Jewish first names

[ozigirl]

Hello Everyone,

I have traced my mother's family( Larner) back to 1751, Winterton Norfolk. Most of the family stayed in Norfolk, but my Great Grandfather moved to Essex and after that my Grandparents moved to Australia.

Throughout the generations there are scattered Jewish names such as Hannah, Isaac, Ezra, Solomon etc. They seemed not to have been practicing their religion if in fact they were Jewish, as they all seem to have married in Anglican churches.

Could they have been Jewish, or were Jewish names popular?  They might just have liked the names.
I would just like to know a little history I guess. Were there a lot of Jews in Norfolk?  Did they come from Europe and if so where would I start to look?

Anyone willing to give me a history lesson??

Cheers,

Ozigirl

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Ozgirl,

Just a thought:

if you replace "jewish" with "biblical", that could give you one answer, or rather, one possiblity   

There have been many branches of the church (sects, schisms, split-off movements, etc etc -- somebody will probably know a better description  ) where the members of the 'new' church gave their offspring biblical names, and once it "runs in the family" then it just keeps going.

It could well be that there is no jewish connection at all

Another theory:  originally there was a jewish connection, they converted, for whatever reasons (material gains, less persecution, ... ) but kept their (traditional ?) family names.

Bob

[quizmaster]

I think Bob is right. There are loads of Old Testament names encountered in the 18th and 19th centuries. When church attendance was the norm, exposure to biblical names would have been widespread and you can find a lot of names like Obadiah, Hepzibah as well as the classic Ruth and Esther. A much better test of Jewishness is the surname and even then that is not conclusive. IIRC for many centuries there were few if any Jews in this country so when they did arrive, they brought surnames with foreign origins (Goldberg, Levy, Marx etc.)

I'd be tempted just to keep your theory at the back of your mind and not to let it get in the way of your research. If it turns out to be right, so much the better, but on the balance of probability it may not be and researching with an open mind is so much more productive.

[carol8353]

I too have to agree. I have a friend who has Isaac's and Jacob's all through his family tree,and no sign of any Jewish background there either.

Carol

[Nick Carver]

Agree with all the comments. The names have to be Old Testament in origin, which is a text shared by Jews and Christians alike. Perhaps the use of an obscure OT name in the 18th or 19th century was the equivalent of calling your child Tia or Teagan or something equally obscure. There were so many Williams and Johns amongst the boys with Elizabeth, Mary and Sarah accouting for a significant proportion of girls. Come to think of it, I'me sure I've seen a thread on this subject before.

[avm228]

I agree with the others. It's really a relatively modern phenomenon in Britain (and perhaps Australia too) that many of the Old Testament names are thought of as being characteristically Jewish, and the central stock of names for non-Jews is based (for boys particularly) mostly upon New Testament and royal (Edward, George, Henry etc) names. Go back to the 18th and early 19th centuries and you will find lots of use of the Old Testament names in non-Jewish families. 

In my own lines this is particularly marked in non-conformist families - my Yorkshire Wesleyan ancestors drew extensively from the Old Testament.  But I've also got a line in Essex (C of E, parish clerks) who produced generation upon generation of Ezekiels, Ezras and Solomons.

In America there's still no distinction - emigrants to the New World took 18th and early 19th century traditions with them and to this day you'll find plenty of little Ezras, Solomons, Isaacs  (and huge numbers of Hannahs!) with no Jewish connections whatsoever.

Honestly, I wouldn't read any Jewish connection into the use of the names you mention unless there is some other evidence for it.  There was not a large Jewish population in Norfolk - in 1846 there was only one Jewish marriage registered in the county.  The vast majority of Jewish marriages registered as such in England in that year took place in London.  Jews were exempted from the requirement to marry in a church from 1753 and a marriage according to Jewish rites was recognised by the law.

Anna