Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?

[Anonymous]

I don’t assume Mary is Catholic unless it’s Mary Frances or Mary Margaret, etc. And the grown women I know with those names have all left the church anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mira or Miri would be better

Not in my opinion! I very much prefer Mary, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IT's a Catholic name. I would think it weird and I'm not even Jewish.

Mary was a Jew.

Duh. But all Catholic parents have to select a "Christian name" for the christening. It must be after a Saint or otherwise approved Catholic name. Ergo lots of Marys. Jews have many lovely names to select from. Why pick one that screams "Christian name"?

[Anonymous]

I only know a few young Mary’s but they’re all from super Catholic families. If your last name is Jewish, I would assume you are a half Jewish family raising your kids Christian.

[Anonymous]

Jewish girl here. I think it’s odd, and your kid will probably be questioned on their “Jewishness” often. I have an Irish first name and had a very Jewish last name, and have red hair and blue eyes and I had to swear to people I was fully Jewish from Eastern Europe all the time. I actually got a failing grade on a class project in 3rd grade on our family histories because my teacher thought I made it up. (The school never heard the end of that one from my mom. Who in 3rd grade would make up a story about their relatives fleeing for their lives and having no paper trails once they hit Ellis Island?! Anyway.)

So. Please, consider a Mary variant. Or use it as a middle name. But it could cause her a lot of agony as a kid, and even as a teen and adult, especially if she decides to get involved in Jewish life.

Another tangent: I know a Jewish “Sean Christopher” with an ambiguous last name and he had the same situation as me growing up - and even as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jew here and I say no. I knew a Jewish Christina who always felt awkward about it. Changed her name to something traditionally Jewish when she was grown.

Name her Miriam or find something else. Mary's a pretty name, but it's 10000% for the shiksas.

big diff between "Christina" and Mary in this context, though.

If you say so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IT's a Catholic name. I would think it weird and I'm not even Jewish.

Mary was a Jew.

Duh. But all Catholic parents have to select a "Christian name" for the christening. It must be after a Saint or otherwise approved Catholic name. Ergo lots of Marys. Jews have many lovely names to select from. Why pick one that screams "Christian name"?

Uh, no, you don’t have to select an approved “Christian name” for baptism. Which is what Catholics call it, not christening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jewish girl here. I think it’s odd, and your kid will probably be questioned on their “Jewishness” often. I have an Irish first name and had a very Jewish last name, and have red hair and blue eyes and I had to swear to people I was fully Jewish from Eastern Europe all the time. I actually got a failing grade on a class project in 3rd grade on our family histories because my teacher thought I made it up. (The school never heard the end of that one from my mom. Who in 3rd grade would make up a story about their relatives fleeing for their lives and having no paper trails once they hit Ellis Island?! Anyway.)

So. Please, consider a Mary variant. Or use it as a middle name. But it could cause her a lot of agony as a kid, and even as a teen and adult, especially if she decides to get involved in Jewish life.

Another tangent: I know a Jewish “Sean Christopher” with an ambiguous last name and he had the same situation as me growing up - and even as an adult.

Saoirse Epstein! (Or Erin Finkelbaum?)

[Anonymous]

OP, name your child whatever you want.

My (Jewish) father is named "John." I recall once getting into an argument with some idiotic kid in school who insisted that he couldn't be Jewish because Jews can't be named "John," only "Jonathan."

He was a nitwit.

[Anonymous]

Mary, Miriam, and Maryam are all forms of "Mary," and are not reserved for Catholics. I know several Muslim women with forms of this name.
If you want to name her Mary, go for it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Mary is a lovely name!

No it's not. It's ugly and plain and boring. It says "I am not a dynamic person and if it had been a boy would have named the baby John. I do everything in the most boring way possible."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IT's a Catholic name. I would think it weird and I'm not even Jewish.

Mary was a Jew.

Duh. But all Catholic parents have to select a "Christian name" for the christening. It must be after a Saint or otherwise approved Catholic name. Ergo lots of Marys. Jews have many lovely names to select from. Why pick one that screams "Christian name"?

2nd DD doesn’t have a saint’s name. It means a personality trait/virtue, but not a religious one. That’s what’s on her baptismal certificate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, name your child whatever you want.

My (Jewish) father is named "John." I recall once getting into an argument with some idiotic kid in school who insisted that he couldn't be Jewish because Jews can't be named "John," only "Jonathan."

He was a nitwit.

Was the kid who bullied him Jewish? The only people who have ever told me John isn’t a Jewish name were Jews. No one else sees it as Christian or Jonathan as Jewish.

[Anonymous]

It is weird culturally because of the Catholic focus with the Virgin Mary, but it is biblically Jewish. No one questions Mark or Paul with Jewish boys, and there are a ton of Jewish men with those names...very New Testament. It really is just cultural.
Now, Christine, Christina, Chrissy...that is a Christian name.

[Anonymous]

Meredith will give you the same nickname.