home Audience 6 Abbreviated Hebrew names. Traditions of translating Russian names into Jewish ones

Abbreviated Hebrew names. Traditions of translating Russian names into Jewish ones

If the Orthodox used to look at the Saints to choose a name for a newborn, then the Jews always chose in three ways:

Focusing on older relatives.
In honor of your favorite biblical heroes.
Dwelling on the Hebrew righteous.

Kabbalah teaches that the letters in the name are a connection with spiritual forces, therefore in practice there are cases when seriously ill people are called by double names, adding Chaim (life). In the books of Sholom Aleichem and Isaac Babel, such options appear quite often. Sometimes they are used and next to it is translation. For example, Zeev - Wolf.

The list of names will include only Hebrew (or Yiddish) names, although any names have been allowed in Russia since 1917. Everywhere Barukhs and Berlys turned into Borisovs, and Leibs into Lvovs. In other countries (Palestine), the opposite processes took place, which was strictly monitored by the state. Boys are named at the time of circumcision - on the eighth day from birth. Let's look at the most common Jewish male names.

List in alphabetical order (from A to M) with translation

Aaron -"mountain", brother of Moses, high priest.
Abraham - considered a forefather (“father of nations”). The allowed option is Abram.
Adam -"earth", in honor of the first man on Earth.
Baruch -“blessed”, assistant to the prophet.
Gad - "luck" son of Jacob.
Gershom- “stranger”, son of Moses.
David- “beloved”, from him came the line of Jewish kings.
Dov - " bear”, the personification of strength and dexterity.
Zerah- “radiance”, son of Judah.
Israzl- “fighting with God”, the following options are acceptable: Yisroel, Israel.
Isaac -“preparing to laugh,” the son of Abraham, whom he was preparing to sacrifice. Options - Itzik, Isaac.

The list of Jewish male names includes the most common ones, without borrowed ones.

Yehoshua- “God as salvation,” disciple Moshe, conquered the lands of Israel.
Yosef (Joseph)- “God”, son of Jacob, sold into slavery in Egypt.
Jonathan -"given by God" , friend of David.
Kalev- “heart”, a scout sent to the land of Israel.
Leib- “lion” is a symbol of Yehuda.
Menachem- “comforter”, Jewish king.
Michael- “like God,” a messenger of God called to protect the Jewish people.
Moshe- “saved from water”, the greatest prophet. Options - Moishe, Moses.

Second part of the alphabet

Nahum- “comforted”, minor prophet. Option - Nakhim.
Nachshon- “soothsayer”, son-in-law of Aaron, who was the first to enter the Red Sea.
Noah- “peace”, a righteous person saved from the flood.
Ovadya- “God’s servant”, minor prophet. Options - Obadiah, Obadiah.
Passover- "missed", the name of Easter.
Pinchas- “snake mouth”, grandson of Aaron, who turned away God’s wrath from the Israelites.
Rafael -"healed by God", angel of healing.
Tanhum- “consolation”, sage of the Talmud.
Uriel- “my light is God,” the name of an angel.
Fievel- “breastfed” in Yiddish. Options - Fyvish, Fayvel, Feyshiv, Fyvish.

The list of Jewish male names for the last letters of the alphabet is the most significant, so we should focus on the most important ones.

Hagai- “celebrant”, minor prophet, grandson of Jacob. Option - Hagi.
Hanan- “pardoned”, the tribe of Benjamin began with him.
Hanoch- “sanctified”, son of Cain.
Zadok- “righteous”, who pacified the rebellion against David.
Zion- “superiority”, used as a synonym for Jerusalem.
Cefania- “hidden by God”, minor prophet.
Shalom- “peace”, king of Israel. Shimon- “heard by God”, son of Jacob. Option - Simon.
Shmuel- “name of God”, prophet.
Ephraim- “fruitful”, grandson of Jacob.
Yaakov -“overtaken”, forefather. Options - Jacob, Yakov, Yankee, Yankel.

Borrowed names

Are there any borrowed Jewish male names? The list can be supplemented by those that appeared in use while the Talmud did not play an important role. By naming children after relatives, Jews contribute to their spread. The names came from the Hebrew language: Meir, Menucha, Nechama. The Babylonians brought Mordechai, Chaldeans - Atlaya And Bebay. Greek rule gave the Jews the name Alexander(option - C ender). Georgian Jews acquired: Irakli, Guram; at Tajik - Bovojon, Rubensivi, Estermo.

Their feature is small distribution area. There are names that appeared due to beliefs. So, all newborns were called Alter (“old man”), but after a month it was changed. It was believed that it protects from evil spirits.

Jewish surnames

The list of Jewish male names is very important, because until the beginning of the 19th century they did not have surnames (they appeared in the Austrian Empire at the end of the 18th century). How were they created?

On behalf of the father or biblical characters: Benjamin, Israel, David, Abram.
From female names: Riveman(Riva's husband) Tsivyan(name Tsivya), Mirkin(Mirka).
From the appearance or character of the owner: Schwartz("black"), Weisbard(“white-bearded”).
From profession: Rabinovich("rabbi"), Dayan("judge").
From geographical names: Lifshits(“Silesian city”), Gurevich(Czech town).
From any things that happen in life. They are called decorative: Bernstein("amber"), Yaglom("diamond").

As we have seen, the origin of the surnames is Jewish male names, a list of which is presented in the text.

Disputes often arise here about what to name the child...here, I found one wonderful article

Russian names of Jewish origin
Soviet Jews had some problems with personal names (and for those who remained in the CIS, they continue to this day). Not so big, they were also more serious - but still... Really, what to name the child? Traditional names like Sarah and Abram, which had been in use for millennia, began to sound out of place, or rather, to sound like teasers. I had to adapt to Russian names, but this was not easy either. They did not always combine successfully with the biblical patronymic and treacherous surname.

However, as always, the Jews adapted. They began to prefer generally accepted names, therefore, “Russian”, “like everyone else”, but at the same time not at all, with a slight touch of foreignness: Albert, Mark, Arkady, Edward, Zhanna, Ella... Or they sometimes resorted to a little acoustic deception: the child was named Misha instead of Moshe, Boris instead of Baruch, Rita instead of Rivka... Ordinary Russian names. And at the same time, almost Jewish. No problem.

But what are ordinary Russian names? Let's not engage in onomastics, just remember the known facts. In most cases, Russian names originate from the Greek language (Nicholas - “winner”, Vasily - “tsar”, etc.) or - much less often - from Latin (Valentin - “strong”, Innocent - “innocent”). Russians have so few truly Slavic names that they can be counted on one hand: Vladimir, Svetlana, Lyudmila, all kinds of “glories” - Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, etc. That’s probably all. The Slavic origin of other names is already doubtful. Oleg (Olga), Gleb, Igor probably came to Russia along with the Varangians. Vadim (“the last Russian Slav,” as Lermontov says) is a Persian name. The non-Russian origin of Russian names is quite understandable: children were named by the church at baptism, religion came to Rus' from the Greeks, and, of course, the previous, “pagan” names were eradicated and replaced by Philip and Alexander. Over time, the alien names have become so Russified that no one now thinks about their origin and meaning.

Among the many names currently used in Russia, we single out “real Russians”. In our minds, these are names coming from the hinterland, from the depths, homespun, simple, Orthodox, folk, not spoiled by fashion, education and foreignness, those that were worn, for example, by the characters in Ostrovsky’s plays: Avdey, Agey, Savely, Ivan, Gavrila. .. Let's take a closer look at them.

The names were given by the Orthodox Church - this is true. Noona named her children in honor of the ancient biblical righteous people or holy martyrs. And these saints, in turn, often received names, again, in honor of biblical heroes and prophets. The latter, as you might guess, were Jews, and therefore Jewish names penetrated into the Russian (and, of course, not only Russian) language and firmly entrenched themselves there. Russia accepted some of them almost without changes, while others are not always easy to recognize: at first they were changed in the Greek way, then in the Slavic way. However, if you look closely, you can guess the prophet Jeremiah in Yerem, and it is much easier to identify Isaiah in Isaiah.

Due to the dissimilarity of languages and imperfect translations, biblical names often sound in Greek, and then in Russian, differently than in Hebrew. The sound “b” usually turns into “v” (Bartholomew, Benjamin); however, in Hebrew there is the same alternation of sounds. The sound “x”, conveyed by the letters “het” and “hey”, disappears completely in the Greek-Russian version, or (sometimes in Hebrew) is conveyed by the sound “a” (“ya”). So, instead of the prophet Eliyahu, Elijah the prophet appears. “F” sometimes turns into “t” or “v.” The Greeks did not know how to pronounce the sounds “sh” and “ts,” so instead of Moshe they said Moses, instead of Shlomo - Solomon. For the same reason, the Russians used Susanna instead of Shoshana (in other languages - Suzanna). In Hebrew, this name comes from the word “shesh” - six (it also found its way into the Russian language) and means a lovely, pure, white six-petalled lily. When I was at the institute, there was a girl in our group with this name, and she was very ashamed of it... With the beginning of emancipation, Jews began to replace the lily with the “international” sounding Rose; that's why this name was so common somewhere in Odessa.

Now we understand how Elisha (“salvation in God”) turned into the Russian Elisha, familiar to everyone from Pushkin’s fairy tale about the dead princess and the seven heroes. Here, by the way, let’s talk about the combination of letters “el”, which is often found both at the beginning and at the end of the name.

It means "God". For example, Raphael is “God’s healing.” In the Russian-Greek tradition, the ending “el” sounds like “il”: Michael (“who is like God”; the name Micah has the same meaning), Gabriel (i.e. Gabriel), etc. The latter has at its root the word “Gever” is a “man” and means “man of God.” So the famous lines “Gavrila served as a baker, Gavrila baked rolls” are clearly unsuitable for this name.

The name Daniel (Danila) - “the judge of God” (the word “dan” means “judged”) belongs to this group. Bible connoisseurs remember how Daniel masterfully interpreted the incident with Susanna (Shoshana) of the Istrians, which became the subject of paintings by many first-class painters, including Russians (it is an uncommon case when a biblical story gives rise to depicting a naked female body). Lazarus belongs to the “el” family (Eliazar - “helping God”).

The unpronounceable name of God is also represented by the letter “Hey,” which is sometimes preceded by the letter “Yud.” In the Russian language, these letters are really not pronounced or they sound like the ending “iya” or “ya”: Zechariah (Zakhar) - “remembering God”, Jeremiah (Eremey) - “exalted by God” (the letters “r” and “m” make up the root of the word “raise”; for example, “frame” - “height”). The name Isaiah (Isaiah) means “God’s salvation” (does Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn know about this?), and Avdei means “God’s servant” (in Hebrew he corresponds to the name Obadia). "Awad" is a slave; It is related to the word “avodah” - work; However, who in Israel knows this word?

As they say, where Avdey is, Matvey is there. What does Matvey have in common with scrambled eggs? Nothing. The proverb says so directly: “Don’t confuse God’s gift with scrambled eggs.” Matthew is called Matthew in Greek (for example, “Gospel of Matthew”). The "F" in Matthew is not "f" but "phyta", which in Greek is called "tet" and sounds like "t". Add to this the indirect designation of the name of God “x”, and we get “Matateyahu” - “God’s gift”. The famous historian Joseph ben Matateyahu, recorded in Roman metrics as Josephus Flavius, would simply appear in a Soviet passport as Joseph Matveevich.

The outstanding artist of the 17th century Nikitin, who created the world-famous frescoes in the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl, bore the name Gury. The name is quite common. The most popular vaudeville in Russia is called “Lev Gurych Sinichkin”. We’ll talk about Leo later, and Gury means “puppy”, “lion cub” in Hebrew. It turns out that Lev Gurych is “a lion - the son of a lion cub.” As if sensing this absurdity, the Leningrad Comedy Theater, directed by the wonderful director Akimov, created the vaudeville-turnover “Guriy Lvovich Sinichkin.” By the way, Akim (Joachim) is also a Hebrew name meaning “placed by God” (“kam” - stand up). However, not all names contain the designation of God. For example, the name Agey has as its root “khag” - holiday, and the name Amos (this is also now more common in the form of the surname Amosov) - “heavy”. Another popular Russian name (an even more common surname) is Nazar: “detached, abstinent.” The Hebrew words “minzar” - monastery, “nazir” - monk, etc., belong to this same root.

Those who know at least a little Hebrew can easily understand that the name Savely comes from the word “saval” - “to endure, to suffer.” And you don’t need to know Hebrew to guess that Savvatey is simply “Sabbath.” The hero of Russian epics, the legendary Sadko, also bore a Jewish name. After all, Sadko is a Slavic form of the name Sadok, related to the word “tzaddik” (“righteous man”). The name Benjamin (Benjamin) naturally means “son of the right hand”, Semyon (Shimon) - “heard”, Ephraim (Ephraim) - “fruitful”, Jonah - “dove”, Babila - “mixing” (the name has the same meaning the city in which the legendary “Babylonian pandemonium” took place).

The name Samson, or Sampson, has gone out of fashion now, but previously it was very common, and even now it is often found as a surname. In St. Petersburg there is Sampsonievsky Avenue, named after the ancient Sampsonievsky Church. The Russian statesman Artemy Volynsky, executed under Empress Anna, is buried in her yard. Then Sampsonievsky Avenue crossed into Karl Marx Avenue, and now it has become Sampsonievsky again. Samson (Shimshon) is a very ancient name, perhaps even pagan, and it means “sunny.” The main, largest and most famous fountain of Peterhof, built by order of Peter the Great, is a sculptural group “Samson tearing apart the jaws”. It symbolizes Russia's victory over Sweden in the Northern War, which gave the Russians access to the Baltic Sea. This is probably the only monument in the world to the legendary Jewish strongman. Could anyone have thought that the hero of the wars against the Philistines would become a symbol of Russia?

If I were a member of some nationalist Russian partnership, this article would not have made me happy. Fortunately (I would think), there is at least one truly Russian name, the embodiment of Russia's Russianness. This name was borne by “the founder of a great power, Tsar’s Moscow Ivan Kalita” (Korzhavin), and Ivan the Terrible, popularly nicknamed the Fourth for his violent temper (as historian Mark Petrov joked). Ivan the Fool, Vanka-Vstanka, Ivan, who does not remember his kinship, Ivanovan night, shout to the whole Ivanovskaya, Russian Ivan... How many associations!

NoJohn (Johanan) is a classic Jewish name. It is based on the root “khan” (“hen”), meaning “good, joy,” and it itself is translated as “God’s grace” (the same root and the same meaning for the name Ananiy and the surname derived from it, which are very common in Russia ). The name Ivan (like many other Jewish names) entered all European languages in the form John, Jean, Juan, Johann, etc. Remember how Kozma Prutkov features (of course, in an ironic context) the philosopher “Ivan-Yakov deRusso”? By the way, “Yakov” means “heel, footprint.” Jacob, as we know, was the twin of Esau, with whom he had a birthright dispute. He was supposed to be born first, his heel had already appeared, but then it disappeared, and Esau was the first to emerge from the womb, and Jacob “followed” him. Here are two explanations for this name.

Ivanna reminds us that it’s time to move on to female names. What does Ivan have to do with it? The connection is very simple. The name Jochanan has a female equivalent - Hana (with the same translation). Hana is the Russian Anna. In Ukraine and Poland, this name retained a form closer to Hebrew - Ganna. I wonder if the great friend of the Jews, Gogol, thought about this when he gave this name to the clear-eyed heroine of “May Night”?

Anna, as you know, was the mother of the Virgin Mary (Miriam). Also not the rarest Russian name. It probably means “madam.” Mary's friend was Elizabeth (Elisheva - “who worships God”), the mother of John the Baptist. Thousands of years later, another Elizabeth replaced another Anna on the Russian throne... However, there are not so many female names in the Bible - hundreds of times less than male ones. This is understandable: the great book was interested primarily in the head of the clan and his deeds; the rest of the household was mentioned, as a rule, in passing, in the form of a formula like “and his cattle, and his children, and his wives.” True, there are Sarah, Ruth (Ruth), and Esther in the Russian calendar, but they have not taken root on Russian soil, although they are often found in the West. To these names we can only add Tamara (“palm tree”), who came from Hebrew to Russia through Georgia, the previously mentioned Susanna, Seraphim (“fiery”) and, perhaps, Paradise.

And finally, one more interesting detail. Jewish names sometimes passed into Greek and Latin, and from there into the Russian language, not only in an explicit, but also in a hidden, translated form. For example, everyone knows the original Russian, but in fact the Greek name Fedot. It means "given by God." There is indeed a Russian equivalent of this name, exactly translated from Greek - Bogdan. However, “Fedot” is also a translation from Hebrew of the name “Netanyahu”. It is found in Russia (mainly among Jews) in its original form “Nathan”. It’s really Fedot, but not the same one! Likewise, Makar is the Greek translation of the name Baruch, “blessed.” In the Latin version this name takes the form Benedict (Benedict). The name Chaim (“life”) sounds in Latin (and in Russian) like Vitaly, etc. It is quite possible that the name “Lion”, common among Jews, is a translation of the popular name Aryeh in Hebrew.

In European languages there is a saying “Change Saul to Paul.” Its meaning is approximately this: it is not reasonable to call the same thing by different names, to exchange an awl for soap. The saying is based on the fact that the once Roman Jewish military leader Saul (Saul), having converted to Christianity, took for himself a new humble Latin name Paulus (“small, insignificant "); he later became the famous Apostle Paul. But should other Jews change the names of their children from Saul to Paul? Really, Jewish names are no worse than others. Much more jealous. But if, nevertheless, a resident of Moscow or Ryazan “Israel Finkelstein” wants to give his son a real Russian name, let him first carefully read this article.

“Along with the purely everyday meaning - the name helped to distinguish different people - the Jews have always had a rich cultural and religious tradition associated with names and originating in biblical texts,” says our old friend, onomastics specialist Alexander Bader, who will reveal to us the secrets of Jewish names. Third interview with Alexander Bader

A name plays a very important role in a person's life. Some people are proud of it and pronounce it loudly when they meet, others are shy and dream of changing it, secretly trying on the name they like. It’s hard to find people who are indifferent to their name. And this is not the reality of our time: from time immemorial, all peoples have attached great importance to names. “Along with the purely everyday meaning - the name helped to distinguish different people - the Jews have always had a rich cultural and religious tradition associated with names and originating in biblical texts,” says our old friend, onomastics specialist Alexander Bader, who will reveal to us the secrets of Jewish names.

In 2001, in the USA, the Avoteinu publishing house published A. Bader’s book “Dictionary of Ashkenazi names: their origin, structure, pronunciation and migrations.”

– Alexander, what significance did names have in the life of Jews? Did it differ from the attitude towards the names of representatives of other religions?

– Until the end of the 18th century, most Ashkenazi Jews did not have surnames. Moreover, even after their, one might say, forcible appropriation as a result of the implementation of relevant laws, official surnames were, in fact, ignored until the beginning of the 20th century. In this context, the personal name was the main formal element to distinguish different people. Along with this purely everyday meaning, there is a rich cultural and religious tradition associated with names, which has its origins in biblical texts.

Let us recall at least such important episodes of the book of Genesis as the change of the names of Abram and Sarah to Abraham and Sarah, the origin of the name Isaac from the verb “to laugh”, the appearance of Jacob’s second name, Israel... For Jewish men, since ancient times, there have been two categories of names: the so-called “synagogue” (“shemot ha-kodesh”) and “household” (“kinuim”). The first of them necessarily exists for any man, and it is used in all religious rites, men are called to read the Torah in the synagogue, and, finally, it appears on the gravestone.

Since the traditional naming of Jews also includes a patronymic, the name of the father, preceded by the word “ben” (son) or “bat/bas” (daughter), is also from the category of synagogues. The names of this category are either any biblical ones, or those after the biblical ones that come from Hebrew or Aramaic, i.e. two sacred languages of Judaism.

It also includes, from ancient times, three names of Greek origin: Alexander (in honor of Alexander the Great), Kalonymos and Todros (from Theodoros, Russian Fedor). Some rabbis also consider the synagogue name Shneur (in Yiddish Shneer), associating it with a (grammatically incorrect) combination of the Hebrew words for “two” and “light.” An analysis of historical sources leaves no doubt about its true origin: it is related to the Latin senior (master). All other names are “everyday” ones. For example, for Ashkenazim, this category includes all names of Romance, Germanic (German or Yiddish) and Slavic origin, as well as numerous diminutive forms.

These names are used in all everyday contexts, for communication within the family circle, with relatives and neighbors, with Jews and non-Jews. In principle, a household name and a synagogue name may have nothing in common with each other. However, already in the Middle Ages, systems of correspondence between the names of these two categories began to appear, recommended by various rabbis. In some cases the connection was made semantically: Baruch and Zelik (both from words meaning “blessed”). In other cases we are dealing with phonetic coincidences: Menachem and Mendel, Asher and Anshel, Benjamin and Bunim.

Several correspondences are based on Jacob's biblical blessing of his sons: Naphtali is compared to a chamois, and is therefore traditionally associated with the name Hirsch (from a Germanic root meaning “deer”), Benjamin to a wolf, and hence the connection with the common name Wolf; Judah is with a lion, and therefore this name is the synagogue equivalent of Leib. Many correspondences, however, seem to be random, arbitrarily invented by the rabbis. For example, for Zelikman we find the following synagogue “equivalents”: Isaac, Jekutiel, Jacob, Ephraim, Judah, Meshulam, Abraham, Azriel, Eliakim, Gershon, Aaron, etc.

For women, it is generally believed that there is no division into two categories. Only in the second half of the 20th century. In non-Orthodox synagogues, primarily in North America, a tradition arose of giving girls a “Jewish” name in addition to their official name, which appears on the passport. These names are often mistakenly called “Hebrew”, although often they (such as Beila, Frada), in fact, are of Yiddish origin and have nothing to do with Hebrew.

The system of two categories of names is not Jewish specific. For example, in Russia, among the Orthodox, it was also the rule until the 17th century. Each person received a so-called “calendar” name at baptism (from the name of a saint, as a rule, these names were either of Greek or Hebrew origin), but in everyday life he often used a completely different name, of Slavic or, less often, Scandinavian origin.

– How were names given, on what day after birth? Who came up with the name? Was there a specific procedure for naming babies?

– A boy must receive a synagogue name on the day of circumcision, i.e. on the eighth day after his birth. There are no strict rules for girls. In some communities, a name was assigned immediately after birth. In others, they waited for the day when the father would next go to the synagogue and announce the name there. In these cases, this day often fell on the first Saturday after birth. The name was chosen by the parents, often with the direct participation of other close relatives. Among Sephardim children, children were often named after grandparents, living or dead.

On the other hand, since the Middle Ages in Germany, Ashkenazis have established a tradition of naming children in honor of deceased relatives; it was believed that if named after a living person, this could hasten the death of the latter. Some religious scholars proposed further development of this same idea, and, for example, Judah the Hasid (who lived in Germany at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries) taught that a man should not marry a woman whose father's name was the same as his own. This did not become law, but, for example, in some communities of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. people tried to avoid a situation where one of the newlyweds had the same name as the father-in-law or mother-in-law. In southern Germany, Alsace and Switzerland until the 20th century. the ancient ritual of naming, called “(g)olekrash,” was preserved, which consisted in raising the cradle with the baby high on the head and singing blessings.

– Was it possible to change one’s name during one’s life? Was this welcomed by the Jewish religion?

– During life, names did not change, with the exception, of course, of converting to another religion. But there is a small group of “protective” names that could be given in addition to the already existing ones. It includes, first of all, the male names Chaim (“life” in Hebrew), Alter (“old man” in Yiddish), Zeide (“grandfather” in Yiddish) and their female equivalents Chaya, Alta and Boba/Buba, the above-mentioned Yiddish names were practically never given at birth. These names were given to children during serious illnesses, or to children whom their parents tried to protect in this way, deceiving the angel of death. By the way, allegorical associations associated with the name Zeide are the leitmotif in the novel “Like a Few Days” by Meir Shalev (my favorite work in Israeli literature).

– What do Ashkenazi and Sephardic names have in common and how do they differ?

– Many names of Hebrew origin (including biblical ones) were used by both groups. There are, however, exceptions. The masculine Nissim and the feminine Mazaltov are very common names in the East, but they were not found among the Ashkenazis. On the other hand, Zev, Arie, Tzvi and Dov are purely Ashkenazi names that first appear in sources only in the 16th century.

These names are translations (calques) into Hebrew of the common Yiddish names Wolf (wolf), Leib (lion), Hirsh (deer) and Ber (bear). Names derived from Yiddish or Slavic languages, of course, are not found among Sephardim, and names with Spanish or Arabic roots are not found among Ashkenazis. It is interesting, however, to note one important feature common to the names of all Jewish communities: women's names are very often derived from words of the spoken language with positive, often romantic, associations.

A few examples: (a) Eastern Europe: Reizel (rose), Feigel (bird), Bluma (flower), Glicka (happiness), Eidel (noble), Sheina (beautiful), Freida (joy), Golda (gold), Malka (queen);

(b) medieval Czech Republic: Zlata, Dobrish, Slava, Cerna, Libuša, Sladka (all of which were still used in the 19th century in the Russian Empire), Mlada, Krasna, Dushana, Vesela;

(c) medieval France: Bela (beautiful), Dolza (tender), Gentil (noble), Reina (queen) [from them come the Yiddish Beila, Tolza, Entel and Reina, respectively], Joya (joy) and Shera (dear) ;

(d) Florence in the Renaissance: Bella, Colomba (dove), Diamante (diamond), Perla (pearl), Regina (queen), Rosa, Stella (star), Fiore (flower),

(e) Sephardic communities of the Ottoman Empire: Bella Donna, Blanca (white), Buena (good), Oro (gold), Gracia, Sol (sun), Luna, Senora, Ventura (luck), Rose.

In modern times, a similar trend in Europe was characteristic primarily of Jews. Among the Germans and Eastern Slavs, for example, “meaningful” names were very common in the pagan name book, both for men and women, but they were gradually replaced by the names of Christian saints.

It is interesting that during the period of romanticism in Germany (at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries), German authors suggested that their compatriots abandon foreign names that were alien to German culture, and start calling girls such “noble” German names as Bluma, Golda ( Golda), Edela, Freudina, Glück or Schöne. These authors, of course, were not familiar with Ashkenazi culture, and did not suspect that they were offering typically “Jewish” names. The situation becomes even more curious if we consider that many of these names were not invented by Jews, but were borrowed during the early Middle Ages from the Germans, but the latter gradually “forgot” them, and the Jews continued to use them for many centuries...

– Which names were the most popular and what explains this?

– The names of the biblical characters most important for the Jewish religion were very popular among Jews, starting from the Middle Ages: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah, Joseph and Judah, Moses and Samuel, David and Solomon, Mordechai and Esther (Esther). It is curious that many of these names were not used at all in ancient times. For example, in the Talmud there is no mention of any Abraham, Asher, David, Gabriel, Isaiah, Israel, Raphael and Solomon, and only one or two Moses and Aaron.

At the same time, in Jewish sources dating back to the beginning of the second millennium of the Christian era, we find these names among the most common in communities in Germany, Spain and the Middle East. It follows that the new tradition began sometime in the second half of the first millennium, and it gradually spread throughout the Jewish world. Above, I already talked about the most common “pleasant-sounding” female names. As a rule, it is believed that for Jewish men the semantics of the name was not of great importance. It seems to me that in the late Middle Ages, at least for the Ashkenazim, this idea was incorrect.

Otherwise, how to explain that, starting from the 14th century. Among the most common names we find those that come from words meaning “deer” (Hirsch/Hertz), “lion” (Leib/Leb), “wolf” (Wolf), “bear” (Ber). Usually in rabbinical literature their distribution is associated with the biblical Jacob’s blessing of his sons, which I already spoke about above. In this case, it is argued that Hirsch and Hertz are a “symbolic” replacement for the name Naftali. Leib appeared instead of Judah, Wolf - instead of Benjamin, and Ber - instead of Issachar, who in the Bible is compared, of course, to a donkey, but, given the not very flattering associations associated with the donkey in European culture, the latter had no chance of survival , and it was replaced by a “nobler” animal, namely a bear.

For all these names, with the possible exception of Leib, this explanation is a clear anachronism: the fact is that, for example, the names Issachar and Naphtali are almost not mentioned in medieval Jewish sources, and Benjamin appears very rarely in them. At the same time, a study of the naming traditions of the Germans and Slavs of Central Europe shows that among the former, among the most common names were those that begin with the root Ber, Wolf and Eber (“boar”). And for the second - Helen and the Bear, that is, with the exception of Eber, who, of course, could not take root in Jewish culture, we meet the same animals, symbols of strength and courage.

If I were a professor of linguistics or history at Tel Aviv University (and my name was Paul Wexler or Shlomo Sand), then I would certainly take this data as direct evidence that the Ashkenazi descend from Slavs and Germans who converted to Judaism. Being neither one nor the other, I think that such a “bold” hypothesis is a little out of place here. This information simply shows us that in the Middle Ages, Jews were not isolated from the influence of the surrounding population, as is often believed.

Jewish history knows of at least two cases in which a common name completely disappeared due to one bearer. The first example, Bogdan, refers to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which at that time included Lithuania, Belarus and most of Ukraine. This name, one of the very rare examples of borrowing from the Eastern Slavs, was very common until the mid-17th century, i.e. to the bloody pogroms committed by the Cossacks under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. The second, Adolf, was very common among German Jews (often as a replacement for the name Abraham) in the first third of the 20th century...

– What names were in use in Eastern Europe?

– For the first time, Jewish names are found in a document from Kyiv, compiled in Hebrew in the 10th century. It was signed by local community leaders. Among the 16 names, we mainly find biblical ones, but six are not mentioned in any other Jewish sources: one of them, Gostyata (as suggested by Abram Torpusman) is of Slavic origin, the others are most likely Khazar. Over the next few centuries there is no new data.

At the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, in the communities of Ukraine and Belarus, we find, along with biblical ones, a number of rare names, mainly of Slavic origin. Ryzhko, Volchko, Domanya, Zhidka, Zhiwnitsa, Bogdana, Detko, Pcholka, Shanya. Apparently, we are dealing with representatives of small Slavic-speaking communities that formed in these territories before the arrival of the Ashkenazim from heterogeneous elements: descendants of the Khazars who converted to Judaism, Jews from the Crimea, the Byzantine Empire and the Czech Republic. Apparently, representatives of the latter group were the most numerous, because from them the names that I have already mentioned above survived until the 20th century. Only by the middle of the 16th century were typically Ashkenazi names originating from German or Yiddish, and also including French and a large group of names with Hebrew stems, but pronounced in Ashkenazi (for example, Moisha/Movsha, not Moshe/Moses, Srol, not Israel /Israel, Passover, not Passover, Sorah and Rochel, not Sarah and Rachel/Rachel, etc.) become dominant. Until the end of the 19th century, names with new roots no longer appeared, but thousands of new diminutive forms were created, mainly using Slavic suffixes. Take for example the name Yosef/Joseph.

For him we find the following options: Yos, Iosko, Ioshko, Iosek, Ioshek, Ioshchik, Iosefka, Esifets, Eska, Es, Esya, Esipka, Yuzek, Yosel, Yosele, Yozel, Ezel, Yeizel, Evzel. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, several new “fashionable” names appeared, brought from Western Europe, for example, Betty and Fanny, in common parlance - Betya and Fanya. They were mainly given instead of the much more traditional Beila and Feiga, respectively. Some Jews began to use Slavic forms of biblical names to communicate with the surrounding Slavic population: Isaac instead of Itzek/Itzik, Baruch instead of Boreh/Burich, Yakov instead of Yankev/Yankel, Reuben instead of Ruven/Rubin, Rebekah instead of Rivka, etc. Others replaced their names with Christian ones (often from Western Europe), having several letters in common with their real Jewish name: Isidore (Israel), Bernard (Ber), Leon (Leib), Efim (Chaim), Rosalia (Reyzya), Sonya ( Sarah or Shayna). During the Soviet period, this trend was further developed, with numerous Grishas (Girsh), Arkadys (Aron), Vovas (Wolf), Levs and Lenyas (Leib), Marks (Mordechai), Boriss (Ber), etc.

– Were there double names in use and what was the explanation for this?

– Double names are found among Ashkenazi Jews already in medieval Germany, although during this period they were rather exceptions. Gradually, this tradition developed: in the 19th century in the Pale of Settlement and the Kingdom of Poland, 30-40% of Jews had two names. I see several independent reasons here. For men, the dichotomy “synagogue name” - “everyday name”, which I spoke about at the beginning of our conversation, was very important.

Historically, it was combinations of these two names that produced the first double names. In modern times, among the common combinations from this category we find: Judah Leib, Menachem Mendel, Asher Anshel, Eliezer Lipman, Naftali Hirsch, Dov Ber. Secondly, until the 19th century, Jews did not have surnames, and even after they were assigned for many decades, these official names had no meaning for Jewish psychology. The use of double names allowed an additional element to be introduced to distinguish different people. Thirdly, giving a double name could honor the memory of two deceased relatives (and thus satisfy the wishes of the few living ones that these names suggested), or give one name in honor of someone, and the other simply because it was liked .

In principle, combinations of any two names were possible, but not all of them were used. I conducted a statistical analysis of double names adopted in the 19th century in a number of Polish communities, and it turned out that there were many patterns even for names in which the two parts do not form the traditional pair “synagogue name” - “household name”. For example, the most common male names begin with the name of the first patriarch Abraham: Abram Moshek, Abram Yankel, Abram Leib, etc. But the most frequent of them: Abram Itsek (Isaac), i.e. including the name of the son of this biblical patriarch. Chaim very often appears in the first position of a double name. Most likely, this is due to the “protective” associations of this name, which I mentioned above. For women, the most common combinations were: Sorah Rivka (combining the names of the wives of Abraham and Isaac), Rokhlya/Rokhlya Leah (combining the names of Jacob's wives; note that the beloved wife Rachel comes first, although she is the youngest), Esther Malka ( reminiscent of the biblical Esther becoming Queen of Persia).

Alexander Bader combined his five-year research into Jewish names in the monograph “A Dictionary of Ashkenazi Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations,” which was published in 2001 in the USA in the Avoteinu publishing house, specializing in the field of Jewish genealogy.

– Alexander, from what sources did you draw material for your research?

– The first group includes about a hundred collections of historical documents about Jews published in the 19th and 20th centuries in various European countries. Among the most important: the Nuremberg Martyrology, which includes extensive lists of Jews killed in some communities in Germany during the pogroms of 1096, 1298 and 1349, a large collection of Latin and Hebrew documents from Cologne (1235-1347), extensive collections of materials about medieval Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Erfurt, Vienna, as well as entire regions such as Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Hungary and Silesia. This also includes several fundamental collections relating to Eastern Europe: two volumes of the “Russian-Jewish Archive”, published in 1882 by the first major historian of Russian Jewry S.A. Bershadsky (who, by the way, came from the family of an Orthodox priest) and three volumes published in 1899-1913 under the title “Regests and Inscriptions”.

These five books include a large number of historical documents from the 15th to 18th centuries that mention Jews living in what is now Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania. The second group includes books that contain the original text of tombstone inscriptions from Jewish cemeteries of various Ashkenazi communities. Among the most detailed are books about Frankfurt, Hamburg, Vienna, Prague and Krakow. The third important source is rabbinical treatises on divorce (16-19 centuries). They traditionally contain lists of Jewish household names and their synagogue “equivalents.” For the names that were in use in the 19th century among the Jews of the Russian (including the Kingdom of Poland) and the Austro-Hungarian empires (primarily Galicia), I used extracts from many thousands of civil registries, kindly provided to me by American lovers of Jewish genealogy and based, primarily on microfilms made in the archives of Eastern Europe by representatives of the Mormon Church, as well as several published pre-revolutionary collections of names compiled mainly by government rabbis.

– What can you learn about the life of the Jewish community based on names?

– The name of every nation is an important part of its culture. Studying the history of traditional names gives us the opportunity to learn a lot about the past. Let's take, for example, such an aspect as the relationship of Jews with the surrounding majority. In classic studies of Jewish community life in medieval Germany, the isolation of Jews is generally considered to begin with the pogroms associated with the First Crusade (1096). If we carefully study the sources of that period, it turns out that for another 250 years (i.e. until the events of the “Black Death” of 1349) German Jews continued to borrow Christian names, not only those that were of German origin, but even Christian forms of biblical names. From here, for example, such Ashkenazi names as Zalman (Salomon), Zimel (from Simon), Zanvel (Samuel) arose.

The fact that during the same period the Jewish spoken language was phonetically no different from the surrounding dialects of German is evidenced, for example, by the fact that in some Jewish names we see clear traces of the phonetic shifts that took place in the Christian dialects. For example, among the Germans, the long [i] turned into a diphthong [ai], and the initial [v] into [f], and in full accordance with this, the Hebrew name Vivus, which arrived in Germany from France, began to be pronounced Faivus. The name Aizik was formed in a similar way: from the German form of the name Isaac, with a long initial “I”. From these examples we see that names provide valuable information about the spoken language of the Jews.

Several examples of this kind can be found in Eastern Europe. It is known that in Poland and Ukraine (but not in Lithuania and Belarus), the stressed long [o] of Yiddish turned into [u]. (Because of this, for example, one of my grandmothers, from Belarus, said “tokhes”, and another, from Ukraine, mentioned only the form “tukhis”).

At what point did this phonetic transition occur? There is no direct evidence of this; this is also not reflected in the writing of Yiddish. Onomastics may prove indispensable here. In Slavic documents about the Jews of Ukraine, at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, we find references to the same person, first as Monish, and then as Munish. Starting from the 20s of the 18th century, forms with [u] - such as Srul, Sukhar, Tsudik - begin to appear regularly in sources. The name can give an indication of what language was used in everyday life and help track the dynamics of its replacement. For example, above I mentioned a number of Slavic names that were used by the Jews of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the mid-16th century. Some of these names are not found among Christians, and there is a high probability that they were formed by Jews.

This kind of inventing new names can only occur on the basis of the spoken language, and therefore there is no doubt that for a large number of Jews living on the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, say, until the 16th century, their native language was East Slavic. With the arrival of numerous immigrants from Central (and much less frequently, Western) Europe, this language disappeared from everyday life - all communities switched to Yiddish. Documents from different regions (for example, Belarusian Mogilev and Ukrainian Kremenets) show that in the second half of the 16th century the transition to Yiddish was already completed. It is curious that in different communities this replacement occurred at very different rates.

For example, many Christian sources from the first half of the 16th century relating to Grodno and Brest have been preserved, i.e. two largest communities in Belarus at that time, which mention the names of dozens of local Jews. In the first community we find such names as Iguda, Yatsko, Bogdan, Goshko, Esko, Ganko, Krivonya, Golosh, Stekhna, Drobna, Dobrusa and only two typically Ashkenazi names: Lipman and Breina.

In Brest, many such names as Isaac, Mendel, Shmerlya, Mikhel, Gershko, Lipman, Kalman, Goetz, Zelikman, Berman and Zelman are striking.

There is no doubt that Yiddish was spoken in the Brest community during this period, but in Grodno this is not at all clear; it is even more likely that we are mainly dealing with Slavic-speaking Jews. By the way, it was through Brest that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was settled by Ashkenazis, and if I were asked to symbolically name three cities whose role in the formation of the Yiddish communities of Central and Eastern Europe was most significant, then there would be no doubt for me: Prague, Krakow and Brest. And I came to this conclusion, first of all, based on the analysis of names...

In the modern Russian language there are very few actual Slavic names. Most come from Greek, Latin or Hebrew. You don't have to look far for examples. Michael, Gabriel, Eremey, Benjamin, Matvey, Elizabeth and even Ivan are Jewish names by origin.

Yes, of course, they have become Russified, and it is difficult to see Joseph in Osip, Joachim in Akim, and Shimon (Simeon) in Semyon, as well as Hannah in Anna... But their etymology is exactly that.

In the era of pogroms and persecutions, mass repressions, being a Jew in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine became increasingly difficult. And therefore the opposite trend was observed. People who had Jewish names willingly replaced them in documents with ones that sounded “Russian” (Polish, Ukrainian). So Baruch became Boris, Leiba - Leo, and Rivka - Rita.

Traditionally, boys receive Jewish names during the Brit Milah (circumcision) ceremony. Girls traditionally go to the synagogue on the first Saturday after birth. Later, it began to be practiced to name newborns during the Bat Shalom ceremony, which usually takes place in the evening, on the first Friday after the completion of the child's first month.

Jewish names are used in the synagogue (in documents),

along with the mention of the father's name (for example, David ben [son] Abraham, or Esther bat [daughter] Abraham), although increasingly one can also observe the indication of the mother's name. Already in the twelfth century, a ban was established on naming children after living family members. Ashkenazim generally observed this prohibition, but did not. Among the latter, there is a tradition of naming the first son after the paternal grandfather, and the second - the maternal grandfather. Likewise with the naming of daughters. The eldest received the name of the grandmother on her father's side, the second - her grandmother on her mother's side.

Spiritual practices associated with anthroponyms are also interesting. According to tradition, it is believed that a name carries a special existential essence, a message. That it determines not only the character, but also the fate of the baby. For this reason, naming a Jewish newborn is a responsible matter. Parents choose, but it is believed that it is the Almighty who gives them the gift of prophecy. After all, a person carries the name given by them forever.

This will be said, giving the boy the honor of reading the Torah when he turns 13 and begins to observe the commandments of God. The same name will be registered in the ketubah. His wife and relatives will call him this. Interestingly, according to tradition, if a disease threatens a person’s life, another one is usually added to his first. Men are usually given the name Chaim or Raphael, women - Chaya. Such a change affects the fate of the patient and gives hope. After all, it is said: “he who changes his name changes his destiny.”

In total, a classification can be made of five main groups. The first includes biblical Hebrew names that are mentioned in the Pentateuch and other holy books. The second includes the names of the prophets of the Talmud. The third group consists of anthroponyms from the natural world - and here true scope for creativity opens up. For example, Jewish names of boys and girls with the meaning “light, clear, radiance”: Meir, Naor, Uri, Liora, Ora, the name Uri is very loved. Borrowings from the world of plants and animals are also popular, emphasizing beauty or a positive quality. Ilana and Ilan (tree), Yael (gazelle), Oren (pine), Lilah (lilac). The fourth group includes names that coincide with the name of the Creator or praise him. These are, for example, Jeremiah, Yeshua, Shmuel. This is Ephrat (praise), and Hillel (song of praise), and Eliav, Elior (the light of the Most High). And finally, the fifth group consists of (Raphael, Nathaniel, Michael), who are perceived as human.

Even in ancient times, with the separation of a person from the pack, the need arose for a sign designating him as an individual. This is how a name (nickname, nickname) is born.

There is an internal contradiction in the name. On the one hand, it belongs to a specific person, on the other, it must define him as part of the whole (family, clan, tribe, people). Gradually, this contradiction is resolved with the appearance of a personal name and a family name (surname).

In Hebrew the name is שם shem, surname - שם משפחה Shem MishpachA, that is, literally "family name". Question מה שמך ma shimha? (“What is your name?”) has a formal connotation in modern Hebrew. It can be asked at work, in a hospital, in a bank. In ordinary life they usually ask - איך קוראים לך Eykh korIm leha?(M), Eikh korIm lah?(F) (“What’s your name?”).

Tanakhic names in Hebrew

For many centuries, the main source of Hebrew names was the TANAKH (Holy Scripture) and the Oral Torah (Talmudic literature). The TANAKH contains 2800 names, but, naturally, not all of them are used in our time.

In many cases, the Jewish name played the role of a talisman, calling on the Protector. Therefore, it often contained one of the names-epithets of God, related to the concept of “power”. This is the meaning behind the word אל El. This word is often used in the so-called “plural of greatness - אלוהים ElohIm- "Almighty"

We are talking about names such as:

ישמאל Ishma-el - “God (the Almighty) will hear”
אליעזר Eli-ezer - “My God is protection”
מיכאל Mikha-el - “Who is like God?”
רפאל Rafa-el - “Heal, God”
גבריאל Gabri-el - “Strengthen me, God”

The name Israel is interesting, consisting of the name of God - אל "El" and verb שרה Sarah- “fight, fight.” Basically, this name can be interpreted as "God will fight" ( ישרה isra– future tense form). However, according to tradition, he is understood as “wrestling with God.”

Abraham's grandson Yaakov in the Yabok (Jabbok) gorge fought with those who tried to block his way to the Promised Land. It is believed that this was God's messenger sent to test the strength of Jacob's faith. Therefore, the one who later received the strange name “he who wrestled with God” actually acted according to his will.

It is no coincidence that the name ישראל IsraE l - “Israel” later became the self-name of the Jewish people, and subsequently the state.

The former name of the forefather - Yaakov - is associated with the words עקב Ekev- heel, verb עקב akav- walked around, עוֹקְבָה okvA- deception, cunning. Jacob was not always the embodiment of righteousness. He could have cheated in the birthright story, deceived his father-in-law Laban, sent women and children ahead of him, fearing a meeting with his angry brother Esau.

When Jacob fulfilled God's will, he became different. It was then that he received the right to bear a particle of the Creator in his name Israel.

Many tanakhic names meant a declaration of faith in the omnipotence of the Creator:

אֶלְנָתָן ElnatAn and נְתַנְאֵל Netan'El("God gave")
אֶלְיָשִּׁיב ElyashIv(“God will return”)
יְרַחְמְאֵל YerahmeEl("God has mercy")
אֶלְיָקִים ElyakIm("God will restore")
יוֹסֵף Joseph(“May [God] add”).

Now for most Orthodox Jews, to pronounce the “true name of God” (the so-called Tetragrammaton) or anything similar to it is considered the height of blasphemy.

During the First Temple era, things were different. The greatest prophets of Israel were called ישעיהו Yeshayahu (Isaiah) - “The Lord is my salvation” אליהו Eliyahu (Elijah) - “My God is the Lord.” Parts of these names that sound like יָהוּ־ (-yahu) or יָה־ (s) contain the letters of that same unpronounceable name. (As in names מתניה Matania "Grant me, Lord" or אדוניה Adonijah - “My lord is the Lord”)

By the way, the last name of Prime Minister Netanyahu is נתניהו (netanyahu) comes from an ancient tanakhic name. Sometimes it still occurs today. This name most likely means “gift of my Lord.”

Definitive names

The name was not always a phrase or address. The so-called “attributive” (definitive) name shows how others perceive its bearer. Definitive names are more typical for women.

There are much fewer female characters in the Tanakh than male ones, although many of them are well known.

Everyone knows Abraham's wife Sarah, but they hardly think that this word has the same root as the word שר sar- "minister". In the Tanakh it means “bearer of power, lord,” so the name Sarah can be translated as “mistress.”

Women often bore and still bear the names of animals:

יעל YaEl- "chamois"
צביה TsvIya- "doe"
אילה Ayala- “wild goat”, and even
רחל Rachel - "sheep".

Men chose names that were more respectable and menacing:

דוב Dov - “bear”
זאב ZeEv – “wolf”,
אריה Arie – “lion”.

TamAr – “palm tree”
HadAssa - “myrtle” (the well-known official Persian name of this queen was Esther).

Nowadays, such “plant names” as:

In Russia, parents are unlikely to name their son “oak,” but in Israel it is a male name אלון AlOn occurs quite often.

In Hebrew, there are female names associated with jewelry, for example:

פנינה PnIna"pearl",
עטרה Atara"crown",
זהבה ZahAva- “golden”,
כספית KaspIt– “silver”

Names may indicate the attitude of the parents towards the child:

חנה HANA- (possibly from חן hyung– “cuteness”),
ידידה IedidA –"friendly, close"
חגי KhagAi – “ born on a holiday" or "celebratory".
אור(ה) Or (Ora)– “light” (this name is often chosen by Sveta, repatriates from Russia),
גיל Gil- "fun"
שי Shay- “gift, gift”
אביבה AvIva- “born in spring” or “spring-born”.

By analogy with the biblical ones, now there are also phrase names. But they do not contain an appeal to the Creator, but rather from a parent to a child:

אורלי Orli – “my light”
ליאת LiAt - “you are for me.”

Names associated with the formation of Israel

Since the 30s. In Israel, names are spreading that reflect the hope of building a future state:

דרור Dror- "Liberty",
עמיקם AmikAm- “my people have risen”
יגאל Yigal- "he will be released"
גאולה GeulA— “Liberation, Salvation”

Even a rare name appears עליה AliYa– repatriation. The Israeli army's operation in Sinai in 1956 gave birth to a female name - סיני, סיניה SinAi, SinAi.

Gematria of names in Hebrew

Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a specific numerical value.

Gematria

Based on this, the concept of gematria - the numerical meaning of a word - was born in Jewish mysticism. It is formed by adding the numerical values of the letters. For example, the meaning of the name משה Moshe - Moses in gematria will be equal to 345 (40+300+5).

In certain areas of Jewish mysticism, words that have the same gematria are believed to be related. Therefore, in some traditional families they try to choose the bride and groom so that their names are combined according to gematria, and parents avoid giving their children names whose gematria has a negative meaning. For example, 446, corresponding to the gematria of the word מות mavet- "death".

Compound names in Hebrew

In biblical times and in the era of the Talmud, there were nicknames, from which surnames were subsequently formed. For men they started with בן Ben- or בר bar- “son”, for women –בת baht-"daughter". This was followed by either the name of a parent or other ancestor, or a noun indicating a characteristic of the person.

בן יהודה Ben Yehuda - "son of Yehuda"
בר מזל Bar-Mazal - “son of a star”, (in the sense of “happy”),
בר כוכבא Bar Kochba is also “son of a star” (in Aramaic, in the sense of “Deliverer”),
בת יאור Bat-Yeor - "daughter of the Nile."

The founder of Hasidism, whose name was Israel, was known as טוב בעל שם Baal Shem Tov - “possessing a good name.” Moreover, what was meant was not the good reputation of its bearer, but the fact that he knew the secret Name of God. By the way, the word itself השם, ה’ (hashem, sometimes just a letter hey with an apostrophe) in religious contexts often means God.

Names in Hebrew - a fusion of history and modernity

Jewish culture is characterized by a willingness to absorb the new without discarding the old.

Therefore, it is not unusual that in modern Israel

a ten-year-old tomboy named after the priest of the First Temple of Evyatar,
his older brother was named Zeev after Jabotinsky or Herzl,
one younger sister is called Kalanit (after the name of an Israeli spring flower)
the other - Sinai (in memory of his uncle, who died in battles on the Sinai Peninsula),
and the third, Jacqueline, bears the name of her late grandmother from Algeria.

Jewish names reflect the history of the people. They talk about the peculiarities of his self-awareness and interaction with surrounding cultures.