Category Archives: Names

Harkavy Names

1925 Male Yiddish and Hebrew Names (Harkavy)

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After my earlier lists of Hebrew names were published (see the Names page for a list of all name-related posts on this site), Rachel NewYork (moderator at the City-Data Judaism forum) reached out about me publishing the list of names that was included in Alexander Harkavy’s Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary, published in 1925 (see it online at the Yiddish Book Center). After I started on it, Rachel then sent me a complete transcription of the names, separated by gender, and transliterated into English. My list below is indebted to her transcriptions, but is different in several ways. The primary differences are that I have kept the book’s structure, and have also retained the nikud from the book (including unique Yiddish letter forms such as ײַ). Rachel’s lists separate each name form into its own line, and includes English transliteration for every form. Her version is very useful, so if you want to, you can download her spreadsheet (she later also sent a second spreadsheet, comparing her transliterations to name currently in use by the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, as found in publications of marriage and birth announcements). Those unable to read Hebrew will find her version eminently more usable for accessing the diminutive forms, as I have not transliterated those forms into English.

Harkavy Names
Names from the 1925 edition of Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary

For the most part my table is true to the original from the book. I’ve made a few minor changes in formatting. There are some names where the Hebrew and English names don’t strictly correspond. In those cases I’ve written the actual name in brackets. For example, the name אִיסר (Isser) is shown as “Israel”, so I’ve written the English as “Isser [Israel]”.

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US Rabbinical Guide to Female Jewish Names from 1939

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Adding to my recent series of Jewish given name lists (see my Names page for links to all the articles on names) is this list which comes from a US-published guide for pulpit rabbis. The book, called Hamadrikh (ְהַמַּדְרִיך), was initially published in 1939, and later revised in 1956. For decades it served as a unique guide to rabbis on how to perform specific rituals, with lists of prayers for things like marriage, circumcision, redeeming the first born, bar mitzvahs, dedicating a new torah, a new synagogue, laws related to visiting the sick, adding a name, the dying, etc. One important section deals offers templates for inscriptions to be used on gravestones. It’s likely many of the gravestones inscribed in the subsequent decades in the US followed the templates present in this book.

Excerpt from Hamadrikh
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US Rabbinical Guide to Male Jewish Names from 1939

Names, ,

Adding to my recent series of Jewish given name lists (see my Names page for links to all the articles on names) is this list which comes from a US-published guide for pulpit rabbis. The book, called Hamadrikh (ְהַמַּדְרִיך), was initially published in 1939, and later revised in 1956. For decades it served as a unique guide to rabbis on how to perform specific rituals, with lists of prayers for things like marriage, circumcision, redeeming the first born, bar mitzvahs, dedicating a new torah, a new synagogue, laws related to visiting the sick, adding a name, the dying, etc. One important section deals offers templates for inscriptions to be used on gravestones. It’s likely many of the gravestones inscribed in the subsequent decades in the US followed the templates present in this book.

Excerpt from Hamadrikh
Continue reading US Rabbinical Guide to Male Jewish Names from 1939 →

Female Jewish Names in Poland from 1866

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After my posts listing the names from the 1928 Polish booklet Spis Imion Żydowskich (Pre-War Male Jewish Names in Poland and Pre-War Female Jewish Names in Poland), I was sent an email by Yaniv Reginiano pointing out that there is an earlier Polish book on Jewish given names from 1866, titled Imiona przez Żydów polskich używane (Names used by Polish Jews), that is available from the same digital archive. I’ve taken a look at it, and decided to post the names here as well. It’s a bit different than the 1928 booklet, but still very useful. I recommend taking a look at the original book through the link above to see how it’s organized. The table below, however, will let you search and sort the entries.

This page contains the female names. There are 193 female names listed here. For male names, see Male Jewish Names in Poland from 1866.

Excerpt from Imiona przez Żydów polskich używane

One way to use this list, besides searching for names you might have found in a document or on a gravestone, is to find the canonical name. For example, if you are looking for a relative that you found in a document listed as Serla or Soja, and are looking for their birth record, it’s useful to know that those names derive from Sara.

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Male Jewish Names in Poland from 1866

Names, ,

After my posts listing the names from the 1928 Polish booklet Spis Imion Żydowskich (Pre-War Male Jewish Names in Poland and Pre-War Female Jewish Names in Poland), I was sent an email by Yaniv Reginiano pointing out that there is an earlier Polish book on Jewish given names from 1866, titled Imiona przez Żydów polskich używane (Names used by Polish Jews), that is available from the same digital archive. I’ve taken a look at it, and decided to post the names here as well. It’s a bit different than the 1928 booklet, but still very useful. I recommend taking a look at the original book through the link above to see how it’s organized. The table below, however, will let you search and sort the entries.

This page contains the male names. There are 316 male names listed here. For female names, see Female Jewish Names in Poland from 1866.

Excerpt from Imiona przez Żydów polskich używane

One way to use this list, besides searching for names you might have found in a document or on a gravestone, is to find the canonical name. For example, if you are looking for a relative that you found in a document listed as Nuchem, and are looking for their birth record, it’s useful to know that the name derives from Menachem.

Continue reading Male Jewish Names in Poland from 1866 →