Category Archives: Names

US Rabbinical Guide to Female 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
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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

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 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 →

Pre-War Female Jewish Names in Poland

Names, , , ,

In 1928, the Warsaw Jewish community published a list of Jewish given names, with the name in Hebrew, a transcription of the Hebrew, and the Polish equivalent. The list was intended to show the proper forms of Jewish names, and also included a second larger list of names which were meant to show incorrect alternatives that should not be used.

This is an excellent list, and particularly useful for understanding what names were in use at the time, and for looking up the Polish versions of names (although keep in mind that one’s name in Hebrew need not have mapped directly to the Polish equivalent). The booklet is titled Spis Imion Żydowskich in Polish and לוח השמות העבריים in Hebrew (It actually has a a title page and introduction in Polish on one side, and a title page and introduction in Hebrew on the other side).

Excerpt of Spis Imion Żydowskich

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 Libcia or Liwsza, and are looking for their birth record, it’s useful to know that those names derive from Liba.

Continue reading Pre-War Female Jewish Names in Poland →