Reply To: Jews Who Are Known By Their Non-Jewish Name

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yehudayona
Participant

There are Jewish names that non-Jews use (like Esther and Ruth) and ones that they don’t (like Basya/Batya).

A century or so ago, Jews in the U.S. gave their children names that they thought sounded WASPish, like Irving and Sidney. So many Jews gave their children these names that they became recognized as Jewish names. I’m told that in England, a similar process occurred with surnames, whereby all the Finkelsteins became Finleys. Perhaps one of our British readers could comment on this.