1. posterid:2001991
  2. Equivalent Hebrew Name for Clara

Re: Equivalent Hebrew Name for Clara #names

Glenda Rubin
 

I can relate to the statement "that our ancestors didn't translate names," but I think there were probably a myriad of ways how our family members got their US/English names. As my story illustrates, one needs to consider who was giving the name. It wasn't necessarily the person him/herself.
 
My maternal grandmother and her four siblings arrived in the US between 1909-1923.  Four of them had daughters born in the US and all were named (Jewish name) Mechle, after their mother.  My mother, being the oldest of her generation, was asked by her aunts and uncles to choose English names for her cousins, who became Mona, Mildred, and Muriel.  My mother at different stages of her life was Mae, Mayme, and even Mary! (given to her by a school secretary. You can be sure my grandparents wouldn't have given her that name). 
 
Glenda Rubin

On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 11:09 AM Sally Bruckheimer via groups.jewishgen.org <sallybruc=yahoo.com@...> wrote:

"All the names suggested on the previous list are irrelevant."

Our ancestors didn't translate names to or from Hebrew. They didn't know the Latin origin of Clara. They used 'sounds like' names. Shayna became Jennie; Fayga became Fannie, and so on. The Hebrew translations of Clara are totally irrelevent, as women didn't use those names.

Of course, some used something completely different, because they liked it. My grandmother became Gertrude; my uncle's sister-in-law became Hortence. Neither worried about the Latin meaning of the name.

Sally Bruckheimer
Princeton, NJ

Sally Bruckheimer
Princeton, NJ

 

 


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Glenda Rubin
San Francisco Bay Area
Researching: STRYZEWSKI, STRAUSS, JANOFSKY, JANOFF, OBODOV, WERNICK, GREENBERG, KROCHAK. Shtetls: Lipovets, Ilintsy, Pliskov, Starokonstantinov, Krasilov
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