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Rabbi Avigdor Miller said that it used to be that gerim (converts) and baalei teshuvah (repentants) who had been given non-Jewish names did not change their names when they became part of the Jewish nation. However, nowadays, that is no longer the case, and so it is normal presently in most cases for gerim to become Avraham, Ovadyah, etc.

Avram became Avraham, and Sarai became Sarah.

Why did this custom change, and why don't converts Hebraize their existing English name and add a letter of God's name the way that Abraham our Patriarch did?

Also, why do gerim nowadays become Avraham, etc., because if there is nothing inherently wrong with using non-Jewish names back then, so what is wrong with using them now?

msh210
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Adam Mosheh
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  • Can you source this saying of R Miller? – Double AA Feb 19 '12 at 22:33
  • related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/78/759 – Double AA Feb 19 '12 at 22:33
  • @DoubleAA - Done. – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 22:35
  • Perhaps because changing one's legal name is a big hassle and the need isn't clear? Yitro and Ruth didn't change their names. – Monica Cellio Feb 19 '12 at 22:55
  • @MonicaCellio - don't put your answer in the comments section. – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:02
  • @Shmuel Brill - what did you change in your edit to my question? – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:03
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    @Adam It looks like he hyperlinked the word 'said' – Double AA Feb 19 '12 at 23:05
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    @Adam Also, consider changing the title to be more specific, like: Converts' retaining their Non-Jewish names, or: Name changes post-conversion. – Double AA Feb 19 '12 at 23:07
  • DoubleAA is correct! – ertert3terte Feb 19 '12 at 23:13
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    Okay thanks rabosai, now I finally learned how to view the edit history! – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:34
  • @DoubleAA - I don't want to do that, because I did not intend that this topic would deals with converts only. Also BTs and FFBs who were given a different English name because their parents wanted them (for better or for worse) to be able to integrate normally into American society. – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:40
  • Adam, I posted it as a comment and not an answer because it is speculative. (I can't cite sources other then generically waving my hands about converts I know who've said as much.) But ok, I'll post it as an answer. – Monica Cellio Feb 19 '12 at 23:43
  • @Vram - Because that is the name by which he is known, and besides it being a tircha to have to inform everyone once you change it, it could also lead to awkward situations (which name should someone go by) or uncomfortable ones (non-Jew saying that your name is foreign). Also, aside for certain religious purposes (such as aliyah latorah, being an eid and having to sign a document, or being named in a mi shebeirach), there is otherwise no need to change one's name even in a Jewish setting. – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:46
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    And it is clear from the gemara that certain tannaim kept their Greek or Roman names and just Hebraized them. Nowadays most American Jews don't go by their Hebrew names. Yesh lehatzdik minhag zu. – Adam Mosheh Feb 19 '12 at 23:46
  • IIRC, I heard beshem Rav Moshe Feinstein that kodem Matan Torah, the names were important and our Avos had certain names that had meanings behind them indicating that they were holy people. For example - Yitzchak is an acronym for Yesharim, Tzadikim, Chasidim, and Kedoshim. But post- giving of the torah, it is not our names that indicates our morality, but our thoughts, deeds, and actions. True, names are sometimes used in ritual context, and people are named after their ancestors. But we are judged based on our own actions, not on the tzidkut or risha of our progenitors. Cf:Ezekiel chptr. 18. – Adam Mosheh Mar 26 '12 at 20:11
  • *One might add, however, even Yishmael and Esav were descended from very righteous individuals, but they did not follow the ways of their fathers and therefore did not merit to be the progenitors to the Jewish People. – Adam Mosheh Mar 26 '12 at 20:16
  • somewhat related - http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/17030/1059 – Adam Mosheh Jun 19 '12 at 20:21
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    What evidence do you have that people commonly do change their names? Note: adopting a Hebrew name where none was previously present is not the same thing. – Monica Cellio Jun 19 '12 at 20:32
  • @MonicaCellio - The name previously present was their name. You can transliterate it into Hebrew, and *POOF* it becomes Hebraicized. I personally believe that this is a name change and not a name acquisition. – Adam Mosheh Jun 19 '12 at 20:39
  • @AdamMosheh, maybe we're talking about two different things. John Doe converts to Judaism and aquires the Hebrew name Shmuel ben Avraham. He's still John Doe secularly. This is what I've seen from every convert I know. Your question seems to be saying that common practice is for him to give up the John Doe name, which is what I'm asking you to support. – Monica Cellio Jun 19 '12 at 21:05
  • @MonicaCellio - AFAICT, he is John Doe Shmuel ben Avraham. He gains a new name, but doesn't necessarily lose his old one. – Adam Mosheh Jun 20 '12 at 00:29
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    @AdamMosheh, I have never heard of anybody concatenating the names like that. In my experience he is still John Doe at work, on his driver's license, on his taxes, to his family, etc, and he is Shmuel ben Avraham when called for an aliya, under the chuppah, at his funeral, etc. I know at least a couple dozen converts across O, C, and R, and none of them changed their secular-facing names to add their Hebrew names. – Monica Cellio Jun 20 '12 at 02:15
  • Okay, but why not? – Adam Mosheh Jun 20 '12 at 02:19

3 Answers3

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The Rambam (Hilchot Teshuva 2:5) writes:

מדרכי התשובה להיות השב צועק תמיד לפני ה', ...ומשנה שמו, כלומר שאני אחר ואיני אותו האיש שעשה אותן המעשים

It seems from the Rambam that changing one's name has some sort of psychological effect. I understand it as a constant reminder that you aren't the same person as you were before; there's something different about you now. Similarly, a convert would be constantly reminded of his new way of life by his new name.

Baal Shemot Tovot
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  • I also like your answer, Vram. – Adam Mosheh Mar 26 '12 at 20:13
  • It seems it is not just different (generally), but that the person is disconnected from his past sins. But what does that have to do with a convert? Moreover, the Rambam (ostensibly) gets this from the gemara in Rosh HaShanah 16b but there the context is not about sin at all, but about removing an evil decree (for which a name change is effective) – Curiouser Jun 19 '12 at 23:37
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I don't know if it is in fact normative for converts today to change their names. I know at least a couple dozen converts across the spectrum, and the only one who made a name change didn't do anything legally -- she started using her middle name because she found her given name (Christina) awkward. As for converts in torah, Avraham and Sarah changed their names but Yitro and Ruth did not, so it seems like there's precedent either way. (Also, God changed Avraham and Sarah's names; they didn't decide that themselves.) So I dispute the premise of the question.

As for why people might choose not to do this today: changing one's legal name is a hassle! If it's not part of marriage then you have to go to court, and then you have to update a bunch of legal documents and employer records and insurance policies and all sorts of other stuff. If you've published under the old name, then you have to figure out how to make that transition too if it still matters to you. (Blogs are easy; prior print or academic publications, not so much.) Since there's not a strong need (else more people would do it) and there's no reason to think God cares about people's secular names, why do it when you'll use your (new) Hebrew name, not your secular name, in ritual contexts anyway? Isn't that enough of a new name?

Monica Cellio
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  • I like your answer, good thinking. Look at what I commented on my question in which I quoted Reb Moshe. In a post- Matan Torah world, I think he expands on the point you suggested. – Adam Mosheh Mar 26 '12 at 20:13
  • However, on the other hand, just because something is difficult doesn't necessarily mean that it is not something that Hashem wants people to do. Avraham's name was initially Avram, after all. – Adam Mosheh Mar 28 '12 at 18:02
  • @AdamMosheh, God commanded Avra(ha)m's name change; is there any reason to believe that God wants us to change names on our own? Or that He cares about secular names (when we have both those and Hebrew names)? – Monica Cellio Mar 28 '12 at 18:57
  • @Monica_Cellio ... I'm not sure. – Adam Mosheh Mar 29 '12 at 19:08
  • Re Rus - see Malbim to Rus 1:4 - says that the Gemara is bothered why she didn't change her name. – Y     e     z May 23 '14 at 02:40
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In my very limited Israeli experience, some converts change their names and some do not - but what's significant is that the choice to change the name has to do with a desire to symbolically disown your previous life, your previous identity. This often (though not always) coincides with:

  • Disconnecting from non-religious/non-Jewish friends.
  • Moving into some religious commune or family.
  • Moving someplace else in the country.
  • Changing one's appearance, e.g. growing facial hair.
  • Changing one's style of dress, to give clearer fashion markers of religious people.

Some of these also happen in the reverse direction when religious people become secular or atheist (Chozrim be-She'ela as opposed to Chozrim bi-Tshuva is a common term), although a name change is less common in that direction, I believe.

einpoklum
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