Tag Archives: names

Given names from British Mandate Palestine

I recently posted about the name changes published by the British Mandate of Palestine government during the years of British rule (1919-1948). One of the most interesting aspects of those name changes is that the English should reflect the official names people used when they moved to pre-state Israel (presumably verified by the government authorities), and that they were published simultaneously in English and Hebrew.

I’ve taken a selection of the many lists, and matched the unique name pairs (Hebrew and English) and put together a table with over a thousand name pairs. You can view the table below. The table starts sorted alphabetically in English, but you can sort it by Hebrew if you prefer. You can also search, and see which names match your search. If you don’t know Hebrew, you can search for one name in English, then copy the Hebrew name and paste it into the search field to see all the other English names that match the Hebrew. In general Hebrew names are more likely to have multiple English names associated with them. This is partly because there are few variant spellings in Hebrew (although there are Yiddish variants that pop up), but it is also due to how I assembled the list.

Here’s an example of searching for the Hebrew name יעקב (Jacob):

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A look at British Mandate Palestine name changes

I’ve been doing some research into name changes, and wanted to share some of the process of name changes that occurred in British Mandate Palestine (pre-state Israel, from 1919 to 1948).

If you’re interested in searching these name changes, note that these are all searchable online at the Israel Genealogy Research Association web site. Search results include the image of the English version of the name change publication, which I’ll explain below.

Name changes during the mandate were published regularly in the official government paper, called, in English, the Palestine Gazette. The paper was also published in Hebrew (as העתון הרשמי) and Arabic. While looking through files in the Israel State Archives, I came across a folder that contained many of the name change lists from 1941-1946. In the folder, you can see the original lists that were submitted for publication. This usually included the original request letter, a list of the name changes in English, and another list in Hebrew and Arabic as appropriate. Sometimes corrections were also made. Let’s go through an example.

Here is the letter submitting a list of name changes on May 11, 1942:

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101 Most Popular Jewish Boys Names in Israel in 2019

After a delay due to COVID-19, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics has released the baby name data for 2019. As I’ve done for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017-2018, I’m posting the top 101 Jewish boys names. These are the most popular names given to Jewish boys born in Israel during 2019. Below you can see the number of boys that were named each name, and the ranking for 2019, as well as 2018 and 2017 for comparison. For number and rankings from earlier years, see the annual posts linked to above. For the parallel girl’s list, see 101 Most Popular Jewish Girls Names in Israel in 2019.

Seven boys names entered the top 101 in 2019, including Aryeh (105 to 81), Asaf (118 to 86), Yaheli (102 to 87), Lenny (131 to 88), Oz (106 to 90), and Tom (103 to 98). The boys names that exited the list were Ophir (81 to 102), Yedidya (87 to 104), Leroi (95 to 108), Yinon (98 to 110), Eyal (74 to 111), Shai (99 to 113), and Adir (97 to 117).

All the columns in the table below can be used to sort the table, so you can sort the table to see the order of ranking for each year, or by the spelling of the name in Hebrew or English. You can also search the table using the search field on the top right of the table.

Continue reading 101 Most Popular Jewish Boys Names in Israel in 2019

101 Most Popular Jewish Girls Names in Israel in 2019

After a delay due to COVID-19, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics has released the baby name data for 2019. As I’ve done for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017-2018, I’m posting the top 101 Jewish girls names. These are the most popular names given to Jewish girls born in Israel during 2019. Below you can see the number of girls that were named each name, and the ranking for 2019, as well as 2018 and 2017 for comparison. For number and rankings from earlier years, see the annual posts linked to above. For the parallel boy’s list, see 101 Most Popular Jewish Boys Names in Israel in 2019.

Two girls names entered the top 101 in 2019, Darya (104 to 99) and Feiga (116 to 101). The two names that exited the list were Anne (101 to 104) and Shani (100 to 107).

All the columns in the table below can be used to sort the table, so you can sort the table to see the order of ranking for each year, or by the spelling of the name in Hebrew or English. You can also search the table using the search field on the top right of the table.

Continue reading 101 Most Popular Jewish Girls Names in Israel in 2019

1925 Female Yiddish and Hebrew Names (Harkavy)

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 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 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.

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 עלקע (Elka) is shown as “Ella”, so I’ve written the English as “Elka [Ella]”.

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