What's In a Name?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how our chosen names can hide our heritage.  I mentioned that neither Meg (Margaret) nor Winters are Jewish names.

Jewish heritage passes from mother to child, so intermarriage can certainly produce a Jewish Winters, but I think most people would consider it British, not Jewish.  Of course, those are not mutually exclusive.

Margaret, like Mary, is typically a Catholic name but one reader mentioned a Jewish friend named Margaret.  I know a Jewish Margaret who prefers Peggy.

Jewish babies are assigned a Hebrew name.  Traditionally, the Hebrew name is similar to the English name, so I did a bit of research.

Margaret does have Hebrew equivalents.  So if I ever need to give my Jewish equivalent, I can safely choose from Levana, Margalit, Meira, or Penina.  I kind of like the first and last ones.  What do you think?  There's a little poll to the right to choose your favourite.

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Hiding Our Heritage

I have a confession to make.  Two actually.

I'm Jewish.  And my name is not Meg Winters. 

When the name Meg came into my consciousness (it was my name during a "past life regression."  I won't discuss whether I believe in them or not; I was subject to a few like this one), I knew it was one of many short forms of Margaret.  Margaret is one of those magical girl names which have dozens of nicknames: Meg, Peg, Marge, Maggie, Peggy, and on and on.  (Side note: I once asked a woman I work with, who introduced herself to me as "Kimberly" if she ever used a short form of her name.  She said "like 'Kim'?" and I said "well, yeah.  Or 'Burley'."  Yes, I lived.)

Margaret is never a Jewish name, often a Catholic name.  A couple of people assumed "Meg" was short for "Megan," but being over the Age When Everyone Was Named Megan, I never thought of that.  I doubt there's a woman my age named "Megan."

I'm not sure where Winters came from.  Winters is a good British name, not a Jewish one.

So when I introduce myself ("call me Meg"), there's no Jewish clue.  Even if I offer my last name, there's no Jewish "tell" there.

I don't hide my heritage.  At game nights, I spoke with other "members of the tribe" and identified myself as such.  But I'm hesitant....  "I belong to ....  Where do you belong?" might mean a story.  "Me too!" could be awkward, especially since nobody's acknowledged that I'm not what I appear.

I'm sure that's true of other girls I meet at t-events.  We choose names that may or may not match our heritage.  I never looked at a list of names and said "I need one that reflects history" and declared myself to be "Sarah Berkowitz," any more than Mike McMasters said "Abigail O'Toole.  What else could I call myself?"

But we lose something.

I don't have a clue as to how important this is, or how to fix it, but I've been thinking about it a bit.  A lot.

And I'm open to ideas, readers.

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