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 Period

Beginning-2000 BCE

Canaanite Period

3150-1200 BCE

(Bronze Age)

Jewish Tora Period

2000-1246 BCE

TRIBAL NATION

Original Hebrew names: Avraham, Sarah Single Hebrew names

Hyksos Period 1720-1570 BCE

Israel in Egypt 1686-1286 BCE

Egyptian names Moshe

Exodus from Egypt

1286 BCE Giving of the Tora at Mt. Sinai

Moshe dies 1246 BCE On Mt. Nevo

1246 ... BCE Some Patronymic names: Yehoshu bin Nun

Conquest, Canaan

1246-1200 BCE

Israelites under Yehoshua bin Nun

Israelite Period 1200-586 BCE (Iron Age)

Phillistines 1200 BCE Settle on the Canaanite Coast

Period of Judges

1200-1025 BCE

Charismatic, religious/military leaders

1200-928 BCE Places-of-origin names: Eliyahu HaTishbi Period of Kings 1025-928 BCE Shaul, David, Shlomo

Period of Prophets

870-457 BCE Eliyahu to Malachi

North Kingdom falls

722 BCE To Assyria

Judah submits 604 BCE To Babylonian control

Temple 1 destroyed

587 BCE By Babylonians

Babylonian Exile

586-537 BCE Chaldean names: Mordechai, Shamai

Persian Period 537-332 BCE Aramaic names: Zerubavel, Nechemia

Temple 2 built 515 BCE

450 ... BCE Descriptive names: HaKaton (Ezra 8:12)

Age of Sofrim 420-300 BCE Transition: TRIBAL NATION TO

RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

Hellenistic Period

332-63 BCE Greek names: Alexander, Philo

Hebrew-Greek doubles: Shimon-Petrus, Tzedek-Justus

Use of two Hebrew names: Sarah Miriam

Hebrew-Aramaic double names

Repeating names

Newborns named after

deceased relatives

Roman Period 63 BCE-476 CE

Latin names: Marcus, Agrippa

Herod becomes king

40 BCE Rebuilds 2nd Temple

Temple 2 destroyed

70 CE By Romans, 9th of Av

Sanhedrin set up

70 CE In Yavne, by Yochanan ben Zakai

Masoretic Text 100 CE Text and vowels of the Tanach set

Paganism Collapses

100-200 CE

Dispersion of Jews

130-250 CE To Spain, France, Italy, ...

Talmudic Period

200-550 CE Patronymic names: Yochanan ben Zakai

Place-of-origin names: Yosi the Galilean

Priestly-designation names: Yosi HaCohen

Vocational names: Yochanan HaSandlar

Nicknames: Shmuel HaKatan

Newborn boys named, circumcision

Outside Palestine

Mostly non-Jewish names

Sura Academy 219 CE Founded in Babylonia

Pumbeditha Acad.

259 CE Founded in Babylonia

Mishna compiled

200-215 CE By Yehuda HaNasi, of the Sanhedrin

Gemara compiled

500 CE In Tiberius

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 Adoption

16-17th cent.

Protestants adopt Biblical Hebrew names

Biblical Names Adoption

Jews mimic this: Abraham, Jakob, Moses

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

Expulsions of Jews 1542-1670 Prague, Genoa, Papal states, Worms, 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.

Moses Mendelsohn 1728-86 The "Jewish Socrates"; Blending of cultures

Ba'al Shem Tov 1736 Establishment of Chasidism in Poland

Vilna Gaon 1740 Lithuanian Misnagdim (against 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

Reform, Amsterdam 1796 New, separate synagogue with ritual changes

Reform, Berlin 1815 Israel Jacobson Napolean in France 1799-1813 Renewal of Hebrew 1770 In Germany Secular Names Adopted

1800... German Jews adopt German secular names

Haskalah Movement 1825... Spurt in Hebrew & Yiddish literature, newspapers, journals, culture, & theater Musar Movement 1842 Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, Vilna Conservative Judaism

1854 Zecharia Frankel, "Science of Judaism," Prague

Modern Zionism born 1882 Pinsker, "Auto-Emancipation," Odessa, Ukraine

Jewish Socialism 1885 Secular/Agnostic

Jewish Socialist Bund 1897 Secular/Agnostic. Lithuania, Poland, & 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 country

SO

* 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) H Y 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.) H s 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, (a)s(h)ko

Abrashko from Abram *

(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.