvil, Zangvil
Shlomo Salaman, Salmon, Zalman, Zalkin, Zalkind
Yaakov Yekel, Yukel, Yokel, Yankel, Yakovl, Kopel, Kopelman
Yehuda Judel, Udel, Yudke, Yudko
Yisrael Isril, Iserl, Srulik, Srul, Srol
Yitzchak Eisig, Eisnik, Eisman, Itzig, Itzik, Itzl, Zekl, Sekel
Yosef Yosel, Yosi, Yos, Yesse, Jessel, Yoske

Development of the Yiddish language began around 1000 CE, and finally found
its home in Eastern Europe where it became the lingua franca among Jews, like
Aramaic in its day. Many Yiddish names were drawn from German names, but
a significant number of others came from Slavic, Polish, French, and other
sources. Many Yiddish names were then also incorporated into the Hebrew
name lexicon, but in a somewhat different way than occurred for Aramaic,
Greek, and Latin names. First, Yiddish names were used to form Legal double
names with some Hebrew names (e.g., Arye Leib, Avraham Everman, Baruch
Bendit, Menachem Mendel, Shneiur Zalman; Dvora Dvoshe.) Such names
were valid names for calling men to the Tora, and for use by men and women in
religious documents. Then, the full name was forgotten or changed by some
Jews, so that in some cases, the Yiddish name was used alone by men for an
aliya or in religious documents. Thus, some Yiddish names became full-fledged
Hebrew names in some circles.

Accordingly, another category may be added to the list of Hebrew names:

7. Some Yiddish names

We may summarize the dynamic adoption by Jews of new Hebrew (H), Yiddish
(Y), and non-Jewish secular (S) given names from other peoples and from one
another in Figure 1:

Religiously<--->Culturally<--->Secular<--->Converted
Observant Jewish
H<--Y<--S H<--Y<--S H<--Y<--S H Y S
^ ^ ^ ^
| | | |
| | | |
-------External Secular Names-------------

Figure 1. Adoption Paths for Secular Names

This diagram applies after the growth of the Yiddish language and Yiddish
names began seriously in the 12th century. Before the advent of Yiddish
names, their place was occupied by Aramaic, Greek, and Latin names, until
some of these eventually were absorbed into use as Hebrew names. Later,
secular names were absorbed from non-Jewish sources and were used as is,
were converted to Yiddish names, and some ended up as formal Hebrew
names.

2. HOW JEWISH NAMES CAME TO BE CHOSEN

2.3. NAMES OF U.S. IMMIGRANTS, 1881-1914

During the massive immigrations 1881-1914 from Europe to the US, certain
English names were very popular among the immigrants. There was a definite
statistical linkage between each of these English names and the Jewish names
which the immigrants had in Europe, and this linkage can be useful in
genealogical research. The same was true of immigrants to other English-
speaking countries. Some of the most popular English names adopted in the
US were:

Males: Abe, Benjamin, Isadore, Hyman, Sam, Max, Harry, Herman, Irving,
Jack, Jacob, Israel, Joseph, Julius, Louis.
Females: Bessie, Bertha, Clara, Celia, Dora, Etta, Esther, Ethel, Frieda,
Fannie, Goldie, Gussie, Ida, Jennie, Lena, Minnie, Mollie, Mary, Nettie, Pearl,
Rose, Rebecca (Becky), Sarah, Sadie, Sophie, Tillie, Yetta, Zelda.

2. DESIGNING THE DATA BASES

2.4. EUROPEAN AND FOREIGN COUNTRY POPULATION DATA

A major factor in choosing Project Countries was the size of their Jewish
population. In this section we present the population data used for both
European and foreign countries.

EUROPEAN & FOREIGN COUNTRY POPULATION DATA

World Jewish Population || European Jewish Populations || Foreign Jewish Populations ||

WORLD JEWISH POPULATION

The data in Table 1 shows a summary of the distribution of Jews throughout the
world for the years 1800 to 1948.

1800 1840 1880 1900 1914 1938 1948

Europe (Incl. Russia) 1,500 3,950 6,858 8,900 9,100 9,500 3,700
Asia - 300 370 510 500 1,000 1,300
Africa, Middle East 1,000 198 250 375 400 600 700
North & South America - 50 250 1,200 3,500 5,500 5,800
Australia - 2 10 15 - - -
TOTAL 2,500 4,500 7,738 11,000 13,500 16,600 11,500

Table 1. World Jewish Population (thousands)

EUROPEAN JEWISH POPULATIONS

Beginning in the eighteenth century, the proportion of Jews living in Europe

grew steadily. By the end of the eighteenth century, there were 2.5 million Jews
in the world, of whom a million lived in North Africa and the Middle East
(including Turkey), while another 1.5 million lived in Europe. Of the European
Jews, one million resided in Russia, Poland and Galicia, while the rest lived in
Central and Western Europe.

In the nineteenth century, the European Jewish population had a constant

growth in absolute numbers and percentages until 1880, when the percentage
of Jews living in Europe reached its peak, then fell. There were then about
7,750,000 Jews in the world: 6,858,000 (88.5 percent) lived in Europe, 620,000
(8 percent) in Asia and Africa, and 250,000 in North and South America, and
Australia. The absolute number of Jews in Europe continued to rise
(particularly in Eastern Europe) even after 1880 (due to high birth rate and good
health practices), yielding about 9.5 million Jews on that continent by 1938.
However, they then constituted only 57 percent of world Jewry (16.6 million)
because in the interim, new Jewish communities had grown up overseas,
spurred by the 1880-1914 massive exodus from Europe.

Czar Alexander II's assassination in 1881 led to rumors that Jews were
responsible, causing a wave of progroms and persecution. Simultaneously, the
US acquired the reputation of being Die Goldene Medina (The Golden Land). A
massive emigration began to other parts of Europe and to countries outside of
Europe. This exodus continued until the beginning of World War I. All told,
2,400,000 Jews left Europe during the period 1881-1914. From 1914 to the
beginning of World War II, another million Jews emigrated from Europe. As a
result, five new major centers of Jewish population evolved: the United States
(which received 85 percent of the emigrants), Canada, Argentina, Palestine,
and South Africa.

For the GNDB Project countries, the population data in Table 2 cover European
countries during 1800 to 1938, and include 1998 data for about 14,000,000
Jews worldwide. The countries are listed in decreasing population order for the
year 1938.

COUNTRY 1800 1825 1850 1875 1900 1938 1998

Poland - 150 470 860 1,380 3,300 8
Ukraine - - - - - 1,533 400
Romania - 80 - - 269 800 14
Galicia - - 375 635 811 - -
Hungary - ~50 352 580 851 800 80
Russia (non-Pale) - - - - - - 550
Germany - 223 - - 587 500 60
Belarus - - - - - 375 60
France - 50 - - 87 320 600
Lithuania (120 in 1765) - - 250 - 286 220 6
Austria - - - - 1,225 185 10
Holland - 45 59 81 104 140 30
Latvia - - - - 80 85 15
Sweden - - - - 4 8 18
Denmark - - - - 5 7 8
Estonia - - - - 5 4 3
European Totals: 1,500 - - 6,858 8,900 9,700 2,035
World Totals: 2,500 - - 7,750 11,000 16,700 14,000

Table 2. European Country Jewish Populations (thousands)

FOREIGN JEWISH POPULATIONS

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, only a few thousand Jews lived in
the US, in 1825 about 8,000, and by 1850, no more than 50,000. However, by
1900 (the end of the first massive exodus from Europe), about 1,000,000 Jews
were in the US, and by 1939, 4.8 million.

Jewish population figures for Project Foreign Countries to which European Jews
migrated are given in Table 3 for the years 1900 and 1998. The large
population growth for Palestine/Israel from 1900 to 1998 is primarily due to
immigration after World War II, although there was also a substantial
immigration during the 1880-1914 period. Immigration rates are given for the
periods of massive emigration from Europe, 1881-1900 and 1901-14. Eighty-
five percent of all emigrant Jews from Europe immigrated to the United States
during this period. Two-thirds of the emigrants left Europe in the second period
1901-14, just before the First World War.

POPULATIONS IMMIGRATION TOTALS

COUNTRY 1900 1998 1881-1900 1901-1914 TOTAL
United States P 1,000 5,800 675 1,365 2,040
Palestine (Israel) P ~78 4,600 30 40 70
Canada P 22 360 10 95 105
United Kingdom 250 300 - - -
Argentina P 30 250 25 88 113
Brazil 2 130 - - -
South Africa 34 106 23 20 43
Australia 15 100 2 3 5
Mexico 1 41 - - -
Other - - 7 22 29
TOTALS: - - 772 1,633 2,405

World Jewish population in 1880: 7,750,000 P Immigration countries for Polish

emigrants, (1880-1900)

Table 3. Foreign Country Jewish Populations & Immigrations, thousands

Table 4 presents the origins of the 1,500,000 immigrants to the United States
during the period 1899-1914.

Russia (Pale of Settlement) 72 %

Austro-Hungary (Galicia, Bukovina, Hungary) 16 %
Romania 4%
Great Britain 4%
Canada 1%
Germany 1%
Other 2%

Table 4. Origins of Immigrants to the US, 1899-1914

In their exit from Eastern Europe, some Jews migrated to Central and Western
Europe, in some cases on a temporary basis, in some cases for long periods,
and in other cases, permanently. During 1880-1900, Polish Jews migrated to
Germany and France, as well as to the US, Palestine, Canada, and Argentina.
During the 1881-1914 period of massive emigrations, 350,000 Russian and
Romanian Jews migrated to Central and Western Europe, and Jews from
Galicia and Bukovina migrated to Austro-Hungary and Odessa, Russia, on the
Black Sea.

Accordingly, using the criteria outlined previously, the European and foreign
countries chosen for this project were defined as follows:

EUROPEAN: Belarus, Denmark, France, Galicia, Germany, Holland, Hungary,

Latvia/Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Prussia, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine

FOREIGN: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Palestine, Mexico, South

Africa, UK, Uruguay, US

2. DESIGNING THE DATA BASES

2.1. ASSUMPTIONS, GUIDELINES, AND CONSTRAINTS

Conceptualizing a new system always requires assumptions, guidelines, and

constraints to which the new system must conform. The purpose of the
assumptions made here was that the project work be manageable yet
reasonable; such assumptions are always compromises between the desired
ultimate and the reasonably accomplishable.

The following assumptions, guidelines, and constraints were defined:

1. Jewish given names occurred in logical, linked sets.

2. Only "legal" names as given in Rabbinical sources are included as
primary.
3. Different names existed in each European or foreign country.
4. Uniform geographic name distributions existed within each European or
foreign country.
5. Names used remained unchanged during the period 1795-1925.
6. Normal and massive migrations occurred within and from Europe.
7. Emigration forces were "Push" (persecution), and "Pull" (better life).
8. New vernacular names were adopted in foreign countries.
9. Foreign names were statistically linked to the European names.
10. Legal names were primary; Yiddish/secular names were secondary.

Results of the Assumptions:

1. The first assumption dictated the development of an organized non-

onomastic method of finding how Jewish names were linked together.
 2. The second forced the use of the Hilchot Gitin books.
3. The third required the development of separate databases for each
European region, recognizing that each had a different set of given
names and frequencies for individual names.
4. Under the fourth assumption, the density of name use within a given
country was uniform; local choices of names in different sub-regions
were mixed, eliminating the possibility that a researcher might be able to
concentrate his efforts in one shtetl or another in a given country, using
differential name frequencies in the database.
5. Under the fifth assumption, the frequency of name choices was constant
during the project period.

In system modeling theory, the fourth and fifth assumptions are known as
"perfect mixing" assumptions. They placed direct constraints on the intra-region
location and time detail that could be presented to the researcher, but they
greatly simplified the work of setting up the databases and reduced their sizes.

The statistical linkage assumption between foreign and European names has
been shown to be a good one, and makes it possible for a researcher to seek
foreign ancestors if he knows European names, and the reverse.

The only existing formal, legal system of Jewish given names has been
developed over the centuries by a small group of rabbinic experts for the
purpose of precise and accurate specification of the parties to a Jewish divorce
(Get). This type of Jewish legal contract is more demanding than any other
type, since it can have serious consequences in the lives of the parties involved
as well as on the Jewish status of their future offspring. Thus, this empirically-
determined data set is the only viable source available for determining a set of
legal Jewish given names. Fortunately, the rabbis were very exacting in their
work and established an extensive set of rules to follow in determining the
names and their spelling, and also in specifying the existence of primary Jewish
names (Hebrew names) and secondary vernacular (Yiddish and secular) names
which are properly linked to the Primary names, as well as other tertiary
vernacular names related to the first group of vernacular names, but which are
not qualified to be used in writing the legal names in a Get.

It is this set of legal names which was adopted for use as the framework for the
Given Names Data Bases -- the primary and secondary names. The GNDBs
include in the second field of the record the legal (primary Hebrew and
secondary vernacular) names. Other fields contain alternative secondary
names and additional linked tertiary vernacular names, obtained from archival
documents and other sources. But any of these many names may be found in
archival documents.

2.2. EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

Central and Eastern Europe were always in a state of turmoil and competition,
and many boundary changes occurred over time. This led to difficulty in
defining constant regions within these two parts of Europe. Guidelines were set
up to define separate regions in Europe for the Given Names Databases.
These guidelines made it possible to handle the seemingly intractable problem
of frequent boundary changes within the project's time frame. This project
defines Western, Central, and Eastern European divisions, each with several
regions or "countries".

Throughout history there have been continuing intrigues, power struggles, and
outright wars over the possession of different regions within Europe. These
factors have led to constantly changing boundaries between empires,
kingdoms, duchies, and countries; to the persecution of minorities; and to
natural and major migrations among its various regions.

The time period 1795-1925 was chosen with several factors in mind: many
national boundaries were fixed by the final 1795 Partition of Poland and
remained relatively stable for a significant period; by 1925, the massive exodus
from Eastern Europe to foreign countries had tapered off; good European
census records are available extending back to somewhat before 1800 for most
countries, and even before, in some; the quality of immigration and census
records in many foreign countries improved noticeably in the late nineteenth
century; and most Jewish genealogists research families for whom the
progenitors were born within this time span.

The choice of the geographical divisions of Europe was more difficult because
of boundary and population changes. Boundary changes occurred during the
period 1795-1925 on the average of every 15 years, although frequently they
were small. Population changes were generally gradual, with bursts of inter-
region migration during periods of persecution and murder. However, most of
the massive migrations of Jews from one country to another were much larger
in earlier centuries (e.g., during the twelfth century Crusades). An important
exception, of course, was the enormous emigration beginning in 1881 from
Eastern Europe to Western European and foreign countries. To provide
guidelines for choosing European regions, we defined the following
characteristics as desirable for the final geographical regions: Jewish
populations with relatively constant characteristics; easily recognizable regions;
easily accessible and good-quality records; and significant sizes of Jewish
population.

The following factors negatively affected our ability to define the regions:
population changes due to migrations; archival record location changes with
time depending on history; destruction of archival records; country boundary
changes with time; and province boundaries changes with time.

We adopted a mixture of regions which are meaningful for Jewish genealogists,

are subjects of on-going research in Special Interest Groups, existed as
national entities for significant sub-periods, and are national groupings with
common traits. The constraints mentioned previously frequently required going
to the level of gubernias and districts in order to achieve definitions of stable
regions. While this approach is admittedly imperfect, it does make it possible to
use archival materials for given names data with minimal error.
Ukraine is an example of a country in which one part (northeastern Ukraine) is
culturally and Yiddish-linguistically close to her northern neighbor Belarus
(Litvish Yiddish), while a small western part is similarly close to her western
neighbor Eastern Galicia (Polish-Galician Yiddish); the political region of
Ukraine does not match the regional distribution of Yiddish dialects around
Ukraine. In such cases, it is recommended to researchers of problematic
politically-defined Ukraine regions to search in both of the adjacent countries'
GNDBs.

The major regions of Europe defined for evaluation in this project are the
groupings of former gubernias as defined above. The names used are the
names of the countries that most closely cover the region defined. In some
cases, some of these "countries" did not exist as separate entities for extended
portions of the Project period, for example, Poland. The resulting list of
countries is as follows:

WESTERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: BeNeLux countries (Belgium,

Netherlands, Luxembourg), France, Portugal, Spain

CENTRAL EUROPEAN REGIONS: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Galicia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Yugoslavia

EASTERN EUROPEAN REGIONS: Albania, Baltics (Estonia, Latvia), Belarus,

Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia (non-Pale), Slovakia,
Turkey, Ukraine

2.3. CRITERIA USED IN CHOOSING PROJECT COUNTRIES

The countries defined for the GNDB Project fall in two groups, those inside and
those outside Europe. Outside ("foreign") countries are those to which
European Jews emigrated during the project period.

From the list of European regions defined in the previous section and a world
list of foreign countries, we used the following criteria in selecting both
European and Foreign Project Country candidates: Jewish Population Size;
and Availability of Given Names Source Data.

The following additional criteria were used to choose the final European Project
Regions from the European candidates defined above: Distribution of Hebrew,
Yiddish, and Secular Given Names; Driving Forces Causing Emigration ("Push"
and/or "Pull"); and Was Country an Emigration/Immigration Source or Pass-
Through Facilitator?

And the following added criteria were used to select the Foreign Project
Countries from the foreign candidates defined above: Number of Immigrating
European Jews; Interest Level of Local Jewish Genealogists; and Number of
Local Jewish Genealogis

2. HOW JEWISH GIVEN NAMES CAME TO BE CHOSEN

The given names chosen by Jews over the centuries, from the time of Avraham
Avinu (the first Jew) up to today, are dependent on two major factors:

• The basic elements which defined the Jewish people originally

• The hand of history which reshaped them afterwards.

This document presents a personal scenario of the creation of the Jewish

People and their given names throughout the ages.

2.1. FACTORS WHICH DEFINE THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND

NATION

There were two basic elements which defined the Jewish People originally:

a. The Covenants between G-d and Avraham, and between G-d and the
Jews

(1) G-d said to Avraham: "You shall be a father of many nations. I establish my
Covenant with you and your seed after you for an everlasting Covenant to be a
G-d to you and to your seed after you. And I will give to you and to your seed
the land in which you live, all the land of Cana'an for an everlasting possession.
You shall keep my Covenant, you, and your seed in their generations. This is
my Covenant: Every man child among you shall be circumcised, ... and it shall
be a token of the Covenant between me and you. And I will bless your wife
Sarah and give you a son of her, and she will be a mother of nations, kings of
people will issue from her. You shall call her son Yitzchak, and I will establish
my Covenant with him for an everlasting Covenant and with his seed after him."
(2) At Mt. Sinai, G-d gave Moshe and the Children of Yisrael the Ten
Commandments, and a long series of moral and legal rules of behavior
between Jew and Jew, and between G-d and Jew. "And Moshe came to the
People and told them all of the words of the Lord and all of the judgements.
And the People answered with one voice, saying "All of the words which the
Lord has said will we do." And Moshe wrote all of the words of the Lord ... and
read the book of the Covenant to the People, and the People said "All that the
Lord has said will we do, and obey."" And Moshe went back up the Mountain
and G-d described to him the construction of the Tabernacle to hold the Law,
and the regulations for Aharon and the Cohanim.

b. The Jews as a Stiff-Necked People

While Moshe was on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights, the new People of
Yisrael lost heart and made the Golden Calf as an idol. Moshe broke the
tablets of the Torah and destroyed the Golden Calf. G-d then told Moshe that
the Jewish People was a "stiff-necked" people, and would be punished.

These two factors -- the everlasting Covenants making the Jews the Chosen
People, and the people's trait of being stiff-necked -- have defined the Jewish
People throughout the ages, and have given them their basic religion,
orientation, personality, and culture. Their basic given names at the time of
Sinai have been augmented by their contacts with other peoples and cultures,
yielding the Jewish People of today -- enriched by cross-culture contact, steeled
by adversity.

Of course, the Jewish People has never been a homogeneous people, as might
be implied by stating that they are stiff-necked. Over the ages, whether in their
own land of Palestine or Israel (under their own government or that of
foreigners), or whether in the Diaspora, they may be divided into the following
four categories within a continuous spectrum:

Religiously Culturally Secular Converted

Observant Jewish

This spectrum is related to a Jew's relationships between man and G-d, and
between man and man. And it is also linked to a brief, almost-missed sentence
in the daily morning prayer (Shakharit): "A person should always fear G-d
inside himself and openly, acknowledge the truth, and speak truth in his
heart..." Thus, a major factor for Jews is to SEEK TRUTH. Together, these
thoughts reflect the Jew's basic view of himself and G-d, and these are reflected
in the "personality" of the Jewish People, as differently interpreted by the above
groups of Jews.

In the US today, the first group is medium in size, the second large, the third
medium, and the fourth large. In Israel today, the first is large, the second
medium, the third large, and the fourth small. These distributions for a given
country tend to change with time. The second and third categories may be
considered as entries to the fourth category, that is, in Diaspora societies where
Jews have neglected religious observance, there is a strong tendency to
abandon religion and to convert, and this has in general been a one-way street
for the current or next generation, even though converted Jews are still
considered formally (not socially) to be Jews.

It must be emphasized that these categories represent artificial divisions within

a continuous spectrum, and the individual categories must be clarified for each
time and place in Jewish history; this is analogous to Noach who is defined in
the Book of Bereishit as "a just man in his generation." The spectrum contains
both Jews who are affiliated with an organized group as well as non-affiliated
Jews.

There are sub-groups having bell-shaped distributions, which may be contained

within one category or which may be distributed between more than one
category. Thus, in "Religiously Observant," one may see the Israeli Chareydim,
Lubavitcher CHABAD, and Modern Orthodox. Jews in the US Conservative
and Reform movements have one foot in the Religiously Observant category
and one in the Culturally Jewish category. Reconstructionist Jews are primarily
Culturally Jewish, but they speak of Judaism as a "civilization" having religious,
and Jewish literature, music and art components, and therefor has some
religious orientation; yet at the same time, they reject Divine Selection,
Revelation at Sinai, and a Deity - and therefor have secular aspects.
Secularists do not relate to Jewish aspects which are religious or sacred; this
category contains the Jewish Secular Humanists and most of that large group of
Jews who are unaffiliated with any formal Jewish movement. Jews who have
converted to some other religion have essentially rejected all ties to Judaism,
despite the fact that they remain Jews from a Jewish legal point of view.

This classification of Jews is of particular importance in Jewish genealogy, since

each group tended to choose its given names differently. Thus, to the
religiously observant, the most important given name was the Hebrew name,
the others being chosen later for practical reasons. But for secular Jews the
most important name was the vernacular secular name (since it would be the
one most used), with the Hebrew name being part of the circumcision
ceremony, later remaining unused and frequently forgotten. There are other
characteristics of importance in genealogy, such as the trend to large families
for the religiously observant, and small families for the secular. Some of these
observations while correct for the Diaspora, would be different for Jews in the
State of Israel.

A classical midrash (homiletic interpretation) compares the Four Species of the

Succot holiday to four types of Jews. The etrog is blessed with good fragrance
as well as good taste, like those Sages blessed with Tora and good deeds. The
lulav, (palm) tastes good (the dates) but has no scent, like those who have
Tora but lack good deeds. The myrtle has an exquisite scent, but no fruit, as
many Jews whose good deeds can be detected from a distance (like fragrance),
but fall short in Tora knowledge. And finally the willow, devoid of both taste
and fragrance, is compared to the Jew who has neither Tora nor good deeds.
Yet all Four Species are basic to the Succot holiday, and all four types of Jews
are indeed Jews. In accord with this midrash, the Jewish People were
classified as follows:

Etrog Lulav Myrtle Willow

Tora+Deeds Tora-Deeds Deeds-Tora No Tora, No Deeds

This midrashic typing of Jews is related to the typing given previously.

However, the stubborn dedication of Jews to their Covenant with G-d and his
Tora, coupled with their tendency to be rebellious, have generated a set of traits
and values which are characteristic of the Jewish People:

Analytical Argumentative
Charitable Clannish
Cultural Curious
Education-oriented Hygienic
Impatient Legalistic
Moral Opinionated
Outspoken Rational
Ritualistic Spiritual
Tikun Olam-oriented (make the world a better place)
 Tikun Atzmi-oriented (make oneself a better person)
Truth-seeking

The facts that the Land of Yisrael is at the crossroads of the ancient world, and
that the Jews possess the above special traits and values, have caused conflict
and war with other nations in and around the Holy Land, as well as persecution
and pogroms for Jews in the Diaspora. This suffering of Jews has been nearly
continuous throughout the ages, except for small island-periods of peace and
quiet. During these short periods of peace and quiet, Jews have behaved in
one of two characteristic ways: either by making major religious developments
(as in the Age of the Sofrim), or by abandoning their religion on a large scale
(as is happening today). These reactions reflect the two-sided divide/unify trait
which Jews have as a People, and the momentary victory of one over the other.

3. JEWISH HISTORY, GIVEN NAMES OVER THE

AGES
3.1. ANCIENT PERIOD (3150 BCE - 500 CE)

Jewish history begins in the ANCIENT PERIOD with the Patriarch Avraham
Avinu sealing a covenant with G-d and migrating at His command to Canaan,
which was to become the Land of Israel. Table 2 lists the major occurences in
this period and some impacts on the choice of given names.

Table 2. Ancient Period (3150 BCE - 500 CE)

Pre-Judaic Beginning-
Period 2000 BCE
Canaanite 3150-1200
(Bronze Age)
Period BCE
Jewish Tora 2000-1246
TRIBAL NATION
Period BCE
Original Hebrew names: Avraham, Sarah
Single Hebrew names
1720-1570
Hyksos Period
BCE
1686-1286
Israel in Egypt Egyptian names Moshe
BCE
Exodus from Giving of the Tora at Mt.
1286 BCE
Egypt Sinai
Moshe dies 1246 BCE On Mt. Nevo
Some Patronymic
1246 ... BCE Yehoshu bin Nun
names:
Conquest, 1246-1200 Israelites under Yehoshua
Canaan BCE bin Nun
Israelite Period 1200-586 BCE (Iron Age)
 Settle on the Canaanite
Phillistines 1200 BCE
Coast
Period of 1200-1025 Charismatic,
Judges BCE religious/military leaders
1200-928 BCE Places-of-origin names: Eliyahu HaTishbi
Period of Kings 1025-928 BCE Shaul, David, Shlomo
Period of
870-457 BCE Eliyahu to Malachi
Prophets
North Kingdom
722 BCE To Assyria
falls
Judah submits 604 BCE To Babylonian control
Temple 1
587 BCE By Babylonians
destroyed
Babylonian Mordechai,
586-537 BCE Chaldean names:
Exile Shamai
Zerubavel,
Persian Period 537-332 BCE Aramaic names:
Nechemia
Temple 2 built 515 BCE
HaKaton (Ezra
450 ... BCE Descriptive names:
8:12)
Transition: TRIBAL
Age of Sofrim 420-300 BCE
NATION TO
RELIGIOUS PEOPLE
Hellenistic
332-63 BCE Greek names: Alexander, Philo
Period
Hebrew-Greek doubles: Shimon-Petrus,
Tzedek-Justus
Use of two Hebrew
Sarah Miriam
names:
Hebrew-Aramaic double
names
Repeating Newborns named
names after
deceased
relatives
63 BCE-476
Roman Period Latin names: Marcus, Agrippa
CE
Herod becomes
40 BCE Rebuilds 2nd Temple
king
Temple 2
70 CE By Romans, 9th of Av
destroyed
Sanhedrin set In Yavne, by Yochanan
70 CE
up ben Zakai
Text and vowels of the
Masoretic Text 100 CE
Tanach set
 Paganism
100-200 CE
Collapses
Dispersion of
130-250 CE To Spain, France, Italy, ...
Jews
Talmudic Yochanan ben
200-550 CE Patronymic names:
Period Zakai
Place-of-origin names: Yosi the Galilean
Priestly-designation
Yosi HaCohen
names:
Yochanan
Vocational names:
HaSandlar
Nicknames: Shmuel HaKatan
Newborn boys named,
circumcision
Outside Mostly non-
Palestine Jewish names
Sura Academy 219 CE Founded in Babylonia
Pumbeditha
259 CE Founded in Babylonia
Acad.
Mishna By Yehuda HaNasi, of the
200-215 CE
compiled Sanhedrin
Gemara
500 CE In Tiberius
compiled
Christianity 312 CE Becomes official religion
of Roman Empire
Byzantine Rule 324-640 CE

For this paper, the Bible (Tanach) is defined as the combination of the Tora (five
books of Moshe -- Genesis through Deuteronomy, ending with Moshe's
exhortation and death), the Nevi'im (Prophets, beginning with Yehoshua bin
Nun, ending with Malachi), and the Ketuvim (Scriptures/Writings, beginning with
the Psalms, ending with Chronicles). The Jewish Tora Period begins with the
Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and ends with the death of Moshe
before the conquest of Canaan began under Yehoshua bin Nun.

During the Ancient Period, Jews lived in and around the Land of Israel, except
for the exile to Egypt and the fifty-year period of the Babylonian Exile between
586-537 BCE. By and large, the given names which they had were Semitic,
except for Egyptian names like Moshe, and some names adopted from peoples
conquered upon entering Canaan. One of the largest groups of Jewish names
were those using the name of G-d. Later, however, they came into close
contact with conquering cultures (Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman)
which deeply affected their naming patterns; the Babylonian culture was the
first important one, introducing a definite trend in changing the names used in
the past. Hadasa became Esther, and the names Mordechai, Daniel,
Chanania, Azaria, and Nechemia were introduced.

ANCIENT PERIODS (3150 BCE - 500 CE)

Pre-Judaic || Canaanite || Hyksos || Israelite || Temple I || Sofrim || Hellenistic || Roman ||

3.1.1. PRE-JUDAIC PERIOD (BEGINNING-2000 BCE)

The Pre-Judaic Period covers the period described in the Five Books of Moshe,
from G-d's Creation of the World up to the Covenant made between G-d and
Avram. During this period were born many of the progenitors of non-Jewish
nations.

Some of the pre-Judaic names appearing in the Five Book of Moshe during the
Pre-Judaic Period are: Adam, Kayin, Hevel, Chanoch, Mechiyael, Lemech,
Yaval, Yuval, Shet, Enosh, Noach, Shem, Cham, Yafet, Canaan, Ashkenaz,
Elisha, Nimrod, Mitzrayim, Ever, Nachor, Terach, Lot, Haran; Chava, Ada, Tsila,
Na'ama, Milka.

Although these people were not Jews, many of their names have been adopted
by Jews over the centuries, becoming sacred Hebrew names.

3.1.2. CANAANITE PERIOD (3150-1200 BCE)

For Jews, the first major part of the Ancient Period (the Canaanite period)
includes the initiation of the Jewish Tora Period, as described in the Five Books
of Moshe: the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, the People of Israel
in Egypt, and their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moshe, Aharon,
and Miriam. At the beginning of this period, the Jews were but a small family
tribe with a covenant, common values, basic differences with the surrounding
tribes, and the beginnings of a one-G-d concept.

Figure 2 presents a descendants list for the first Jews, omitting non-Jewish
ancestors (e.g., Avram's father Terach, grandfather Nachor, great grandfather
Serug), and branches other than that one leading directly to Moshe (e.g.,
Yitzchak's siblings and their offspring.)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Avram (Avraham) (1991-1816BCE) (The first Jew & Patriarch)
+ Hagar (?-?BCE) (Sarai's handmaid)
: Yishmaeyl (1905-1768BCE)
+ Sarai (Sarah) (1981-1855BCE)
: Yitzchak (1891-1711BCE) (Second Patriarch)
: + Rivka (?-?BCE)
: . Eysav (1831-?BCE)
: . Yaakov (Yisrael) (1831-1684BCE) (Third Patriarch)
: . + Leah (?-?BCE)
: . . Re'uveyn (1746-?BCE)
: . . Shimon (1745-?BCE)
: . . Leyvi (1744-1667BCE)
: . . . Kehas (?-?BCE)
: . . . . Amram (?-?BCE)
: . . . . . Miriam (?-?BCE)
: . . . . . Moshe (?-?BCE)
 : . . . . . Aharon (?-?BCE)
: . . Yehuda (1743-?BCE)
: . . Yisachar (1742-?BCE)
: . . Zevulun (1741-?BCE)
: . . Dina (?-?BCE)
: . + Bilha (?-?BCE) (Rachel's handmaid)
: . . Dan (1743-?BCE)
: . . Naftali (1742-?BCE)
: . + Zilpa (?-?BCE) (Rachel's handmaid)
: . . Gad (1742-?BCE)
: . . Asher (?-?BCE)
: . + Rachel (?)
: . . Yoseyf (1740-1667BCE)
: . . + Asnas (?-?BCE)
: . . . Menashe (?-?BCE)
: . . . Efrayim (1704-?BCE)
: . . Binyamin (1734-?BCE)

Figure 2. The Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov

Yoseyf, who was sold to the Midianites and taken to Egypt, was in the same
generation as his older brother Levi. (For those interested in a complete
GEDCOM file biblnams.ged for the King James Version of the Tora, visit the
URL: http://genealogy.org/~ajmorris, GEDDEX, ao07.)

Avram's origins were in the city of Ur, just north of today's Persian Gulf, and
southeast of the land that later became Babylonia. His father Terach took his
family northwest from Ur to the city of Charan in northern Syria. Later, in a
Covenant with Avram, G-d told him (Genesis 12:2) that his seed would become
a great nation, and (Genesis 15:18) that they would be given the land of
Canaan; afterward, Avram's name was changed to Avraham. When Avraham
was circumcised, he became the first Jew. Under command from G-d, Avram
left Charan and his father for the land of Canaan which would be the inheritance
of his descendants. Avraham's wanderings eventually carried him as far south
as Egypt during a period of famine.

Under the promise of G-d, Avraham became the progenitor of many nations:
the Jews, the Yishmaelim (Arabs), Midyanim, Ashurim, Letushim, Le'umim.

Avraham lived sometime in the early 20th century BCE, about 200 years before
the time of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), the King of Babylonia. He lived about
the same time that the Semitic Amorites swept over the centers of the Fertile
Crescent, including Canaan, and who were in turn absorbed by Hammurabi.
During the 20th and 19th centuries BCE, a change occurred in the structure of
settlement and social order in Canaan; this is the period among the Amorites
and others, of transition from nomadic to settled life, from patriarchal and tribal
rule to city-kingdom.

Avraham was the Patriarch of his nomadic family, as were later Yitzchak and
Yaakov. He was a powerful religious/civil/military leader who inspired and led
his family. It was only later in and after Egypt, that his descendants were forged
into a People. This pattern of inspiring leadership continued until the Age of the
Sofrim when major changes occurred.
Some of the Hebrew names used for males during the first few generations of
the Biblical Period (beginning with the Patriarchs) were: Asher, Avram
(Avraham), Dan, Eliezer, Gad, Lavan, Levi, Lot, Nachor, Naftali, Reuven,
Shimon, Terach, Yaakov (Yisrael), Yehuda, Yissachar, Yitzchak, Yoseph,
Zevulun. Some of the Hebrew names used for females were: Dina, Leah,
Rachel, Rivka, Sarai (Sara). Only a few of these names from the Biblical Period
are theophoric.

3.1.3. HYKSOS PERIOD (1720-1570 BCE), ISRAEL IN EGYPT (1716-1286

BCE),
EXODUS FROM EGYPT (1286 BCE)

The start of the rather obscure Hyksos Period roughly paralleled the post-
patriarchal period described in the Tora, when the People of Israel descended
to Egypt. The Hyksos, the introducers of the war chariot as a new weapon,
were apparently Semites from Syria. They entered Egypt and defeated the
pharoahs of the Middle Kingdom, and established a powerful kingdom from
Syria, through Canaan, into Egypt; there was peace and prosperity in the lands
of their dominion. Chatzor became the capital of Canaan under the Hyksos,
and remnants of their fortifications have been found in Jericho, Shechem, and
Lachish.

Some historians (e.g., Josephus) place the sale of Yoseph by his brothers to
the passing Midianites in the Hyksos Period, but others do not, claiming that the
soujorn in Egypt could not have been as long as 430 years, as stated in the
Bible. Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam, the triumverate leaders of the Jewish
exodus from Egypt, are thought by some to have led the Jews from there about
1286 BCE, after the weakening defeat of Pharaoh Rameses II at Kedesh; using
these two assumptions, Yisrael and his family came to Egypt at Yosef's
invitation about 1716 BCE (some say in 1701 BCE), at the beginning of the
Hyksos Period.

The long period spent in Egypt, the slavery there, the Jews' suffering, and their
high birth rate slowly forged the small Jewish Patriarchal family into a much
larger People with common values. At Sinai was born a new conception of G-d
and His relationship to man in general, and in particular to the Jewish People,
His Chosen People -- chosen for a special relationship.

Some Hebrew names from this period are, for men: Aharon, Amram, Avihu,
Chanoch, Gershom, Gershon, Karmi, Kehat, Merari, Moshe, Nadav, Ohad,
Pinchas, Shaul, Uziel, Yamin, Yehoshua, Yemuel, Yisrael, Zohar. For women:
Elisheva, Miriam, Yocheved.

3.1.4. ISRAELITE PERIOD (1200-586 BCE)

The second major part of the Ancient Period, the Israelite Period, began in 1200
BCE after the Jews left Egypt, and after they conquered Canaan (1246-1200
BCE) under the leadership of Yehoshua bin Nun. This period includes the
Jewish tribes in the Land of Israel, the exploits of Shimshon, the period of the
Judges (1200-1025 BCE), the kingships of Shaul, David, and Shlomo (1060-
1010, 1000-961, 961-922 BCE), the conquest of Jerusalem by David (1000
BCE), the construction of the first Temple by Shlomo (950 BCE), the division of
the united kingdom of Shlomo into the northern Israelite kingdom and the
southern Judaean kingdom (922 BCE), the period of the Prophets (Eliyahu to
Malachi, 870-457 BCE), the rise of the Assyrian Empire to the north and east of
the Land of Israel and the subjection of the Jews, and finally the destruction of
the Kingdom of Assyria by newly-powerful Babylonia.

Throughout much of this period, Shlomo's Temple existed and the Jews'
relationship to their G-d was a semi-passive one -- making pilgrimages to the
Temple in Jerusalem to sacrifice animals through the Cohanim. Their leaders
during this period began with the military leader Yehoshua bin Nun, and
continued with the charismatic religious/military Judges, the three major kings
(Shaul, David, and Shlomo) and the later kings of the divided kingdoms, and the
moralistic Prophets.

Estimates of the populations of the ancient southern Judaean and northern

Israel kingdoms are given in Table 3. (8)

1000 BCE 733-701 BCE 586 BCE

Judaea 450,000 325,000 150,000

Israel 1,350,000 900,000 -

Table 3. Jewish Populations in Ancient Judaea & Israel

Some of the names used for men in this period were: Amatzia, Asriel,
Avimelech, Avinoam, Avshalom, Barak, Chizkiya, David, Ehud, Elazar, Elisha,
Gidon, Otniel, Shamgar, Shaul, Shimshon, Shmuel, Shlomo, Tzelofchad, Uzia,
Yoav, Yoshia; For women: Chogla, Dvora, Machla, Milka, Tirtza, Yael. Several
of these names are theophoric.

3.1.5. DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE (587 BCE)

BABYLONIAN EXILE (586-537 BCE), PERSIAN PERIOD (537-332 BCE)

The utter Destruction by the Babylonians of the First Temple in 587 BCE and
the subsequent exile to Babylonia in 586 BCE was a major catastrophe for the
Judaeans. Not only was the Temple destroyed, but Jerusalem and its
protective wall were devastated and so was the spirit of the Jewish people. The
Temple's destruction was so traumatic because the Temple had been the very
center of Jewish life and symbolic for Jews for many centuries. Its destruction
created a despondency among the Jews that could have destroyed them
completely as a nation.

But the stiff-necked determination of the Jews to survive as a People created a

new form of Judaism which became a blessing. On the one hand, a Babylonian
Diaspora was established that was to become a major religious builder of
Judaism, and on the other, a new leadership arose in Judaea itself which
reconstructed the religious role of Jews by redefining their relationship to G-d as
a personal relationship in which they prayed and studied their sacred books and
heritage to improve themselves, rather than making animal sacrifices.

Four groups of religious leaders were responsible for this major re-direction of
the Jewish religion and the creation of Judaism as we know it today: Ezra and
Nechemia (458-420 BCE), the Sofrim (420-300 BCE), the Pharisees and
Saduccees (109), and the Schools of Hillel and Shammai (30 BCE- 35 CE).
The contributions of Ezra and Nechemia (who began the re-direction of
Judaism), and of the Sofrim (who gave the re-direction its major impetus) are
discussed below. The Pharisee, Saduccee, and Essene parties were
established about 109 BCE; the contention between the Pharisees and
Saduccees (who represented extremes of position among Jews) began to
clarify the position of the Oral Law in the new Judaism. And the arguments
between the opposing Schools of Hillel and Shammai cemented the acceptance
of the Oral Law in Judaism. The re-definition of Judaism made it possible for
Jews who were exiled or who left Judaea of their own volition beginning in the
first century CE, to carry their religion with them to the Diaspora.

In the Babylonian Exile and Persian Periods, Aramaic was the every day
language of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Judaea for Jews and non-Jews alike, and
was used from 300 BCE to about 650 CE as the lingua franca (much as English
is today) for nearly all of southwest Asia. The syllabic script used to write
Aramaic from about the 9th century BCE, was the one from which the early
Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, and many other scripts were developed.

Since Aramaic is a semitic language like Hebrew and resembles it, it struck a
special chord with Jews that resonates even today. It is the language in which
the Gemara was written, there are numerous prayers in the Sidur and Machzor
written in Aramaic, and Hebrew and Aramaic are treated the same in the
modern YIVO (Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut) Yiddish transliteration
standard. Indeed, it is still spoken today by some Jews and non-Jews. Those
Jews of Iran from the ancient region centered in Urmia in northern Iran still
speak Aramaic; some of these Jews now live in Israel and the US.

This special bond between Jews and Aramaic caused the early adoption of
many Aramaic names by Jews, both in Babylonia and in Judaea, and the
borrowing of Aramaic names continued during the entire period 300 BCE - 650
CE in which Aramaic was the lingua franca of the region. This was the first
example of large-scale adoption of foreign names by the Jews. The names
Zakai, Shamai, Akiva, and Bezai are typical. Many of these names have
survived and are still in use today. Other Hebrew names used in this period
were: Barzilai, Berachya, Bilshan, Chalchalya, Elyashiv, Ezer, Ezra, Malkiya,
Meshulam, Nechemya, Rechum, Reelya, Seraya, Shealtiel, Shefatya, Talmon,
Tovia, Uriya, Uzai, Uziel, Yeshua, Yoav, and Zerubavel.

In 539 BCE, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persian King Cyrus. Liberal
King Cyrus allowed some Judaean exiles in Babylonia to return to Jerusalem.
After the Exile, tens of thousands of Hebrews from Babylonia under the
leadership of Prince Zerubavel and High-Priest Joshua returned to Judaea, and
were followed by many others who had scattered to Egypt, Asia Minor, and the
Mediterranean islands. A modest new Temple was built (516). Later, 1,500
Babylonian Hebrews accompanied High-Priest descendant Ezra in 458 BCE
and returned to Jerusalem. The spiritual leadership of Ezra was much
enhanced by the invigorating civil/military leadership of Nechemia who arrived
from Babylonia in 455 BCE and continued the re-building of the Temple and the
reconstruction of the defending wall around Jerusalem.

At the massive Kneset HaGdola (Great Assembly) held upon the completion of
the Second Temple (444 BCE), Ezra unrolled and read a section of the Law
(Tora, Pentateuch) and the Levites explained it. The men, women, and children
were overwhelmed with emotion and vowed to learn the Law and to obey it. It
was from that emotional moment that the active participation of ordinary Jews in
religion and prayer started. Ezra and Nechemia had begun a new era in
Judaism - the transition from a nationality to a religious conviction. The
subsequent destruction by the Romans in 70 CE of the magnificent Temple built
by King Herod, spelled the end of the centrality of the Temple in Jewish practice
and the consolidation of Judaism as a personal, portable religion.

3.1.6. AGE OF THE SOFRIM: MAJOR TRANSFORMATION TO A RELIGION

(420-300 BCE)

The reforms begun by Ezra and Nechemia were expanded greatly during the
Age of the Sofrim (Scribes), 420-300 BCE. The result was the creation of the
High Court of Justice (Sanhedrin) of 70 Elders, its president called the Av Bet
Din (Father of the Tribunal), and its guardianship of the Law. The Jewish
people became Bible-centric, more specifically, Deuteronomy-centric, and
ultimately, G-d-centric. The name "Judaean" lost its racial meaning, and was
applied to any adherent of the Jewish faith. The Sanhedrin applied Judaism or
the Law to the life and customs of the People. During a 120-year period of
quiet, the Court changed the Jewish people from a tribal Nation into a
personally-religious people, an edifice -- religious conviction -- that has lasted
until our own times. Yet, there is not a single mention in the sources of the
names of the leaders who effected this major conversion, from the death of
Nechemia to the destruction of the Persian kingdom.

In addition to the old ritual sacrifices of the Temple which stopped after the
destruction of the first Temple but were renewed in the reconstructed Temple,
the Elders created a new Judaism: regular readings of the Law (Tora) in newly-
instituted assemblies on the Sabbath and holy days, additional readings twice a
week and public courts of justice on market days (Mondays and Thursdays),
personal participation by congregants in the readings and new prayers, schools
teaching the Law, laws and customs defining Pesach, three daily prayer
sessions, development of the concept and rules of exposition of the Law
(Midrash), a "fence around the Law" -- in short, individual Jews now became
active participants in formalized religious observance, rather than passive
observers of others carrying out the sacrificial rituals. To help individual Jews in
the transition to a personalized religion, the old Tora script (Ketav Ivrit, based on
Phoenician or old Babylonian characters) was changed to the modern "square"
script (Ketav Ashurit, Assyrian) which was already in use by Babylonian and
Palestinian Jews, and was more familiar and easier to read; the square script is
still used today.

An ancient legend defines the threefold purpose that guided the Sanhedrin: the
establishment of truth and mercy in the courts, the dissemination of learning,
and building a fence around the Law.

The formalization extended itself to using old pieces of partially written and
partially orally transmitted spiritual treasures to define the authoritative
collection of all of the holy books: The Five Books of the Tora (Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), the prophetic writings (Earlier
Four Prophets of Jewish history, Major Prophets (Yeshaya, Yirmiyahu,
Yechezkel), and the twelve Minor Prophets), and the Scriptures (various books
dealing with the religion, moral code, philosophy, and poetry of the Hebrews) --
all of which were defined as the Tanach: Tora, Nevi'im, Ketuvim, the record of
the spiritual development of the Hebrew nation over a thousand years, from
Moshe to the Sofrim.

In this new Judaism, men were called to participate in the readings of the Tora
using their given names, and the concept of legal Hebrew names began to
develop. The new Judaism extended itself to country towns, where houses of
prayer were established and the prayers were an exact copy of those in
Jerusalem -- a completely new concept to a people accustomed to thinking in
terms of pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem as the peak of religious
observance.

The reverence and love with which the Tora came to be regarded after the days
of Ezra and Nechemia were as deep as had been the general indifference to it
in earlier times. The Tora was looked upon as the quintessence of all wisdom.
Hebrew poetry glorified it with enthusiastic praise. The Tora became the
fundamental Law of the little commonwealth of Judah. Judaeans asked
religious leaders whether a proposed course of action was in conformity with
the Law. Slavery ceased to exist. The Sabbatical Year was strictly kept and
the debts of the poor were cancelled and fields lay fallow. The poor were
looked after, and giving charity was elevated to a highest virtue, particularly if
anonymous.

The Tora became the spiritual and intellectual property of the people, and their
own inner sanctuary. Religious schools sprang up and pupils were trained in
the details of their religion. The result was the impulse to investigate, interpret,
and tax their ingenuity in order to discover new hidden meanings in the Word.

Another major change which began in the Age of the Sofrim was the conception
of G-d. Until the time of the last Prophet Malachi, G-d was held to be an ethnic
G-d, the G-d of the Judaeans who had made a Covenant with their forefathers.
But with the passing of the Age of the Prophets, the sweep of Hellenism over
Judaea, the advent of the liberal Pharisees and the conservative Sadducees,
this conception of G-d was entirely changed, largely by the influence of the
Pharisees. Now, He became the G-d of the Universe, the Father of the entire
human race. And His name was changed from that used in the Five Books to
that used today in the prayer books.

This was a basic change in concept and sums up that new quality of Judaean
life which fortified it against the onslaughts of political enemies. As a small
country, Judaea faced the same existential dangers as did other small
countries, most of whom disappeared. But Judaea did not die and rather was
sustained by her unity as an ethnic group with a universal G-d. Judaea's G-d,
like her new rituals, was universalistic and existed everywhere, not only in
Judaea. This is the main legacy which the Sofrim and the Pharasees passed
down to their descendants, to the Christians, and to the Moslems.

3.1.7. HELLENISTIC (GREEK) & HASMONEAN PERIODS (332-63 BCE)

The Hellenistic Period began when Alexander of Macedonia defeated the

Persian empire in 332 BCE (he died in 322 BCE). The Greeks caused a
thorough change in the manners, customs, and thoughts of their subjects and
materially raised their civilization and culture. The grace and charm of the
Greeks caused their faults -- mutual jealousies, foibles, and restless, unruly
dispositions -- to be leniently regarded by the Jews initially, but later, major
conflicts developed.

It was during the Hellenistic period that local King Antiochus (about 175 BCE)
encouraged his subjects to adopt a Greek lifestyle, and the upper classes in
Jerusalem accepted this, but during 170-165 BCE, he outlawed Judaism and
the Maccabean revolt followed.

It can be noted here that throughout the centuries, Jews were always attracted
to cultural enlightenment in their surroundings, particularly when persecution let
up slightly so that they might enjoy it. And this type of cultural atmosphere
always led to the adoption by Jews of given names from the surrounding
culture.

Greek names were used throughout the Mediteranean basin, including by the
Jews in Judaea. One impact of the extensive interaction with Hellenism and
non-Jews during the Hellenistic Period which followed the Age of the Sofrim,
was the adoption of a second (vernacular) name for use in these contacts.
Thus, Jews began to have one name for use in prayers and in their
conversations with other Jews, and another, for use with non-Jews. This was
the first use by Jews of double names. Some examples are: Chaim-Zosimus,
Ezra-Boethus, Hilel-Iulus, Salome-Alexander, Sara-Miriam, Shaul-Paulus,
Shimon-Petrus, Tzedek-Justus, Yanai-Alexander, Yedidya-Philo, Yochanan-
Hyrcanus, Yoyakim-Alkimos, Yoseph-Ise, Yuda-Alfius, and Yuda-Aristobulus.
At first, the Greek names were used only in relations with non-Jews, but the
non-Jewish name gradually became the more important one, and finally, the
only one.

Double Hebrew names were also used: Daniel Belshazar, Mahalalel Yehuda,
Yochanan Yosef; Hadasa Ester.
Some of the Greek names used were, for men: Alcimus, Alexander,
Andronicus, Antignos, Antiochus, Antipater, Aristobulus, Bachius, Diodorus,
Eupolemus, Hyrkanus, Jason, Menelaus, Nikanor, Philo, Posidonius,
Ptolemaus, Silas, Tarfon, Theodorus, Theodotus. For women: Alexandra,
Berenice, Doris.

Thus, in addition to the Hebrew names used during the Biblical period,
Chaldean, Aramaic, and Greek (and later Latin) names were introduced into the
Jewish name lexicon. Many of these names later fell out of favor and
disappeared, but a number were held in great esteem (particularly Aramaic) and
were adopted even by major religious leaders and the royalty, and were
eventually adopted as true Hebrew names; many of these Hebrew names, new
then, have been used until today.

3.1.8. ROMAN PERIOD (63 BCE - 476 CE)

The compilation of the Mishna and Gemara took place during the Talmudic
portion of the Roman Period. During the Age of the Tanaim (40-220 CE), the
Mishna (Oral Law) was compiled. The first generation of the Tanaim was
Raban Yochanan ben Zakai, the third generation was Rabbi Akiva, and the last
was Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi (last of the Tanaim) who finalized the Mishna.
During the Age of the Amoraim (220-500), the Gemara (Commentary on the
Mishna) was written and completed by Rabbi Ravina HaAcharon and Rabbi
Yossi, the last of the Amoraim.

The destruction by the Romans of the Temple reconstructed by King Herod

threatened the very existence of the Judaean society. Were it not for the
recognition by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai that the future of Judaism lay not in
the sacrifices in the Temple, but rather in the education of Jews and their
observation of the Law, his founding of a school to teach the Law in Jamnia
(Yavne), and the Sanhedrin which he established and of which he became first
President, the Jewish people may well have disappeared.

In 219 CE, Abba Areka opened the first academy in Sura, Babylonia, and in
247, Yehuda ben Ezekiel founded another academy in Pumbeditha. Thus, the
golden age of Judaism in Babylonia began.

Latin names were adopted during the Roman Period. Some examples:
Agrippa, Aguila, Antonius, Capellus, Crispus, Dortus, Drusus, Iustinus, Julius,
Justus, Markus, Romanus, Rufus, Tiberius, Titus, and Virus. However, Jews
were still so enamored of the Aramaic language (it was used in the Talmud, in
prayers ("Yekum Purkan," ...), and otherwise), since it seemed to "fit in"
phonetically with Hebrew and was still the lingua franca, that even during the
Roman Period, numerous Aramaic names were adopted: Abba, Abuya,
Chanana, Huna, Manna, Nanai, Samkai, Tanchuma, Yochai, Yudan; Beruria,
Martha, Uma, Yalta. Only a small number of female names were Hebrew
names, and this has continued in later periods as well, since women do not
have the need for a legal Hebrew name for being called to the Tora.
During the Talmudic portion of the Roman Period, some Hebrew names were
modified to have a Hellenized spelling. For example, the name Yosef was also
used as Yose, the name Levi as Levites, Yitzchak as Isak, and Shimon as
Simon.

Beginning with the Babylonian exile, there was a steady drift of Jews out of
Palestine, to the Diaspora. The small land of Judaea could not feed its entire
population, so already in the Hellenistic period, individual families emigrated,
attracted by the material prosperity of the surrounding world. Thus, they
appeared in Egypt, in Alexandria, Thebes, and in the delta. In the Hellenistic
world, early Babylonian exiles appeared as far west as present-day Turkey, and
as far east as present-day Iran.

By the first century CE in the Roman Period, the dispersed Jewish communities
were concentrated mainly in the Eastern, Greek-speaking half of the Roman
Empire (modern Greece and Turkey). They were centered around the
synagogue, and had full internal autonomy, their own leaders, and
communicated with foreign Jews, including those in Jerusalem. Outlying areas
of the Dispersion were Central Italy (slaves after Pompey's campaign), Egypt,
and Babylonia.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean basin during

the period 100-500 CE, Jews were persecuted in Judaea and were dispersed
from there, fanning out into all parts of the Roman Empire in Western and
Central Europe and North Africa. Jews were in Western Europe (France,
Spain, River Rhine) in the second century CE, and a little later in Rome and
Italy. By the time of the Dark Ages in Europe (300-600 CE), Jews in France
and Spain were being persecuted and massacred there. Never the less, these
Jews were followed later by large numbers of others, as a result of Christian
persecution in Judaea.

3. JEWISH HISTORY, GIVEN NAMES OVER THE

AGES
3.2. MIDDLE AGES PERIOD (500-1500 CE)

Table 4 presents major occurences during the Middle Ages Period, 500-1500
CE.

Babylonian Academies 200-1040 CE

Dark Ages in Europe 300-600 Violence against Jews in France/Spain/Rome
Names for special days: Shabatei (Shabat),
YomTov (holyday), Nisan (Pesach)
6th cent...Re-use of Ancient Period names, unused
for 800 years: Avraham, Aharon, Moshe,
Noach, David, Shlomo, Yeshaia, Amnon,
Elchanan, Baruch
Feudal Europe 600-1000 Prosperous times for Jews in Europe
Islamic Period 630-1200 Arabic names, e.g., Abdala, Dunash
Omar takes Jerusalem 637
Conquest of Spain 711 By Moslems
Golden Age in Spain 750-1150 North Africa, east of Caspian Sea
850-950 Repeating names in alternate generations
 900 Shem HaKodesh & vernacular names *
900-1000 Jewish communities in Europe unite,
begin independent cultural development.
Jewish culture center shifts from the
Middle East to Western Europe.
High Middle Ages 1000-1492 German, Christian, Western European names:
Julius, Justus, Kalonymus, Leon, Sofia;
Yiddish names begin
Turks take Jerusalem 1071
Nine Crusades 1095-1272 Jews targeted as a group
Maimonides 1190 Issues "Guide for the Perplexed"
Rabbinic Decree 12th cent. Newborn boys must receive a Hebrew name
at birth
Catholic Persecution 1200-1500 Of Jews
Medieval Inquisition 1233 By Pope Gregory IX; Jews of South France
Expulsion from England 1290 16,000 Jews
Expulsion from France 1306 First, Philip IV
Black Plague 1334-50 Killed 3/4 of population of Europe
Persecution of Jews
Hundred Years War 1337-1453
Italian Renaissance 1300-...
Expulsion from France 1394 Third, Charles VI
Austrian persecution 1420
Bavarian persecution 1450
Persecution of Jews 1453 Of Germany, Silesia, and Poland
Spanish Inquisition 1478-1820 By King Ferdinand V and Isabella
Expulsion from Spain 1492

* Newborn boys were given two names at circumcision: Shem HaKodesh (for use in synagogue
and Hebrew documents), & a nickname or "Kinui" (secular name for everyday use). Sacred names
included: all Biblical, Talmudic, old Aramaic, and Judaized versions of Greek names (e.g.,
Aleksander).

Table 4. Middle Ages (500-1500 CE)

MIDDLE AGES (500 - 1500 CE)

Babylonia || Europe || Christianity ||

BABYLONIAN ACADEMIES (200-1040 CE)

The Jewish presence in Babylonia began with the Babylonian Exile in 586 BCE
and continued for about 1500 years. The major Talmudic Colleges of Sura and
Pumbeditha in Babylonia existed for eight centuries, from 200 to 1040 CE.
After the amazing creations of the Sofrim some centuries before, Judaea sank
into obscurity and its level of scholarship dropped. In Babylonia, on the other
hand, a golden age had begun. Even today, well after its fall, its name
exercises a certain magic for Jews. For it was in Babylonia that the superior
Babylonian Talmud was written, it was in Babylonia that superior academies of
Jewish learning existed, and it was Babylonia that carried the banner of
Judaism in the Dark and Middle Ages.

However, the inevitable decline in Babylonia had already begun in the 10th
century, and the centers of Jewish learning (including teachers) began to move
from the Middle East to Western Europe, to Spain and Portugal. The pre-
eminence of Babylonia (Persia) in Jewish life then disappeared completely --
the end of a long era.

ASHKENAZI JEWS IN CENTRAL AND WESTERN EUROPE

As previously pointed out, during the High Middle Ages (1000-1492), the use of
German, Christian, and Western European secular names became so
widespread that the rabbis decreed in the 12th century that every Jewish boy
must be given a purely Jewish (Hebrew) name at his circumcision. Thus, it
became customary to give two names: Shem HaKodesh, the sacred name for
being called to the Tora and for religious documents, and a Kinui, a non-sacred
name for family, civil, and business purposes. This rabbinic statute has validity
today.

Ashkenazi Jews (German, Alsatian, Austrian, Polish, Russian), many of whom

had only secular names, developed the following paths to associate Hebrew
names with their secular names, in order to satisfy the rabbinic decree:

1. Direct translation of German names into Hebrew

Gottlieb Yedidya Gottlieb
Bendit Baruch, or Baruch Bendit
Gottfried/Gotze Elyakim, or Elyakim Getz/Getzl

2. Association
Hirsch Naftali Hertz, Zvi
Wolf Binyamin Volf

3. Use of Sound-Alikes
Bunim Binyamin
Anselm/Anshel Asher, or Asher Anshel

These new Hebrew double names were later formalized by the rabbis as legal
Hebrew double names in Central and Eastern European countries and appear
as such in the Given Names Data Bases. Many other innovative associations
were found between existing secular names for both men and women, and
sacred Hebrew names. Since females did not need sacred names for being
called to the Tora, many never did have Hebrew names, but only a vernacular
name. (4)

CHRISTIANITY

The unifying force of the Middle Ages was Christendom. With the collapse of
Rome, Christianity became the standard-bearer of Western civilization. The
papacy gained secular authority; monastic communities, generally adhering to
the Rule of St. Benedict, did yeoman service in preserving civilized life; and
missionaries set out to convert the Germans and other tribes, and spread Latin
civilization. By the 8th century, a cultural milieu centered on Christianity had
been established.

As Europe entered the period known as the High Middle Ages, the Church
remained the universal and unifying institution. Conceptually, feudalism, the
Holy Roman Empire, and knighthood and chivalry assimilated Christian ideals
with military and political institutions, and medieval asceticism was an outgrowth
of a more singularly religious ethic. Militant religious zeal was expressed in the
Crusades, which also stemmed from the growing strength of Europe. Security
and prosperity stimulated intellectual life, newly centered in burgeoning
universities which developed under churchly auspices.

During the High Middle Ages, the fanaticism of the Catholic Church reached its
highest levels with intense persecution of Jews, and tens of thousands were
slaughtered by Crusaders and others. During the Crusades, which began about
1100 CE and lasted for nearly 200 years, Jews were killed during the beginning
of each Crusade, being blamed that the Holy Land was not in Christian hands;
the Crusaders rampaged through the Rhine and Danube River regions,
massacring Jews because "why should we attack the (Muslim) unbelievers in
the Holy Land and leave infidels in our midst undisturbed?" But there were also
other reasons to kill Jews during the 14th century: disastrous harvests, severe
famine, the Black Plaque of 1334-50; Jews were blamed for all of these,
despite the fact that a large number of Jews also died as a result of the famine
and Plague, although not in as large numbers, because of their higher level of
cleanliness.

During the Crusades (1095-1272), Jews began to flee from areas covered by
present-day Spain, France, and Germany to Bavaria, Austria,
Bohemia/Moravia, and northern Italy, and later to present-day Poland. The
Mongol invasion in the 13th century brought death and destruction to Poland,
and the Polish Princes invited settlers from Germany to stimulate the economy.
During the 14th and 15th centuries, Jews continued to flee eastward from
Germany, Austria, and Hungary to Poland, and from the north shore of the
Black Sea to Poland. Jewish life flourished in Poland. Polish leaders welcomed
Jews during the 13th and 14th centuries, issuing charters of legal rights for
them. From 1400 to 1500, the Jewish population of Poland exploded from
about 15,000 to 150,000. After 1500, Jews migrated more deeply into the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania and farther eastward. By 1764, there were about
750,000 Jews in today's Poland and Lithuania, constituting 20-30 percent of the
total population.

Beginning about 1400 CE, Jews were confined to ghettos, first in Spain and
Portugal in Madrid and Barcelona, but ultimately also in Venice, Naples, Rome,
Florence, Prague, and other European cities.

The given names adopted by Jews during this turbulent period reflected the
mixture of regions in which they lived and from which they fled. Some German
names adopted by Jews during the High Middle Ages: Achselrod, Ansel, Bere,
Eberlein, Edel, Falk, Feischl, Gottleib, Gumprecht, Hirz, Lebe, Mendel,
Schmolke, Susskind, Susmann, Vives, Wolf; Gnena, Golde, Guta, Liebel,
Maita, Minna, Perla, Rechel, Reine.

Some other European names adopted (from Spain, France, Italy, Bohemia,
etc.): Bendit, Benes, Benet, Bertrand, Bonami, Faywel, Fissel, Herkules, Issac,
Janus, Josef, Kalonymus, Kopel, Martin, Motell, Phobus, Vital, Vivanti; Bela,
Blanca, Bruna, Czierna, Dobrisch, Dolza, Drazna, Estella, Flora, Genonna,
Jenny, Muriel, Prive, Regina, Selda, Slava, Sprinza, Zlatka.
The transition from the medieval to the modern world was presaged by
economic expansion, by political centralization, and by secularization. A money
economy invalidated serfdom, and a questing spirit stimulated the age of
exploration that preceded the commercial revolution. The Church was
weakened by internal conflicts as well as by quarrels between Church and
State. Feudal strength was sapped by the Hundred Years War (1337-1453),
and the modern nation state emerged in France and England. A harbinger of
intellectual modernity was the new humanism of the Renaissance, which
partially overlapped the Middle Ages.

And finally, the great medieval unity of Christianity was shattered by the
religious theories that culminated in the Protestant Reformation which began in
1517 when Martin Luther posted his challenge on the castle church door at
Wittenberg.

3. JEWISH HISTORY, GIVEN NAMES OVER THE

AGES
3.3. RENAISSANCE (1300-1700)

Table 5 presents some major events which took place during the Renaissance
Period, 1300-1700 CE.

Italian Renaissance 1300-1600

European Renaissance 1400-1650
Expulsion from Spain 1492
Expulsion, Portugal 1493
Biblical Names 16-17th
Protestants adopt Biblical Hebrew names
Adoption cent.
Biblical Names
Jews mimic this: Abraham, Jakob, Moses
Adoption
Secular Hebrew studies 1507 Introduced, German & French universities
Venice ghetto 1516 Established
Reformation 1517 Martin Luther's posting in Wittenberg
Papal Bull 1531 Begin Portuguese Inquisition of Marranos
Luther attacks Jews 1542
Prague, Genoa, Papal states, Worms,
Expulsions of Jews 1542-1670
Vienna
Shulchan Aruch 1554 Completed by Joseph Karo
Jews of Poland 1576 Allowed to carry on unrestricted trade
Poland 1586 Jewish Synod of the Four Countries
Amsterdam 1593 First Marrano settlement in Holland
European names 1500-1800 Secular names borrowed from Europeans
Polish names absorbed into Yiddish
Portuguese Jews 1612 Granted right of residence in Hamburg
Cossack Revolt 1648-58 Devastation of Ukraine and Polish Jewry
100,000-500,000 Jews slaughtered
Shabatai Zevi 1648-76 False Messiah
Jews back to England 1655 Cromwell

Table 5. Renaissance (1300-1700)

The Protestant Reformation changed Europe both socially and economically,

and the Renaissance was partially an expression of this change. It marked the
complete breakdown of the established feudal order and Church supremacy,
the rise of an increasingly unrestrained competitive spirit in economics and a
secularist, rationalist approach to life and knowledge. At the same time it
witnessed those sanguinary Wars of Religion which until their abatement after
the blood bath of the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) were to keep Europe in a
state of constant warfare.

The Renaissance brought new importance to individual expression and worldly

experience; culturally, it was a time of new currents and brilliant
accomplishments in scholarship, in literature, and in the Arts. It first appeared
in 1300 in Italy, where relative political stability, economic expansion, wide
contact with other cultures, and a flourishing urban civilization provided the
background for a new view of the world. There were a number of free-thinking
Jews in Italy who shared the philosophical views of leaders in the new
movement. Later, free-thinking Jews in other European countries were excited
by this fresh alternative to the deadly atmosphere of the Inquisitorial Middle
Ages.

Jews in Western and West-Central Europe were gradually welcomed into

countries from which they had been expelled centuries before, if it was in that
country's economic interest. The western, Catholic, feudal countries did not
want Jews for religious reasons, did not need them for economic reasons, and
did not readmit them, whereas the Protestant countries, having an economic
need for the merchant Jews, eventually did readmit them. However in much of
Eastern Europe, there was far less tolerance for Jews.

With the positive impact of the Resaissance and some cessation of persecution
for a period, new Hebrew names were adopted expressing beauty and a
positive point of view: Ahava "love", Beracha "blessing", Chaim "life", Emuna
"faith", Mazaltov "good luck", Rachamim "compassion", ShemTov "good name",
Simcha "joy", Tsedaka "righteousness".

In 1579, Holland allowed Jews to practice their religion freely and a thriving
Jewish community began to develop. In 1655, Marranos were allowed to settle
in England and were never again expelled. From 1500 to 1800, in Germany
and present-day Austria, Jewish financiers were appointed to influential
positions as financial ministers to the state, known as the "Court Jews." During
the 15th and 16th centuries, Poland became the center for Jewish learning.
This prosperity continued until 1648 when the Cossack massacres began.
Secular names were borrowed freely by Jews from the European nations.

Jews had lived in Russia for centuries, sometimes welcomed, sometimes poorly
tolerated. Before 1500, Jews could live anywhere in Russia, but as Russia
acquired more and more Jews, their level of tolerance dropped precipitously,
until Jews were regionally ghettoized with the creation of the Pale of Settlement
(1775, 1792, 1795).

The gradual infiltration of Renaissance thinking into Jewish culture and thought
and the promise of integration into Western European society expressed itself in
the choice of secular names as Jewish given names. Some European names
borrowed were: Adolph, Geronim, Gimpel, Goetz, Gumpel, Gumpert, Heinrich,
Hirsch, Kusel, Victorin; Alsguta, Blumchen, Blume, Clara, Dobrisch, Feige,
Frommet, Hinda, Nesha, Nussel, Reyna, Rica, Taube, Treine. Many of these
names were absorbed in the 19th century and entered the lexicon of Yiddish
names.

In addition, Biblical names which had been previously adopted by Protestants in

the 16th and 17th centuries in Latin spellings (e.g., Abraham, Jakob), were then
absorbed as secular names by Jews, frequently in Slavic forms. In the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, these Slavic forms were used: Avram (Abraham), Danilo
(Daniel), Iguda (Juda), Ilya (Eliah), Lazar (Elasar), Mikhail (Michael), Moisey
(Moses), Onatan (Jonathan), Ruvim (Reuben), Sadko (Zadok), Sak (Isaac),
Yesip (Joseph). But Ashkenazic names were also used (in Brest): Ayzik,
Bendet, Berman, Fayvish, Fishel, Gersh, Kgets, Kolman, Mendel, Merkel,
Mikhel, Shmerlya, Volf, Zelikman, Zelman, Zyskin. Ashkenazic names were
used in Kremenets: Beylya, Gitlya, Kalmen, Liber, Midlya, Peysakh, Sorka,
Surka, Tolba, Yenta, Zindel, Zisel, Zundel. (3)

By this time, the Yiddish language had developed to such an extent, that a large
number of Yiddish names were created by modifying Arab, Latin, Germanic,
and Slavic names, and by adapting old names: Alkan, Danel, Davud, Gadel,
Henoch, Hosea, Isaak, Israel, Isser, Izaak, Josel, Jude, Judel, Kopel, Leyser,
Michel, Musa, Shmelka; Abigaya, Pessl, Pessla, Hanne, Hendel, Chanele,
Merle, Michele, Pessel, Reichel, Zirle.

The secularism of the Renaissance should not be confused with that which is
endemic to modern society; it was not yet part of a complete social and
intellectual framework. Modern historians generally emphasize the fact that
religious questions and strife were of great importance in the era of the
Renaissance. Some have pointed out that the Renaissance, heavily dependent
on ancient ideas, thought little of man's progress and that not until the
Enlightenment did man truly begin to see himself as controlling his environment
and mastering his future. However, few deny that the Renaissance saw a
soaring of man's spirit and a blossoming of his creative activities, unparalleled in
history.

3. JEWISH HISTORY, GIVEN NAMES OVER THE

AGES
3.4. AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (1700-1900)
Table 6 presents major events which took place during the Age of
Enlightenment, 1700-1900.

The "Jewish Socrates"; Blending of

Moses Mendelsohn 1728-86
cultures
Ba'al Shem Tov 1736 Establishment of Chasidism in Poland
Lithuanian Misnagdim (against
Vilna Gaon 1740
Chasidism)
Shneiur Zalman 1790 Establishment of Chabad
Jacob Frank 1750-91 False Messiah, Founder of Frankists
French Revolution 1790 Emancipation proclamation
Poland, Partitions 1772/1792/1795 Russian Pale of Settlement created
New, separate synagogue with ritual
Reform, Amsterdam 1796
changes
Reform, Berlin 1815 Israel Jacobson
Napolean in France 1799-1813
Renewal of Hebrew 1770 In Germany
Secular Names German Jews adopt German secular
1800...
Adopted names
Haskalah Movement 1825... Spurt in Hebrew & Yiddish literature,
newspapers, journals, culture, & theater
Musar Movement 1842 Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Vilna
Conservative Zecharia Frankel, "Science of Judaism,"
1854
Judaism Prague
Pinsker, "Auto-Emancipation," Odessa,
Modern Zionism born 1882
Ukraine
Jewish Socialism 1885 Secular/Agnostic
Secular/Agnostic. Lithuania, Poland, &
Jewish Socialist Bund 1897
Russia

Table 6. Age of Enlightenment (1700-1900)

AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (1700-1900)

Background || Mendelsohn || Haskala || Secularism || Given Names ||

BACKGROUND

The scientific and intellectual developments of the 17th century (Newton in

science, Descartes & Bayle in rationalism, Spinoza in Pantheism, and the
empiricism of Bacon and Locke) fostered in the 18th century a belief in natural
law, universal order, and confidence in human reasoning. A rational and
scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues promoted
a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility.
The main centers of creativity during the Enlightenment were in Western and
West-Central Europe, that is, France, England, Germany, and Italy. By
comparison, backward East-Central and Eastern Europe reacted only later to
the leadership of Western Europe.
The unification of the German state in the mid-19th century, Germany's industrial
expansion, and the vigor of German educational institutions were all causes for
German self-satisfaction. When compared with life in Russian-occupied
Lithuania, Germany could easily seem by contrast to be a land of Freedom.

The major champions of the Enlightenment were the philosphers who

popularized and promulgated the new ideas for the general reading public.
With supreme faith in rational man, they sought to discover and act upon
universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They
variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance,
censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the State to
be the proper and rational instrument of progress.

The movement received its strongest support from the bourgeoisie and its most
vigorous opposition from the high clergy and nobility. Some philosphers at first
proposed that their theories be implemented by "enlightened despots" -- rulers
who would impose reform by authoritarian means. Indeed, this is exactly what
occurred in Russia, Prussia, and Spain. It is said that the proponents of the
Enlightenment were responsible for the French Revolution.

The Age of Enlightenment began in Western and Central Europe, and gave the
Jews there political emancipation and integration into society. In 1780, in the
Hapsburg territories of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia and Moravia, Emperor
Joseph II abolished the Jewish badge and Jews were free to leave the ghetto,
learn any trade and engage in commerce, and attend public schools and
universities. The French Revolution (1790) bestowed citizenship on Jews.

MOSES MENDELSOHN

Moses Mendelsohn (1728-86) was a giant of cross-culture bridging; he was

intellectual, gentlemanly, with great wisdom, and above all, greatly respected by
non-Jews in Germany. Defending his Jewish brethren, he felt that the
improvement in their lot lay in two directions: the adoption of German culture,
and the acquisition of equal rights. His creation of a German translation of the
Pentateuch with Hebrew commentary, struck a "forbidden fruit" chord in young
students of the Talmud, who embraced his book's sublime lessons -- the
German language and the philosophy of religion, Hebrew grammar, and poetry.
This view of the Bible was an innovation for those who studied Talmud deeply
("lishma," for its own sake), exposing them to the Five Books from a new
perspective.

Mendelsohn's intellectual approach to Judaism created a sensation among

German Jews. It was in Berlin and Prague that the Reform and Conservative
revolts against orthodox Judaism would take place and many Jews there were
ripe for Mendelsohn's revolution. Many of Mendelsohn's followers jumped
much farther from traditional Judaism than he did himself, and he was, perhaps
unfairly, criticized for being against tradition.

From Poland to France, from Italy to Holland, London, and Copenhagen, young
men sang the virtues of the new Age of Enlightenment. Inspired by the ideals of
Mendelsohn, they embraced the Tora, poetry, and science. They achieved
more than Mendelsohn, who was cautious. For wealthy Jews in Berlin, who
were still ostracized by nobility and the court, reading in their leisure hours
became a necessity -- German literature and literary productions became de
riguer. Hebrew became part of Art.

In Jewish circles in Berlin, knowledge procured more distinction than riches; the
ignorant man, however wealthy, was held up as a butt for contempt. Every Jew,
whatever his means, prided himself on possessing a collection of old and new
books, and when possible, sought to know their contents, so that he might not
be wanting in conversation. Every well-informed Jew lived in two worlds: that
of business, and that of books. Therefore, the younger generation occupied
itself with belles-lettres, language, and philosophy. This extended itself to
French wit -- Voltaire had more admirers among German Jews than among
non-Jewish Germans.

Jewish criticizers of the apparent act of embracing the secular world and
distancing from the Jewish religious world, opposed the Enlightenment and
Mendelsohn. And despite the positive aspects of the Enlightenment, it is true
that many German Jews were lost to Judaism as a result of conversion; of
Mendelsohn's six children, only one remained Jewish, and when this one's son
died, the line of Mendelsohn the Jew was extinguished.

Partially as a result of Mendelsohn's translation of the Pentateuch, the revival of

Hebrew as a language in its own right began around 1770 in Germany. In
1783, Isaac Abraham Euchel and Mendel Bresselau established in Berlin a
society for the promotion of the Hebrew language (Chevrat Dorshei Leshon
Eber) and founded a journal, "HaMeassef", The Gatherer. They wished to
advance culture; only Hebrew in its purity and chastity could accomplish the
union between Judaism and the German culture of the day. The growth was
rapid, and the Hebrew language and poetry became a bond of union for the
Western European Jews, and to some extent, for Polish Jews. The thirst of
German Jews for the German culture that had been denied them for so long
was unquenchable.

Western Yiddish which had grown in German soil, now began to lose its luster
there and was looked down upon, as were the Eastern European Jews who
gloried in it. Given names also reflected the embracement of German culture,
as Yiddish names were little used and German names were adopted without
change by German Jews.

In the middle of the Age of Enlightenment, the Partitions of Poland occurred in

1772, 1792, and 1795, Poland ceased to exist as a distinct country, the huge
ghetto called the Pale of Settlement was created under the control of Russia,
and a peculiar period of major persecution of Jews, in combination with the
Jews' simultaneous religious and intellectual growth, reached its zenith within
the vast wasteland of their Eastern European hosts.

HASKALA
The end of the eighteenth century saw a sea change and vast upheaval in
Europe which altered the political condition of several nations. With the great
French Revolution of 1790, the principles of "Liberty, Fraternity and Equality"
were declared politically for the first time, and not only by philosophers as
previously, and men of all classes and religions were proclaimed equal. Jews
were not excepted, and having reappeared in France during that century, they
found themselves on the same political footing as the rest of the people. King
Louis XVIth set his seal to the French Assembly's ruling of September 28 1791,
making the very first instance in European history of a Jewish emancipation,
that is, of a successful movement to free them of their age-long civil and political
disabilities.

This emancipation spread to other countries, notably Germany, and while there
were two steps forward and one step backward throughout Europe, the Jews of
Germany and other Western and Central European countries began to embrace
the cultures of their countries. Indeed, the beginning of the eighteenth century
saw the massive adoption by German Jews of German secular given names
and conversions to Christianity, among them even Dorothea and Henrietta
Mendelsohn, the daughters of Moses Mendelsohn, and the greatest
representatives of German literature of that period, Borne (died 1837), and
Heine (died 1856).

It may truly be said that the French Revolution marked the beginning of a new
era in Jewish history when Jews began to enter into the cultures of their home
countries and to become true citizens there. This major development was
destined to be both beneficial and detrimental to Jewish life in Europe.

From Western Europe, the Enlightenment spread to Eastern Europe,

manifesting itself among Jews as the Haskala spurt, literary growth of Hebrew
and Yiddish, modern Zionism, Jewish socialism, the Algemeyner Yiddisher
Arbeiter Bund (1897), Workmen's Circle, and more. The Bund advocated
national and cultural autonomy for Jews, a middle course between assimilation
and a territorial solution in Russia for Jewish problems. The Poalei Zion
(Zionists) founded in 1906, on the other hand, fiercely fought for resettlement of
Jews in the Holy Land.

Before the Enlightenment, Hebrew was considered by religious Jews to be

Loshen Kodesh (the holy tongue) and was not to be used for day-to-day and
secular matters; those activities were the purview of Yiddish (Mama Loshn --
Mother's language). But with the Enlightenment, many Eastern European Jews
eagerly embraced Hebrew as a renewed language and began to use the
language to correspond, write short stories, novels, and discourses, and print
Hebrew newspapers ("HaMeilitz," The Advocate), and Yiddish and Hebrew
began to compete in scholarship, literature, and the Arts. Ancient hebrew was
renewed as a living language, and Yiddish reached the zenith of its
development from its beginnings 800 years earlier.

In Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, the Enlightenment led to deep splits
between traditional Jewish religionists and Jewish modernists who believed in
change. But there were differences from region to region. In the West, the
Enlightenment led easily and directly into assimilation and conversion, whereas
in the East, it led to a split between the religious on the one hand, and the
secular, cultural, and worldly, on the other. The latter did not want for the most
part to give up their Judaism, but rather to convert it into something new and
different -- cultural. While the conception in the West and parts of Central
Europe was split between religionists, Jewish culturalists, seculars, and
converters, in the East, the split was mainly between religionists and Jewish
culturalists.

In the East, Jewish life was an island of energetic religious and cultural growth
in a sea of non-Jewish backwardness and oppression. In Lithuania, for
example, the Lithuanian language survived by the late 19th century only in
Suwalki and Samogitia -- the rest of the country was Polish-speaking -- and
there, only among rural peasantry and the petty gentry. Polish had been the
language of high culture and government in Lithuania since about 1600. The
educated and professional classes in Lithuania, and the higher gentry, were
Polish speaking. Virtually no literary works were published in Lithuanian, and
but little in Polish. Accordingly, non-Jewish Lithuania was culturally backward,
as well as oppressive towards Jews.

A split internal to the religious community, was the strong opposition of the
Lithuanian Misnagdim to the Haskala and to the new Chasidism movement.
This led to the Musar movement, established by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter in
1842, initially opposed by the Misnagdim, but afterward embraced by them. For
the Musar movement lent stability to the magnificent Lithuanian yeshivot and
provided an anchor for their students, serving as a shield against the winds of
change. Musar was really an antidote to Haskala.

The first Musar group was opened in Vilna in Lithuania. Musar was an humble
attempt to improve the moral and ethical sides of traditional Jewish observance
in Eastern Europe. It was not enough to learn Tora without some kind of
associated moral development. One might view modesty and extreme self-
centeredness as two opposites. The latter thinks that he/she is the ultimate
arbiter of right and wrong; such a person would submit to power, but not to
persuasion. By contrast, a modest person recognizes that strength of passion
and desire for self gratification have the capacity to blind him to moral
sensitivity; just then is it essential for him to turn to objective sources of wisdom
and ethics to provide the inspiration necessary to resist the drive for immediate
gratification.

The essential difference between the Chasid and the Misnagid was that for the
Chasid, his Rebbe enveloped him to such an extent that his personal aura was
utterly absorbed. His individual ego was submerged and absorbed in the group,
merging with the emanation of the Rebbe. For Misnagdim, however, even at
moments of high spiritual exaltation, the group was made up of individuals
sitting side by side. The Misnagid faced G-d and man, standing alone, just as
he was, great or small, and not beneath the mantle of another; this preserved
the individual's identity and did not permit it to be blurred or melt away, even for
spiritual gain. While rejoicing was above all else for Chasidim, for Misnagdim,
there was no such thing as pure and simple joy for its own sake. The Chasid
shukled when he prayed, but the Misnagid stood stock still, the better to absorb
his oneness with G-d internally.

Despite the deep splits and battles between the religious and the
cultural/secular/worldly Jewish camps in Eastern Europe, and among the
religious themselves, the Jews had an energetic, religious and cultural society
which was developing like a pearl. For example, the literacy rates of the Jewish
and total Russian populations in 1897 are shown in Table 7.

All of Russia Jews

Males over 9 38.7 % 64.6 %
Females over 9 17.0 36.6
Total, over 9 27.7 50.1

Table 7. Literacy Rates in Russia, 1897

SECULARISM

But the turbulence in Eastern European Jewish life introduced a slow, steady
movement (particularly in Lithuania and Belarus) from a deeply religious Jewish
life in the 19th century towards a cultural Jewish life, then to secularism, the
latter becoming a major factor in Lithuania during the 1930's. As a result, given
names remained Jewish for those on the religious side of the spectrum, but for
the other groups there was a gradual shift to secular given names in the 1920's
and 1930's.

By this time, Jewish education remained extremely strong. In 1925, an amazing

93 percent of all Jewish children in Lithuania attended Jewish elementary
schools, and 80 percent attended Jewish secondary schools. Languages of
instruction were Hebrew, Yiddish, or both. The predominant school system was
Tarbut (culture) schools, from kindergarten to gymnasium. Unlike the major
Lithuanian yeshivot, Tarbut was neither religious nor anti-religious, but Zionist-
nationalist. Bible and Hebrew language and literature were taught, and there
was a love of Eretz Yisrael. From 1918 to 1940 (when Tarbut was stopped by
the Russians), Tarbut enrolled about 60,000 pupils, 70 percent of the Jewish
children in the country.

JEWISH GIVEN NAMES

For the religious and culturally Jewish, given names in Eastern Europe were
sacred names plus kinuim which were mainly Yiddish, German, Slavic, and
other-Europe oriented. In countries where persecution was especially harsh,
there was a strong tendency not to adopt local secular given names.

It was during this tempestuous period that Jewish given names in Eastern
Europe advanced dynamically in the direction of legal Hebrew double names,
consisting of a standard Hebrew sacred name plus a Yiddish and/or a secular
name. The Hebrew names now included Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek,
Latin, and absorbed European names, and now in Hebrew double names,
Yiddish names and secular names (mainly in Germany, Poland, and Hungary).
Hebrew Double names and others are discussed below and in the first paper
which is a companion to this paper. (1)

From the Given Names Data Bases Project, here is a sample of these Hebrew,
Yiddish, and secular given names for various 19th-century European countries:

ESTONIA, LATVIA: Are, Bruno, Eliakim Getz, Fabian, Gelman, Jeckel,

Khonel, Moris, Noson, Orel, Ruvl, Shabsel, Urin, Yulius, Zvi Hirsh; Asna,
Chiesse, Elke, Guta, Leontina, Manya, Nora, Schone, Taube, Yeta, Zina

GALICIA: Alkon, Ekhil, Fishel, Ishia, Kejfman, Kojftsya, Litman, Mal, Nuta,
Semion, Shaya, Shmelka, Shopel, Shukher, Sumer, Urim, Yaker, Yurdko;
Adalya, Budina, Chencia, Donka, Drejzya, Erka, Finklya, Gides, Henele,
Khinya, Mirka, Rodya

GERMANY: Abraham, Berthold, Charles, Emil, Erich, Ferdinand, Gottfried,

Hersh, Ignaz, Kurt, Mendel, Moritz, Otto, Paul, Siegfried, Theodor, Wilhelm,
Wolf; Agnes, Anna, Berta, Cecylia, Elize, Etel, Eva, Fanny, Flora, Gertrud,
Helene, Henrietta, Johanna, Klara, Liselotte, Margerete, Marie, Rosa, Sabina,
Trude, Yetta

LITHUANIA, BELARUS: Afroim, Aharon Hermeln, Bejnash, Elias, Eliezer

Lipman, Froim, Govsej, Herz, Ioel, Kalman, Man, Menachem Mendl, Mendl,
Moshka, Note, Pinkus, Saadia Chalvana, Samuil, Sender, Tankhum, Velvl,
Yuda; Bella, Clara, Drobna, Leah Litza, Fani, Galya, Gnendl, Liba, Minda,
Regina, Sora, Zlata

POLAND: Achselrad Bendet, Aleksander Ziskind, Amnon, Ber, Chuna, Dodia,

Dov Ber, Ejzyk, Fajvl, Geronim, Henoch, Kishl, Lajzer, Lapidot Chalvana,
Mejlekh, Nosl, Ryven, Srul, Wolf, Zev; Adelya, Bajla, Emma, Golda, Henrieta,
Ita, Krendle, Maresa, Nucha, Rojza, Traindlya, Yanina

ROMANIA: Aizic, Chiva, Faibis, Haim, Hascal, Herscu, Hunia, Itic, Lupu,
Meilich, Mochiul, Moisa, Nuham, Paltiel, Rahmil, Sapsha, Shulem, Smil, Wolf,
User; Bela, Cecilie, Clara, Daltie, Ghitla, Gita, Haea, Haina, Hana, Mindl,
Reiza, Rukel, Sura, Suzana

UKRAINE: Ajzyk, Bendet, Chaskiel, Ejzik, Fajvish, Gershko, Iser, Kiva,

Lipman, Markus, Nusen, Rakhmil, Shaya, Tevya, Todris, Zusya; Alta, Anna,
Bogdana, Dobrish, Edl, Gitl, Leya, Maryam, Nokhama, Rekhlya, Shulka, Sora,
Tsirl

3. DESCRIPTION OF COMPUTER DATA BASES

3.4. GIVEN NAMES DATA SOURCES

The availability of given names data from archival and other sources constrains
the size and quality of the resulting databases. The data sources used for the
GNDBs are listed below. (A=Aramaic, E=English, Eu=European, G=Greek,
H=Hebrew, L=Latin, Y=Yiddish).

For Each European Country: Project Standard set of Hebrew names

(H,A,G,L), Hilchot Gitin (H,Eu,Y), old books having nineteenth century given
names (Eu,Y), archival documents (E,Eu,Y), modern books having nineteenth
century given names (E), on-line databases (JewishGen, others) (E), family
trees on web sites (E).

For Each Foreign Country: Foreign-country Gravestone readings (E,H,Y),

International Cemetery Project (E).

For both European and Foreign Countries: Postings on Jewish genealogical

mailing lists, SIGs, news groups (E), archives of Jewish genealogical mailing
lists, SIGs, news groups (E), data donated by individuals (E).

Data posted to JewishGen and other formal data base sites, and data prepared
by professional genealogists have usually undergone carefully planned
procedures of evaluation, rule-making, transliteration, error checking, and other
important factors, and are reliable.

However, data from other sources may have variable standards of transcription,
errors, and other difficulties. Problematically, many books mix together given
names from different regions, while others were intended for new parents in
modern times. Many books do not give the time frame of their names. Some
researchers use current English spellings rather than original Hebrew, Yiddish,
or secular names, e.g., instead of the Jewish name Avrohom, they use
Abraham; then one cannot know what the original name was -- Abraham,
Avraham, a kinui (nickname) of Avraham, a secular name, or a mistake. And
then there are errors in original archival documents or books, due to the data
collection method used.

3.5. COMPUTERIZED GIVEN NAMES SOURCES

There are three types of computerized given names data sources: JewishGen
hosted and private on-line data bases, gravestone readings by certain
individuals, and cemetery project readings. JewishGen hosts Regional Special
Interest Groups (SIGs), which collect archival, regional databases. These SIG
web sites (http://www.jewishgen.org/) are an important source of given names
data for European countries:

BELARUS (Former Russian Empire gubernias Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev and

Vitebsk);
BOHEMIA-MORAVIA (Bohemia & Moravia (now Czech Republic), plus parts
of Austria, especially Vienna);

COURLAND (Kurland (now southern Latvia);

DENMARK (Denmark, Danish West Indies, other Scandinavian countries);

GALICIA (Austrian Poland, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from
1772 until 1917, now in southern Poland and western Ukraine);
GERMAN-JEWISH (Germany, other German-speaking areas (Austria, parts of
Switzerland, Alsace, Lorraine, Bohemia and Moravia);

HUNGARY ("Greater Hungary" or pre-Trianon Hungary, includes areas at one

time predominantly Hungarian speaking. Includes parts of present day Slovakia,
Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Romania.);

KIELCE-RADOM (two gubernias of Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland) come

below), now in south-central Poland, covering much of area between Warsaw
and Krakow);

LATVIA;
LITVAK (Kovno and Vilna gubernias of Russian Empire, including most of
today's Lithuania);

ROMANIA (includes Moldova, Bessarabia and Bukovina);

SOUTHERN AFRICA (South Africa, Lesotho (Basutoland), Botswana

(Bechuanaland), Zimbabwe (S. Rhodesia), Zambia (N. Rhodesia), Swaziland,
Mozambique and former Belgian Congo);

STAMMBAUM-GERMAN SIG (Germany);

SUWALK-LOMZA (Suwalk, and Lomza gubernias);

UKRAINE (Gubernias Podolia, Volhynia, Kiev, Poltava, Chernigov, Kharkov,

Kherson, Taurida and Ekaterinoslav);

JRI-POLAND (Congress Poland gubernias Kalisz, Kielce, Lomza, Lublin,

Piotrkow, Plock, Radom, Siedlce, Suwalki, and Warsaw).
SUWALK-LOMZA (Suwalk and Lomza gubernias);

UKRAINE (Gubernias Podolia, Volhynia, Kiev, Poltava, Chernigov, Kharkov,

Kherson, Taurida and Ekaterinoslav)

Many privately posted databases are also of high quality, and some have links
in the JewishGen web site.

Major Jewish genealogical organizations and a few private individuals record

data on gravestones in Jewish cemeteries around the world. These databases
are sometimes of variable quality because of omitted data, e.g., Hebrew and
Yiddish names. However, Ada Greenblatt has recorded all of the available data
(including Hebrew and Yiddish) in many US cemeteries, particularly where most
of those buried were from the same shtetl or group of shtetls; such data are of
major value for the GNDB Project, since they allow linking vernacular US
names to European names.
3. JEWISH HISTORY, GIVEN NAMES OVER THE
AGES
3.5. PROJECT PERIOD (1795-1925)

The Project Period is included in the last half of the Age of Enlightenment. In
order to clarify the environment and status of Jews in this period, and how these
affected the choices they made of given names, a brief description of the social,
cultural, and economic factors pervading their regions of residence is given, and
the general impact on the given names chosen during this period is presented.

SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS IN EUROPE, 19th

CENTURY

In Western, Central, and Southern European countries, the societies were in

general amicable, but layered, particularly in England, Germany, and Italy. By
"layered" is meant that each societal layer knew its place and agreed that by
and large that was where it was meant to be. While there were differences in
social, cultural, and economic levels between all segments of society, never the
less there was a general feeling of satisfaction with the status quo.
Emancipation had been proclaimed, the Age of Englightenment was
everywhere seen, and while conditions were frequently bad, there was the
expectation that the future would be much brighter than the past. The levels of
commerce, industry, and agriculture in these countries were high and among
the most sophisticated in the world.

Anti-semitism existed and frequently expressed itself viciously, but between

"sessions," it was contained, in comparison to the situation in Eastern Europe.

In Poland (in Central Europe), society was also layered, but life was more tense
than in Western Europe. The quality of life in social, cultural, and economic
terms was good for the middle and upper classes, and less good for those at
the bottom, where many Jews were. Commerce, industry, and agriculture were
on average more primitive than in Western Europe, with a higher emphasis on
commerce and craft for Jews. Anti-semitism was obvious, open, and strong.

In Eastern Europe (Pale of Settlement), society was completely layered, and

this layering was imposed by the Russian government; everyone in the lower
echelons of society knew that rising above their level would be extremely
difficult if not impossible, and survival would be possible only by using
"protektzia" with the powers that be. The social, cultural, and economic
advantages of the society, such as they were, pervaded very well the imperial
and upper classes, but did not extend to the middle and lower classes.
Agriculture and commerce occupied major positions in each region, particularly
in the lower classes, but was more primitive than in Western and Central
Europe; in the Kovno Province of Lithuania in 1900, Jewish craftsmen engaged
in shoemaking, tailoring, and other similar crafts, but very few were allowed to
be active in agriculture. Anti-semitism was overt, with obvious hostility and
frequent pogroms.
In Russian Europe, society was also completely layered, imposed by the
Russian government. The social, cultural, and economic advantages of the
society, such as they were, pervaded only the imperial and upper classes.
Agriculture and commerce were again major factors in Russian European
regions. Anti-semitism was overt, with a steady pressure for Jews to abandon
Judaism and integrate into Russian society. As a result of this pressure, most
Russian Jews became secular and some converted; for the secular Jews,
nearly all knowledge of their religion faded away. Russia attempted to exert
similar pressure on the Jews of the Pale of Settlement, but with little success.

With the rise to power of Stalin in 1929, the Russian Jewish community was cut
off from world Jewry, Hebrew and Jewish education were prohibited, the Zionist
movement was outlawed, and obstacles were put in the way of Jews who
wished to leave Russia for Palestine.

GENERAL FACTORS IN THE SELECTION OF JEWISH GIVEN NAMES

In Western, West-Central, and Southern Europe, assimilation was strong

among the Jews; many Jews were either religiously observant or secular.
There was a strong preference for local secular given names over secular
names derived from other European countries (second choice), or over Yiddish
names (third choice). Accordingly, government documents in major local
archives contain mainly local secular names, rather than foreign secular or
Yiddish names.

In East-Central Europe, assimilation among Jews was moderate to small; Jews

were split between religiously observant, culturally Jewish, or secular. The
given names chosen were a mixture of Yiddish, European, and local secular
names. Government documents therefore show a mixture of these name types.

In Eastern Europe (Pale of Settlement), assimilation was weak; most Jews

were either religiously observant or culturally Jewish (but later, secular.) There
was pride in Jewish religious and cultural life and a strong preference for
Yiddish given names, with European secular names a second choice, and local
secular names a third choice. Government documents in archives reflect these
preferences, with Yiddish names being most common, and foreign secular
names being second.

In Russian Europe, assimilation was very strong, in response to the unremitting

pressure from the Russian government for Jews to be absorbed into society;
most Jews were secular, with some being culturally Jewish. Jews exhibited a
definite preference for local secular given names, with Yiddish names being a
second choice. There was little incentive to choose foreign secular names, and
indeed this was opposed by the government. Government archival documents
therefore contain mainly local secular names for Jews. And the knowledge of
their Jewish tradition and observance gradually decayed.

DESCRIPTION OF COMPUTER DATA BASES

3.6. SAMPLE GNDB SEARCH RESULTS
During the High Middle Ages (1000-1500), the use of German, Christian, and
European secular names became so widespread that the rabbis decreed in the
twelfth century that every Jewish boy must be given a purely Hebrew name at
circumcision; this decree holds today. Thus, two names were given, the Shem
HaKodesh (the Hebrew name) and a kinui. The non-Hebrew names previously
chosen and the new ones chosen after the decree became part of the growing
Yiddish lexicon via Yiddishization. It was these names and their descendant
names that enriched Jewish given names over the centuries and resulted in the
Hilchot Gitin books to bring order to the new system.

The GNDBs show the richness of the Jewish given names chosen in Europe,
particularly Yiddish names in Eastern Europe. Many Legal Names were
popular and led to multiple threads of Yiddish names; this resulted perhaps
from the warmth, sweetness, ease of use, complementarity to Hebrew, and
subtle support of family unity of the Yiddish language. Other Legal Names were
not as popular and led to less use and fewer kinuim. Many European secular
names were absorbed into Yiddish and lovingly Yiddishized with its special
flavor. Many Yiddish names were kinuim for a number of different classic
Hebrew names. Here are a few samples.

SARA:
Gender: F
Legal/Hebrew: Sara
Origin: Genesis 17:15
Yiddish: Sara/Sare/Shera/Shora/Shore/Shura/Sora/Sore/Sura
Yiddish Nicknames: Eska/Eske/Eshka/Eshke/Iska/Iske/Seril/Serka/Serl/
Shirka/Shirke/Shirla/Shosa/Shosha/Sirka/Sirke/Sirkl/
Sirl/Sorele/Sorkl/Sorl/Soska/Sosya/Soya/Yeshka/Yeshke
Origin: Eska/Eske/Eshka/Eshke/Iska/Iske/Yeshka/Yeshke from
Sarai's name Yiska
Secular: Sonya

US: Celia/Jessie(from Yeshka)/Sadie/Sally/Sarah/Selma/

Shirley/Sonia/Sydell/Sylvia
US Nickname: Syd
UK: Celia/Sarah
South Africa: Sadie/Sara/Sonia/Susan

SARA (Second thread):

Gender: F
Legal/Hebrew: Sara
Origin: Genesis 17:15
Yiddish: Sara/Sare/Shera/Shora/Shore/Shura/Sora/Sore/Sura
Yiddish Nicknames: Seril/Serka/Serl/Shirka/Shirke/Shirla/Shosa/Shosha/
Sirka/Sirke/Sirkl/Sirl/Sorele/Sorkl/Sorl/Soska/Sosya/
Soya/Tshira/Tsirele/Tsiril/Tsirka/Tsirke/Tsirl/
Tsirle/Tsirlya/Tsurl
Origin: < Yiddish "adornment, jewel"
Secular: Sonya
US: Celia/Sarah/Selma/Sophie
South Africa: Cecilia/Celia/Cilah

EZRA DEMITKARI OZER:

Gender: M
Legal/Hebrew: Ezra demitkari Ozer
Origin: Ezra 7:1
Yiddish: Eyzer/Ezdra/Ezre//Auzer/Azur/Eyzer/Oyzer/Ozer
Yiddish Nickname: Ovzer
Origin: Ozer < Hebrew "Helper"
US: Ezra//Ozer
YEHUDA LEYB:
Gender: M
Legal/Hebrew: Yehuda haMechune Leyb/Leyba
Origin: Genesis 29:35
Yiddish: Ihuda/Yehida/Yehuda//Leb/Leyb
Yiddish Nicknames: Yidele/Yidl/Yodka/Yuda/Yude/Yudka/Yudl/Yudya/Yutka/
Yutke//Lebus/Lev/Levik/Levke/Levko/Levon/Leyba/Leybl/
Leybela/Leybele/Leybish/Leybka/Leybke/Leybush/Liba/
Libe/Libele/Liva
Origin: Leb (Yiddish/German "lion")
Secular: Leo/Lyuba

US: Isidore/Judah/Julius/Yidel//Leo/Leon/Leonard/Louis
US Nickname: Sol
UK: Julius//Lewis/Louis
South Africa: Alfred/Israel/Judah/Julius/Levi/Louis//Leo/Leopold/
Lewis
SA Nicknames: Udie

4. SUMMARY AND AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE

This document has described the conceptualization and realization of a set of

given names data bases for fifteen European countries, including linked names
adopted by emigrants to ten foreign countries. A number of properties of these
data bases have been presented, giving a flavor of the rich, varied heritage
which many had in Europe. The main benefit to the Jewish genealogical
community is a large increase in the pool of given names that an ancestor might
have used in alternative settings, and which will appear in different archival
documents. When this capability is embedded in other databases, the
effectiveness of one's research is multiplied many times.

A very difficult problem for this project is to find the nineteenth century
vernacular names adopted in foreign countries by Jewish emigrants from
Europe. Please help solve this problem by submitting from your own family tree
the Hebrew, Yiddish, European secular, and foreign-country names. Send them
to Professor G. L. Esterson, Gerald.Esterson@huji.ac.il, using for each set of
names, a format similar to this one:

Aharon, Aron, Arele, Orelis(Lithuania); Aaron(US)

A GROYSEN, SHEYNEM DANK!

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Wigoder, Geoffrey, "Encyclopaedia Judaica," Jerusalem, New York (1972).

2. Wigoder, Geoffrey, "Encyclopaedia Judaica," CD-ROM Edition, Jerusalem,
New York (1997).

HILCHOT GITIN:
1. ben Uri Shraga Phoebus, Samuel, "Bet Shmuel: Shmot Anashim V'Nashim
(Men's and Women's names)," with "Even HaEzer Hilchot Gitin" Text, in
Hebrew, pp 31-36.

2. Epstein, Rabbi Yechiel Michel ben Rabbi Aharon Yitzchak HaLevi, "Aruch
HaShulchan: Hilchot Gitin (Divorce Laws)," in Hebrew, pp 100-120, Lithuania
(~1905).
3. ben Phoebus, Samuel, and Ephraim Zalman Margoliot, "Tuv Gittin,"
Lemberg (1859).

4. Mintz, Eliezer, "Get Mesudar," Philip Feldman, New York (1962); Originally
published by Neta Kranberg Pub., Bilguria, Poland (1902).

5. JEWISH GIVEN NAMES, 1795-1925

5.1. LEGAL/HEBREW NAMES

All of the common Hebrew names used in Europe are legal Jewish names.
Hebrew names consist of one or two names in combination, sometimes, three,
occasionally, four. Some or all of these names might appear in archival
documents, along with kinuim used by the individual.

By the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment (1700), Hebrew names and

"Hebrew-equivalent" names included the following:

1. Tanachic Hebrew names (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov)

2. Aramaic and other names from the Talmud (Akiva, Shamai, Yeshu)
3. Miscellaneous Hebrew/Aramaic names and Hebrew calques (i.e.,
derived from Yiddish names) (Chaim, Zeev/Volf, Tzvi/Hirsh)
4. Absorbed Greek and Latin names (Aleksander, Antignos, Hurkanus,
Marcus) and by the beginning of the 20th century, some authorized
Yiddish La'az names were added to form legal double names:

5. Yiddish names (Leyb, Leml, Zelig, Zusa; Beylka, Galya)

In Germany, Poland, and Hungary, specified groups of about 500 European

secular La'az names were also authorized by the rabbis to be used in almost
the same way as the above Yiddish names. So, these names ("Legal Secular
names") may be added to the above list for those countries:

6. Secular names (Adolf, Albert, Alexandra, Benno, Elisabeth, Fritz, Leopold)

All of the above names are legal names; in accord with the laws of Hilchot
Gitin, rabbis would normally require that the La'az (Yiddish or secular) names
be used in a Get together with the Hebrew (Primary) name with which they
normally form a Hebrew double name. In this document, all six names are
called Legal names, regardless of their origin, and names of types 2, 3, and 4
are frequently called "Hebrew-equivalent" names.
 LEGAL/HEBREW NAMES
Hebrew || Patronymic || Combinations || Hamechune || Demitkari || Mixed-Lineage || Mixed-Secular ||

5.1.1. HEBREW SINGLE NAMES

At the beginning of the Given Names Data Base project, as many Hebrew
names as could be found were gathered together. The sources were varied:
The Five Books of Moses, Prophets, Scriptures, Mishna, Gemara. This led to a
data base of several thousand names, beginning with the very first names in the
Bible, and extending up to the year 500 CE when the Talmud (Mishna and
Gemara) was completed. Of course, only a very small fraction of these Hebrew
names survived the centuries and were eventually used in 19th century Europe
(the object of this research).

In order to create a basic data base of Hebrew names as the starting point for
19th-century European Ashkenazic Jewry, the data from European archival
research were used, coordinating these data with the larger data base. These
names were in the first four categories above, with some Yiddish names. As
Hebrew given names made their way into the data bases from European
archives, they were extracted and placed in a special core data base.
Eventually, this data base stabilized at a much smaller size for 19th century
Europe and has been used as the starting point for each European country's
data base of Hebrew names.

It has been found that the core data base was indeed a good foundation for all
European countries, yet it was also immediately clear that some names were
more popular than others and were used more extensively in some countries
than in others. Indeed, it was possible to discern statistical variations in given
names concentrations within any given country.

5.1.2. PATRONYMIC DOUBLE NAMES (NON-LEGAL) (H_H, H_Y)

Patronymic double names appear at first glance to be non-legal Hebrew double

names: A combination of a Hebrew name with another Hebrew name or with a
Yiddish name. In reality, such names are simply an alternative way of writing a
Hebrew single name together with the father's name.

Before permanent family names were widely adopted (beginning about 1800),
double names were frequently used in Germany (and sometimes in other
countries) to present both the individual's name (the first given name) and that
of his father (the second name), for example, Nathan_Joseph or
Yitzchak_Yehuda. Such double names also helped to distinguish between two
Jews with the same given name. For about the first generation after adoption of
a surname, these double names would be combined with the "permanent"
surname, and names such as Yitzhak_Yehuda Aizikowitz might appear in
archival documents (the patronymic Aizikowitz means "son of Aizik"). As time
went on, this type of double name disappeared.

It sometimes happened that the father's name was a Yiddish name, say,
Ziskind, and that the son's Hebrew name Moshe and the father's Yiddish name
Ziskind did not form a standard legal double name with the son's name Moshe.
Later, such names were replaced by true patronymic double names, such as
Moshe Ziskinovich.

In such cases, the son would be called to the Tora in the classical way, namely,
Yitzchak ben Yehuda, or Moshe ben Aleksander Ziskind (the true legal double
name of the father). This same format would have been used in legal
documents as well. Thus, the father's Yiddish name did not acquire the status
of a Hebrew name through use with the son's name. Neither the earlier nor the
later patronymic double name can be considered a legal double name under the
present definition, but rather a special way of indicating the name of the father.

Patronymic Double Names of the H_H format in archival documents are difficult
to distinguish from Mixed-Lineage H H Double Names without additional
information. When H_Y Patronymic Double Names appear in archival records,
they are difficult to distinguish from Defined Double Names of type HaMechune
(H Y) without additional information.

Such names were more common in the first half of the 19th century, than in the
second half.

5.1.3. COMBINATIONS OF JEWISH NAMES

Yet another type of double name found wide use during the 19th century, in this
case the legal double name. It was the typical Hebrew-Yiddish (H Y) name, for
example, Arye Leib, where the second (Yiddish) name was a kinui (nickname)
linked to the first (Hebrew) name. This was particularly common in Eastern and
East-Central Europe where Yiddish was widely used, and much less common in
Western Europe, where by this time, Yiddish was no longer a popular language,
except among Religiously Observant Jews. This type of legal double name
generally involved two names that were linked to one another in some logical
way (other than naming the person after two ancestors), forming a legal name.
But not all Hebrew names had a kinui, and some Hebrew names had many
kinuim, and even more confusingly, not all Yiddish kinuim formed legal double
names.

The Hebrew term "kinui" means a nickname, but today the term covers two
different categories of nickname:

(1) A nickname in the usual sense that it is derived from the Hebrew name, but
has no legal function in combination with the Hebrew name, and
(2) A nickname that is linked somehow to the Hebrew name but which must be
used together with the Hebrew name to form a legal Hebrew double name.

The first category is exemplified by the Hebrew name "Yaakov" and its
diminutive "Yankl"; Yankl is never used in any formal way together with the
original name Yaakov -- it is just a diminutive -- and indeed, the rabbis that
wrote the Hilchot Gitin sometimes decried addressing a learned person using
such a diminutive Yiddish name. However, the legal double name Menachem
Mendl combines a Hebrew name Menachem and a Yiddish name Mendl which
must usually be used together when calling this man to the Tora -- because that
is his legal name. Thus, "Mendl" and "Yankl" are both kinuim (as defined
today), but one can form legal names, and the other cannot. The rabbis who
wrote books of Hilchot Gitin always used the Hebrew technical term "kinui" in
the second sense only.

Yet another type of legal double name was composed of unlinked

combinations: two unlinked Hebrew names, a Hebrew and an unlinked Yiddish
name, or unlinked combinations of Hebrew, Yiddish, and secular names. This
type of name generally resulted from naming a newborn child after two different
deceased ancestors. This practice was more common in Eastern and East-
Central Europe than in Western or West-Central Europe.

There are a number of sources available which explain the origins and nature of
the linkage between Hebrew names and their kinuim. (5, 6, 7)

We may bring some order to this system of double names as follows.

Legal double names were created by combining two names from any of the
following types of 19th-century European Jewish names:

Hebrew names H
Yiddish names Y
Legal secular names s*
Secular names local to the subject country SL
Secular names from outside of the subject
SO
country

* Only in certain Western or Central European countries.

For this section, we shall consider the last two sets of names as a single set S.

We conceptualize these groupings of names as follows:

1. Defined Double Names (using HaMechune) HY

Example: Menachem Mendl (H Y)
2. Defined Double Names (using DeMitkari) H Y, H H, Y H
Tamar Tamara (H Y)
Saadia Yeshaya (H H)
Bunem Shmueyl (Y H)
3. Defined Double Names (legal secular, ham.) Hs
Avraham Adolf (H s)
4. Defined Double Names (legal secular, dem.) H s, s H, s s
Avraham Abraham (H s)
Abraham Avraham (s H)
Kati Kethchen (s s)
5. Mixed-Lineage Double Names H H, H Y, Y H, or Y Y
Dvora Esteyr (H H)
 Meyir Michl (H Y)
Michl Meyir (Y H)
Mendl Usher (Y Y)
6. Mixed-Secular Double Names H S, S H, S S, Y S, S Y
Chana Bernhardine (H S)
Clementine Dvora (S H)
Doretta Gerda (S-S)
Leyb Reinhold (Y S)
Henrik Zalman (S Y)

Groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 are Defined legal double names, in that they were
defined, controlled, and sanctioned in rabbinic religious books (the Hilchot Gitin)
where Jewish legal requirements were presented in order to write given names
in Hebrew divorce (Get) documents. Groups 5 and 6 were not specifically dealt
with in Hilchot Gitin books, but were never the less used by Jewish parents in
giving their children Hebrew names. Their legality for use in Jewish legal
documents was determined by an officiating rabbi, and their use by men being
called to the Tora in an aliya was an ad hoc decision by the owner of the name,
with the agreement of the caller.

Types 1 and 3 Hebrew double names are those requiring the use of the term
"HaMechune" ("known as"), while types 2 and 4 names are those requiring the
use of the term "DeMitkari" ("called"). Type 1 was by far the more common of
the first two in Eastern and East-Central Europe, and type 3, of 3 & 4 in
Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Since the Get is a legal document, the legal
definition of such double names was deemed necessary in order to be precise
in recording the names, so as not to introduce future problems for divorced men
and woman as to their legal marriage status. Because of this over-riding goal,
diminutive or pet Yiddish kinuim (like Yankl) were but infrequently used to form
Defined double names.

The same stringency applied for non-defined double names (e.g., Mixed-
Lineage Double Names), but in those cases, the decision as to legality for
Jewish contracts was usually left up to the officiating rabbi.

Usually, Defined legal names were originally given to a single person in memory
of a single ancestor. On the other hand, the two names in Mixed-Lineage and
Mixed-Secular legal double names were generally drawn from two different
deceased ancestors -- but there were exceptions.

In Western and West-Central Europe, since Yiddish was much less commonly
used, legal double names usually did not involve a Yiddish name, but were
rather Defined Double Names involving legal secular names, Mixed-Lineage
(two Hebrew names), or Mixed-Secular (a mix of a Hebrew and secular
names). Occasionally, "Hebrew" double names consisting of two secular
names, or of a combination of a secular and a Yiddish name are to be found,
but many of these may be more properly considered as LEGAL double names
in that they might have been used in Jewish legal documents.
Much of the discussion below will apply mostly to East-Central and Eastern
Europe, and only in part to Western and West-Central Europe.

There is a temptation to think of all legal double names as being applicable

throughout Europe. However, this cannot be done, for the reasons given
above, as well as for other reasons. First, there were varying regional
preferences throughout Europe in the cases of both legal and non-legal names.
Secondly, regional Hilchot Gitin books reflected these differences, leading to
different legal requirements as well as non-legal names listings. Thirdly, the set
of names used in smaller countries was itself smaller than the set used in larger
countries; for example, the set of Defined given names used in Lithuania is
much smaller than the set for Poland, and furthermore, the Lithunanian set is
not a complete sub-set of the Polish set, although there are frequently some
similarities.

In this project, the Defined legal double names were prepared separately for
each region, using Hilchot Gitin books for each one. Where applicable, Defined
Double Names involving legal secular names are included in the GNDBs if the
Hilchot Gitin book(s) specifically mentioned this combination; otherwise, only
the legal secular name is given, and it is understood that it might be used with
any Hebrew name. Mixed-Lineage and Mixed-Secular given names are not
listed in this project's data base, because each such combination is a result of
special local conditions and would not be meaningful.

DEFINED DOUBLE NAMES: USING "HAMECHUNE" (H Y)

One writes "hamechune" in the Get only when the Primary name is Hebrew
and the subsidiary name is La'az (Yiddish or accepted secular), creating a
Defined legal Double Name (H Y). Such legal double names must be used in
two different formats:

1. To call a man to the Tora in an aliya in shul:

Menachem Mendl ben Ploni
2. To designate the legal name of a man or woman in a legal document
(Ketuva, Get, or business contract):
Menachem HaMechune Mendl ben Ploni (for a man)
Leah HaMechuna Leyke bat Ploni (for a woman)

The likely formats found in archival documents would be: Menachem Mendl,
Leah Leyke (or: Menachem, Mendl, Leah, or Leyke)

Examples of Defined HaMechune legal Double Names:

Men: Aharon Hermaln, Arye Leyb, Asher Entshil, Avraham Everman, Azarya
Zusa, Baruch Bendit, Dov Ber, Imanueyl Zusman, Lapidot Khlavne, Menachem
Mendl, Nasan Zenvil, Saadia Khlavne, Shabsai Shepsil, Shneyur Zalman,
Shraga Fayvl, Tzvi Hirsh, Yehoshua Falk, Yehuda Idl
Women: Asnat Asne, Avigayil Galya, BasSheva Bashe, Dvora Dvoshe, Leah
Leyke, Miriam Maryashe, Nechama Nekhe, Tsipora Tsipe

DEFINED DOUBLE NAMES: USING "DEMITKARI" (H Y, H H, or Y H)

One writes "demitkari" when both Primary and subsidiary names are Hebrew,
or both are La'az, or if the Primary name is La'az and the subsidiary name is
Hebrew. Such legal double names must be used in two different formats:

1. To call a man to the Tora in an aliya in shul:

Ezra Ozer ben Ploni, or Pindit YomTov ben Ploni
2. To designate the legal name of a man or woman in a legal document
(Ketuva, Get, or business contract):
H Y: Tamar demitkarya Tamara bat Ploni (for a woman)
H H: Uri demitkari Ahuvya ben Ploni (for a man)
Y H: Bunem demitkari Simkha ben Ploni (for a man)

The likely formats found in archival documents would be:

Ezra Ozer, Pindit YomTov, Uri Ahuvya, Bunem Simcha; Tamar Tamara
(or any of the individual names)

Examples of Defined DeMitkari Hebrew Double Names:

Avshalom AviShalom, Achsilrod Bendet, Achsilrod Itzil, Bindet Achsilrod,

Berachya Baruch, Berachya Berech, Bunem Simcha, Bunem Shmuel, Chalfon
Chalifa, Chananyahu Chananya, Chizkiyahu Chizkiya, Elchanan Chanan, Ezra
Ozer, Kayem Kadish, Paltiel Palti, Pindit Baruch, Pindit YomTov, Rechavia
Khavie, Saadia Yeshaya, Uri Ahuvya; Tamar Tamare

MIXED-LINEAGE DOUBLE NAMES (H H, H Y, Y H, or Y Y)

Undefined Mixed-Lineage Double Names of these formats are those which DO

use Hebrew and/or Yiddish names in various combinations, but which are not
defined in the Hilchot Gitin books of the subject country as either "HaMechune"
or "DeMitkari" names. They therefor did not have formal rabbinic control,
except at the level of a rabbi preparing a get or contract. In the case of non-
linked names, such double names came about most frequently as a result of
naming a newborn child after two different deceased ancestors ("mixed-
lineage"). Inverted names of the Y H variety and Y Y names were rarer. Since
the Hilchot Gitin books usually did not provide guidelines for officiating rabbis to
use for these names, general usage was as follows:

1. In being called to the Tora, the man could choose to use both names or
either name. Local custom may have been a factor.
2. In legal documents (Ketuva, get, or business contract), the officiating
rabbi used his own judgement as to how to specify the name to be used.
In many cases, the full double name would be used. Some examples (in
decreasing frequency) are:
 3.
4. H H: Avraham Menachem ben Ploni
H Y: Meyir Michl ben Ploni
Y H: Michl Meyir ben Ploni
Y Y: Bunem Bendet ben Ploni
5.
6. MIXED-SECULAR DOUBLE NAMES (H S, S H, S S, Y S, S Y)

The use of secular names varied considerably from country to country. In some
Eastern European countries (like Lithuania), virtually no secular names from the
country of residence were used, but secular names from other countries were
used, as if to express a silent protest against the persecution meted out to Jews
in the country of residence. Yet, in Poland, a number of local and other-country
secular names (both legal and non-legal) were used in addition to Yiddish
names. And in Western Europe, local secular names were used almost
exclusively and other-country secular names only occasionally, but Yiddish
names, hardly at all.

In Eastern European countries where secular names existed, it is sometimes

possible to use the knowledge that a certain person had an other-country
secular name as a possible indicator that he or some of his ancestors originated
in that other country. But such indications should be used as working
hypotheses rather than as facts, since other-country secular names were
adopted for a number of reasons other than origin.

Since assimilation was much higher in Western Europe, there are many
instances where newborn Jewish children may have been given a Hebrew
name which was then promptly forgotten in favor of the child's secular name(s).
Thus, it may not be possible in some instances to find Hebrew names, but only
secular names. It is also true that Western European Jews or persons of
Jewish origin had preferences for certain secular names over others.

Applying the above observations to legal double names is problematic. For the
most part, when Jews of Eastern and East-Central Europe adopted secular
names, they modified them into Yiddish names, that is, the end name is
recognizable as having come from a secular name, but the end result is a
Yiddish name. So, most such names fit into group 1, 2, 3, or 4, their category
being Yiddish rather than secular.

In most cases where the secular name was adopted as-is (without modification)
by Eastern European Jews, it was not combined with a Hebrew name in order
to form a legal double name, but rather was used mainly for contacts with non-
Jews, that is, as an unlinked secular kinui.

5. JEWISH GIVEN NAMES, 1795-1925

5.2. YIDDISH NAMES

Yiddish names may be divided into two groups: regular Yiddish names, and
Yiddish nicknames (diminutive, familiar, or pet names). In the rabbinic and
research literature, legal regular Yiddish names were usually called kinuim,
although the term kinui was sometimes used for other regular Yiddish names
which were not normally used to form legal double names. In this document
about Jewish given names, the term "Yiddish name" is used for the first group
(legal or not), while the term "Yiddish nickname" is used for the second group.
The intent is to express the importance and legitimacy of normal Yiddish names
and at the same time to distinguish them from diminutive and other such names
which were and are used today within the family, social community, and other
close venues. Eastern European Jewry created enormous numbers of Yiddish
nicknames, expressing the closeness of the family and community, as well as
the warm intimacy of the Yiddish language. By comparison, the number of
regular Yiddish names was much smaller.

Most regular Yiddish names are readily recognized and distinguished from the
secular given names found in European countries, but sometimes it is difficult to
make this distinction -- some secular names were imported as-is to Yiddish,
while others underwent modifications in order to make them phonetically
correct. It is fair to say that most (but not all) of the vernacular names used by
Central and Eastern European Jews were considered by them to be Yiddish
names, despite their possible origins in other cultures. Numerous examples of
Yiddish given names have been presented previously.

Yiddish nicknames (diminutive, familiar, or pet names) have typical types of

suffixes. Most were borrowed from German, Slavic, Polish, and Belorussian
suffixes, and became Yiddish suffixes, the number of Slavic suffixes being
much larger than the German ones. Some of the suffix types given below (for
example, -l and -ele, or -ka and -ko) were much more common than others, and
the preferences for one or another suffix varied from country to country. In
general, names with these suffixes are recognized as diminutive, familiar, or pet
Yiddish names. The suffix lists given below should not be considered to be
exhaustive (Eastern European Jews were very inventive!), nor to cover every
European country where Yiddish was used. The suffixes shown (in the first and
third lists) can in theory be used for both simple addition to a regular Yiddish
name, and for addition to a shortened form of that Yiddish name, but not in
every country.

Some Yiddish names having these suffixes are not actually nicknames, but
rather are regular Yiddish names.

Yiddish nicknames were used as legal or Hebrew names for men less
frequently than were regular Yiddish names -- usually, only in cases where
confusion of identity would otherwise have occurred. For women, however,
Yiddish nicknames were frequently used as the legal name for a woman,
women in fact preferring them over the more standard Yiddish or Hebrew
names from which they might be derived or to which they were commonly
linked.

One of the 19th century East European Hilchot Gitin books makes this point
clearly:
"There are two general rules which must be recognized about women's names.
1. That one records only the name by which she is called, despite the fact that
it is clear that it was derived from some other specific name... This is not like
the case for men who are called to the Tora and one always knows their Shem
HaKodesh. For example, for the woman's name Avgali which is known to be
derived from the name Avigayil, and we might be tempted to write her name as
"Avigayil hamechuna (or demitkarya) Avgali"; as long as one does not know for
sure that her (Hebrew) name was Avigayil and she was known also as Avgali,
the name Avigayil is not written at all. And 2. That even if a woman has a
name that is clearly a diminutive or pet name that for men would never be
written (in a Get), such as Berka, Berele, Hirshele, and so on, for women, one
does record names such as Khanula, Rekhl, Sherl, Bashka, and so on.

This is the case since for women they are the essence of their name and they
do want people to call them by these names, because they are light-hearted
and proud when one calls them by diminutive and pet names, and they consider
this to be an honor. Importance is in the eyes of the reader and this will endear
them."

Yiddish nicknames were formed by the following processes:

1. Diminutive suffixes added to Yiddish names:

a, o Leiba from Leib, Davido from David

ala, ale, ela, ele, il, l Berl from Ber
am Ariam from Ari (from Aryey)
ash, esh, ish, ush Leibish/Leibush from Leib
ek Faivushek from Faivush
(e)nka, enke, inka, inke Moshenka from Moshe
eyn Bereleyn from Berel
ik Hertsik from Herts
il Beril from Ber, Pesil from Pesi
in Aydlin from Aydl
ka, ke, ko Berko from Ber *
kha, khl Lemekhl from Leme
khen, khon Berkhen from Ber
(l)in Lemlin from Lem
rl Temerl from Teme
tshek, tshik Voltshek from Vol (from Volf)
tso Shimontso from Shimon
ul(ya) Hertsulya from Herts
uta Leibuta from Leib
yas(h) Gedalyash from Gedal (from Gedalya)

2. Shortened-name forms:

Last syllable dropped Pin from Pinchas

Initial letter dropped Kiva from Akiva, Tsalel from Betsalel
 3. Diminutive suffixes added to shortened- (& modified-) name forms:

a, o Sana from Nasan

(a)s(h)ka,
Abrashko from Abram *
(a)s(h)ko
(d)la, (d)le Mindla from Mina
dra Ezdra from Ezra
en Simen from Simson
(e)nka Motenka from Motel (from Mordekhay)
et Pelet from Palti
etsh(ka), Itsh(ka) Monetshka from Monya (from Shlomo) *
i Goldi from Golda
il Eydil from Eyda
inka, inke Leyinke from Leya
intshke Goldintshke from Golda
kha, khl Morkha from Mordechay
khna, khno Vikhna from Vita, Mokhno from Moishe *
na, ne, no Mikhna/Mikhno from Mikhaeyl
ok Borushok from Borukh
sha, she Margosha from Margolis
sl, sh(u)l Hadsl from Hadasa, Shimshl from Shimshon
s(ya), s(ye) Avrasya from Avram *
ta, te Beylta from Beyla
tsa, tse, tsi, tsl Frumtsl from Frume, Khaytsi from Chaya
tsha, tshe Frumtshe from Frume
tshko Shmetshko from Shmerl (from Shmarya)
ul(a) Shimshul from Shimshon
unya Avrunya from Avram *
ush(a), ushya Dabrush/Dabrusha/Dabrushya from Dabra/Tova *
ushka, ushko Shmushka from Shmueyl *
ya, ye Grunya from Gruna
yota, yote Beylyota from Beyla
za, ze, zo Dodza/Dodzo from Dovid
zha, zhe Movzha from Movsha *

* Slavic suffix

5. JEWISH GIVEN NAMES (1795-1925)

5.3. JEWISH SECULAR NAMES

Jewish secular names were non-Hebrew, non-Yiddish names used by Jews,

which were indigenous to some European country or countries. These names
may be divided into the following categories:

1. German names
 2. Slavic names
3. Names of Romance-language origin
4. Names from other European countries
5. European spellings of Biblical names
6. Modified versions of the above names

German names were the ones most commonly chosen throughout Europe by
Ashkenazic Jews as their secular names. This came about since it was in
Germany that Jews concentrated after the decline of Babylonian Jewry in the
tenth century. Furthermore, since Yiddish developed initially in Germanic lands
and touched the Jewish heart, it was natural to adopt German names with their
Yiddish-like sounds. However, the same German secular names were not
uniformly popular in all the countries where they were adopted.

In 19th-century Germany, the large majority of Jewish names recorded in

archival documents were German secular names, reflecting the intense entry of
Jews into German society during the Enlightenment period. Yiddish names
were not popular in Germany among non-religious Jews during this period, a
time when they were eager to absorb the German language and culture, since
Yiddish was regarded as a bastardization of the German language. Yiddish
names were however used by religiously-observant Jews in their families and in
the Jewish community, while German names were used in their contacts
outside the Jewish community.

The use of secular German names became so common in Germany that the
rabbis there recognized these names for use in identifying Jewish men and
women in a formal get (Jewish divorce document). The Hilchot Gitin book "Get
Mesudar" by Mintz presents a list of about 500 German names and describes
how they are to be written in a get. For example, for a Jew whose Hebrew
name was Avraham and whose secular name was Adolf, his legal name as
written in the get would be "Avraham hamechune Adolf", written in Hebrew
letters. About 80 percent of these names were adopted as-is in Poland and
Hungary, and local secular names were substituted in these two countries for
those not adopted. In all three countries, these secular names were to be used
in a get in the same way that Yiddish names had been used for hundreds of
years.

After German names, the next most popular group of names imported to
Yiddish were Slavic names (particularly Polish names), for it was in the Slavic
regions that Yiddish expanded the most by absorption of local words, phrases,
and names. At one time during the 19th century, half of the Jews of the world
lived in Poland, and as a result, more Polish names were adopted directly by
Polish Jews or modified by them to Yiddish phonetic equivalents than for any
other European country, except perhaps Germany. Similarly, more Yiddish
names and nicknames were created in Poland than in any other European
country.

In most European countries, there was a tendency for Jews to adopt secular
names used in the country in which they lived, and secondarily in other
European countries. In Lithuania, however, very few secular names of any type
are to be found in archival documents, except as one approaches the western
border of Lithuania, near Poland, for example. Furthermore, the secular names
adopted in Lithuania were very seldom Lithuanian names.

The Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania was partitioned by Prussia, Austria,

and Russia in 1772, 1793, and 1795. The Third Partition resulted in the
complete occupation of both Poland and Lithuania and their elimination from the
map of Europe. Efforts to restore independence were unsuccessful in
Kosciuszko's insurrection of 1793-1795, during fighting on the side of France in
the Napoleonic Wars of 1795-1815, in the November Insurrection of 1831-1832,
and in the January Insurrection of 1863-1864.

Repression was significantly increased in the Russian Partition (Pale of

Settelement) following the failed January Insurrection, and even linguistic
Russification was attempted. Young men were liable to be conscripted for a
fifteen year (or longer) term of service in the Russian Army, and the desire to
avoid service in the armies of the occupying power was typically the proximate
cause of emigration. The successful assassination of the Tsar in 1881 by a
radical anarchist conspiracy which included some Jewish participation led to the
Russian regime's activation of a series of pogroms intended to forcibly convert,
kill, or induce the emigration of the Jewish population. A massive Jewish
exodus resulted, with gentiles commonly following the Jewish example and
emigrating abroad. The principal period of emigration occurred after 1881 and
lasted until the outbreak of WWI. It is estimated that as much as 25% of the
entire population of Lithuania emigrated, most of it to the United States.

The Russian occupation repeatedly closed schools and academies in Lithuania

following the various Insurrections, deliberately reduced educational
opportunities, and prohibited instruction in languages other than Russian after
1864. The Roman Catholic clergy often provided illegal teaching in hedge
schools. The educational level of Lithuanian emigrants varied, but many were
barely literate, and some were completely illiterate.

This was not true, however, of the Lithuanian Jews. Their world-famous
yeshivot and cheders for younger children continued operation. The Jews'
educational and cultural levels were quite high among all classes of Jews, much
more so than for the non-Jewish Lithuanians among whom they lived, and the
Jews' level of resistance to the Russian pressures was very strong. Perhaps
this was a factor in the Jews' unwillingness to adopt native Lithuanian names.

In Russia itself, due to the unremitting pressure on Russian Jews to be

absorbed into Russian culture and society, there was but little adoption of
secular names from other countries, and a smaller use of Yiddish names than in
countries like Lithuania and Belarus. Accordingly, most Jews in Russia had
typical Russian secular names.