Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?

[Anonymous]

Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?



And this class is the equation for a Hypersensitive PC Culture Anxiety Reaction - much like the OP's question.
Otherwise known as, "Seriously?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

Read the whole thread. It's because the name Mary has a particularly Christian association, and this raises issues of assimilation/repression to some Jewish people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?



And this class is the equation for a Hypersensitive PC Culture Anxiety Reaction - much like the OP's question.
Otherwise known as, "Seriously?"

So I assume your son is named Mohammed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?



And this class is the equation for a Hypersensitive PC Culture Anxiety Reaction - much like the OP's question.
Otherwise known as, "Seriously?"

So I assume your son is named Mohammed?

No. DaShawn.

[Anonymous]

How about Meredith? I know at least one Jewish one and I know Merediths who go by Mere (sounds like "Mair") or Merry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?



And this class is the equation for a Hypersensitive PC Culture Anxiety Reaction - much like the OP's question.
Otherwise known as, "Seriously?"

So I assume your son is named Mohammed?

No. DaShawn.

Actually his name is Snowflake.
It's quite catchy these days and I find the irony hilarious.

[Anonymous]

I know a Meredith who goes by Merey.

[Anonymous]

Ask your rabbi, but my very Jewish great grandmother was a Mary. Mary is just an English version of Miriam.

If I put "Mary Cohen" into Ancestry.com, I see lots of Mary Cohens born in Russia and Poland. If about 1 percent of American Jews have the surname Cohen, there must be at least a few hundred American Jewish women named Mary in the Ancestry.com database.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask your rabbi, but my very Jewish great grandmother was a Mary. Mary is just an English version of Miriam.

If I put "Mary Cohen" into Ancestry.com, I see lots of Mary Cohens born in Russia and Poland. If about 1 percent of American Jews have the surname Cohen, there must be at least a few hundred American Jewish women named Mary in the Ancestry.com database.

That an immigrant changes Miriam Cohen to Mary Cohen in 1912 doesn’t really have relevance. Besides, this isn’t an argument about whether there’s ever been a Jewish Mary; but rather the contemporary meaning and impact. Plenty (probably large majority) of Jews today would find it uncomfortable and inadvisable. As many have stated here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask your rabbi, but my very Jewish great grandmother was a Mary. Mary is just an English version of Miriam.

If I put "Mary Cohen" into Ancestry.com, I see lots of Mary Cohens born in Russia and Poland. If about 1 percent of American Jews have the surname Cohen, there must be at least a few hundred American Jewish women named Mary in the Ancestry.com database.

That an immigrant changes Miriam Cohen to Mary Cohen in 1912 doesn’t really have relevance. Besides, this isn’t an argument about whether there’s ever been a Jewish Mary; but rather the contemporary meaning and impact. Plenty (probably large majority) of Jews today would find it uncomfortable and inadvisable. As many have stated here.

+1. Immigrants changed their names (first and last) to try to blend in and make assimilation easier. Others had names changed for them by immigration officials who Anglicized names of arriving immigrants.

Now that hiding one's ethnic background is less common (although it still occurs in Hollywood and elsewhere) historical examples have much less relevance.

[Anonymous]

I had a doctor named Mary with a Jewish sounding last name. She was Jewish but some grandmother had a nickname that sounded like mary so she was named mary. she said she always got confused questions or hints where people were trying to difure it out. Like wondering if she was half catholic and half jewish, etc.

[Anonymous]

Go with Miriam

[Anonymous]

What about Miri?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about Meredith? I know at least one Jewish one and I know Merediths who go by Mere (sounds like "Mair") or Merry.

Yes, Meredith is fine for a Jewish family. Mary is weird for one, plus it's a boring name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go with Miriam

No, because that's ugly.