View Message

[Facts] ATTC: Andy Jewish name
You asked what would be your Hebrew name.Well… I think it depends.
1) If you were born Jewish:
- the Jewish name of your grandfather (or great grandfather)
- a name starting with the same initial: Asher, Aharon
- a name sounding a bit alike: Dror…
- a name with the same meaning: Adam?2) If you converted to Judaism: in theory you can chose any name you want, but in fact you’re told it’s better to chose the name of a very great person. Probably Abraham, since your name begins with a “A”.
vote up1vote down

Replies

Thank you!Andy ;—)
vote up1vote down
I remember reading some converts use a name that translate into english as Abraham son of the father of many, or something along those lines.
vote up1vote down
Yup. The full name of the converts is xxx ben Avraham avinu (xxx son of Abraham our father) or xxx bat Sarah Avraham avinu (xxx daughter of Abraham our father).
The "xxx" is very often Abraham and Sarah.Female converts will also have another name: xxx bat Sarah imenu (xxx daughter of Sarah our mother).
It's not surprising. Jewish women have two names: xxx bat [name of the father] and xxx bat [name of the mother]. A man who would be called xxx ben [name of the mother] would be the son of a Jewish man who converted to another religion or a bastard. It also happened a couple of times in North Africa, when the parents were divorced and the son clearly sided with the mother. I hope it helped!
vote up1vote down