Reply To: Meanings of the names Zelig and Zalman

See Igros Moshe O.C. 5:10 for his insights into this issue. For example: the maaleh of “lo shinu es shmom” was mainly for before matan Torah when there were few mitzvos and little way to distinguish bnei yisroel from others; “Aryeh” is a fine name but who says it’s any better than “Leib”, because neither is mentioned in Tanach; a number of gedolim had completely foreign names (Maimon (Rambam’s father), Vidal (author of Magid Mishne), etc.); Jews always talked and learned in the local language (no mention that it was davka a Jewish version like Yiddish). See further.