Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're Christian and named our daughter Marian, which a lot of people hear as "Miriam," and then ask if we are Jewish.

It's a pretty name, OP! I vote for using it if you like it.

People asking if a Catholic child is Jewish =/= people asking if a Jewish child is Catholic.

Now, it's entirely possible that OP doesn't care about the confusion. But there WILL be confusion.

I never did say it was the same, now did I?

I shared a little anecdote, and encouraged OP to do what she wants to do with her own child's name. All the extra stuff you're reading into it just isn't there.

So you as a Christian feel competent to declare that there's no issue? Got it.

It's two parents deciding what they want to name their child. At the end of the day.

Of course it is. That doesn't change the fact that you as a Christian don't know what you're talking about here.

I guess she DOES know what she is talking about here, because she used a name often associated with another religion than hers-which is what the OP is asking about doing. Not sure why you seem to have issue with her particular religion.

NP and I agree. OP didn't post asking for responses only from people of Jewish faith here, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're Christian and named our daughter Marian, which a lot of people hear as "Miriam," and then ask if we are Jewish.

It's a pretty name, OP! I vote for using it if you like it.

People asking if a Catholic child is Jewish =/= people asking if a Jewish child is Catholic.

Now, it's entirely possible that OP doesn't care about the confusion. But there WILL be confusion.

I never did say it was the same, now did I?

I shared a little anecdote, and encouraged OP to do what she wants to do with her own child's name. All the extra stuff you're reading into it just isn't there.

So you as a Christian feel competent to declare that there's no issue? Got it.

It's two parents deciding what they want to name their child. At the end of the day.

Of course it is. That doesn't change the fact that you as a Christian don't know what you're talking about here.

I guess she DOES know what she is talking about here, because she used a name often associated with another religion than hers-which is what the OP is asking about doing. Not sure why you seem to have issue with her particular religion.

NP and I agree. OP didn't post asking for responses only from people of Jewish faith here, PP.

oh shut up. it's totally different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're Christian and named our daughter Marian, which a lot of people hear as "Miriam," and then ask if we are Jewish.

It's a pretty name, OP! I vote for using it if you like it.

People asking if a Catholic child is Jewish =/= people asking if a Jewish child is Catholic.

Now, it's entirely possible that OP doesn't care about the confusion. But there WILL be confusion.

I never did say it was the same, now did I?

I shared a little anecdote, and encouraged OP to do what she wants to do with her own child's name. All the extra stuff you're reading into it just isn't there.

So you as a Christian feel competent to declare that there's no issue? Got it.

It's two parents deciding what they want to name their child. At the end of the day.

Of course it is. That doesn't change the fact that you as a Christian don't know what you're talking about here.

I guess she DOES know what she is talking about here, because she used a name often associated with another religion than hers-which is what the OP is asking about doing. Not sure why you seem to have issue with her particular religion.

NP and I agree. OP didn't post asking for responses only from people of Jewish faith here, PP.

oh shut up. it's totally different.

OK, so it’s different. It’s still a relevant anecdote for this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Who cares??!! It’s a nice traditional name. Done.

[Anonymous]

We’re Jewish, our daughter is Mary after my great-grandmother who married into the Jewish faith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares??!! It’s a nice traditional name. Done.

The whole point is that it is far from a "traditional" name for a Jew. Vikram is traditional in certain cultures, as is Mohamed. But I don't think you would say those would be traditional names for OP, therefore end of discussion.

[Anonymous]

I do not believe that the original poster is for real

[Anonymous]

There is a subset of Jews for which Mary is a common name -- I think it is Lebanese? Anyway, some Sephardic group. I knew one in LA.

That said, my mother-in-law would have freaked out if we named our daughter Mary. We named her "Katherine" which she already doesn't really like, even though it is actually from the ancient Greek Hekaterine and not a New Testament biblical name. But because there was a Catholic saint named Catherine, she views it as a Christian name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a subset of Jews for which Mary is a common name -- I think it is Lebanese? Anyway, some Sephardic group. I knew one in LA.

That said, my mother-in-law would have freaked out if we named our daughter Mary. We named her "Katherine" which she already doesn't really like, even though it is actually from the ancient Greek Hekaterine and not a New Testament biblical name. But because there was a Catholic saint named Catherine, she views it as a Christian name.

Haha. I've posted a couple times on this thread -- the Jewish poster named Katherine. Glad to know I am not the only Jewish Katherine in the world.

[Anonymous]

My name is Mary and I was raised Catholic, but it never occurred to me that every Mary I met would be Catholic. Seems like a pretty standard name to me.

[Anonymous]

I would think it was mildly weird to have a Jewish child named Mary. You could do Marianne or Marion and call her Mair - I think those names are less strongly Catholic.

[Anonymous]

My Irish Catholic grandmothers were Mary and Norah, so my first thought was, did you have this debate over Norah too? But, yeah, I get that Mary is very different. Then again, given that you may be choosing two very popular Irish Catholic names, it will increase the "confusion" being discussed here.

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess Mary was quite contrary after all.

[Anonymous]

I'm not Jewish or Catholic so don't get why this thread is so long but I'm still curious. Is the concern that the Jewish community won't think the child is Jewish or that the Catholic community will think she's Catholic?

[Anonymous]

Jew here - Mary is a hard no for us.