American Language (99 page)

To which may be added a few specimens from Nebraska, collected by two of Dr. Louise Pound’s disciples:
⁸²

The non-British American’s willingness to anglicize his patronymic is far exceeded by his eagerness to give “American” baptismal names to his children. The favorite given-names of the old country almost disappear in the first native-born generation. The Irish immigrants who flocked in after the famine of 1845–47 bearing such names as
Patrick, Terence
and
Dennis
named their American-born sons
John, George, William
and
James
. The Germans, in the same way, abandoned
Otto, August, Hermann, Ludwig, Rudolph, Hein-rich, Wolfgang, Wilhelm, Johann
and
Franz
. For many of these they substituted English equivalents:
Lewis, Henry, William, John, Frank
, and so on, including
Raymond
for
Raimund
.
⁸³
In the room of others they began giving their offspring fanciful names:
Roy
,
Lester, Milton
and the like. Later on they abjured that madness, and today, save for an occasional
Rudolph, Fritz
or
Otto
, their given-names are hardly distinguishable from the general.
⁸⁴

The first Jews to come to America in any number were of the Sephardic moiety; the favorite given-names among them were
Solomon, Benjamin, Daniel, David, Elias, Emmanuel, Nathan, Isaac, Nathaniel
and
Mendes
, and these are pretty well preserved among their descendants today. But the German Jews who came in after 1848 were considerably less faithful to the ancestral
Samuel, Jonas, Isaac, Moses, Isidor, Israel
and
Leon
, most of which have been gradually disappearing. In the first American-born generation there were some rather fantastic attempts at substitution,
e.g., Morton
for
Moses, Leo
or
Lee
for
Leon
, and
Seymour
or
Sanders
for
Samuel
, but in the main the old names were simply abandoned, and American names adopted instead. The later-coming Polish and Russian Jews went much faster and much further. Even the most old-fashioned of them, says Abraham Cahan, changed
Yosel
to
Joseph, Yankel
to
Jacob, Liebel
to
Louis, Feivel
to
Philip, Itzik
to
Isaac, Ruven
to
Robert
, and
Moishe
or
Motel
to
Morris
as soon as they began to find their way about, and presently their sons burst forth as
Sidney, Irving, Milton, Stanley
and
Monroe
. Their grandsons are
John, Charles, Harold, James, Edward, Thomas
, and even
Mark, Luke
and
Matthew
, and their daughters are
Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Alice
and
Edith
. In Baltimore, probably due to Southern influence,
Carol
and
Shirley
are favorite given-names for girls among the Polish Jews. In the Middle West, prompted by Scandinavian examples, there are Jewish
Huldas, Karens
and
Helgas
. In the New York telephone directory (Winter, 1934–5) I find Cohens male named
Allen, Archie, Arthur, Bert, Carl, Charles, Clarence, DeWitt, Edgar, Edward, Edwin,
Elliot, Ellis, Ernest, Felix, Frank, Frederick, George, Godfrey, Harry,
⁸⁵
Harvey, Henry, Herbert, Howard, Irving, Jack, Jacques, James, Jerome, Jules, Lawrence, Lee, Lester, Malcolm, Mark, Martin, Marvin, Mathias, Maximilian, Maxwell, Michael, Mitchell, Mortimer, Morton, Murray, Norman, Oscar, Paul, Philip, Ralph, Sidney, Theodore, Victor
and
William
, and Cohens female named
Amelia, Annabel, Annette, Bessie, Betty, Birdie, Charlotte, Dorothy, Elizabeth, Emily, Estelle, Ethel, Florence, Gertrude, Helen, Irene, Jennie, Josephine, Lucille, Mae, Mary, Myra, Rae, Renee, Rose, Sophia, Sue
and
Sylvia
. There are but three
Moses
Cohens, three
Moes
and one
Moise
, but there are seven
Lawrences
, eight
Herberts
and fifteen
Henrys
. Among the ladies there is not a single
Rachel, Miriam
or
Rebecca
, and the four surviving
Sarahs
are overborne by three
Sadies
, two
Saras
and one
Sally
.

Any other list of Jewish names would show a similar disappearance of the older forms. I turn to a history of Zeta Beta Tau, the Jewish college fraternity, published in its
Quarterly
for April, 1931, and find the following given-names among Jews who are otherwise extremely conscious of their Jewishness:
Vernon, Lawrence, Clarence, Kay, Randolph, Pierce, Seymour, Lionel, Ernest, Tracy, Willis, Mortimer, Jules, Deane, Allyn, Lazarre, Les
and
Bert
, not to mention
Frederick, Edward, George, William, Charles, Harold, Richard, Ralph, Walter, Theodore, Arnold
and
Alan
. In a list including the names of more than 275 members I find but one
Abraham
and one
Samuel
, and not a single
Moses
or
Isaac
. In another issue of the same magazine is a somewhat spoofish article on current Jewish given-names.
⁸⁶
The authors divide them into three classes, the Biblical, the mercantile, and the baronial. “Examples of the first group,” they say, “though not entirely extinct, have about lapsed into disuse.” The mercantile names “are those of children who are bound to succeed in the world of affairs.”

The authors divide their baronial group into four subgroups — Anglo-Saxon family names,
e.g., Sydney, Melvin
and
Murray
; names taken from the map of England,
e.g., Chester, Ely
and
Hastings
; aromatic French names,
e.g., Lucien, Jacques
and
Armand
; and surnames of popular heroes,
e.g., Lincoln, Sherman
and
Lee
. “The eldest son,” they say, “is
Abraham
; then in order follow
Hyman, Julius, Sydney, Leonard
, and finally the élite
Llewelyn.
” They close with a warning that Jewish given-names begin to grow so incongruous that they may do damage to their bearers.

Among the East Side Jews of New York (now mainly translated to the Bronx) any youth showing a talent for music is likely to abandon his original given-name for
Misha, Jasha
or
Sasha
, all of them Russian diminutives; and among the younger female
intelligentsia Sonia
is a prime favorite. But these are probably only passing fashions.

The Latin immigrants to the United States have had even less difficulty with their given-names than with their surnames, and have thus changed them more rarely than the Jews. The Spanish
Jorge, José, Juan, Jaimé, Francisco, Manuel, Ignacio, Pedro, Tomas
and
Antonio
have fared pretty well in this country, and in the regions where there is a relatively large Spanish-speaking population they are even pronounced more or less correctly. Occasionally, along the border,
Francisco
becomes
Frank, José
becomes
Joe, Pedro
becomes
Pete
, and
Santiago
(not
Jaimé
) becomes
Jim
, but
Juan
seldom if ever changes his name to
John
, and
Jesus (hay-soos
, with the accent on the second syllable) commonly sticks to his name, despite the fact that it seems half-ridiculous and half-scandalous to most Americans.
María
is a frequent given-name for men in Mexico, but it is seldom
heard in the American Southwest. Sometimes it is changed to the more masculine
Mariano
, and sometimes it is quietly dropped for something else.
Manuel
and
Ignacio
are never changed.
⁸⁷
Manoel
is a favorite given-name among the Portuguese, and the first-born son almost always bears it, just as the first-born daughter is
Maria
. But in the New Bedford region the Portuguese immigrants commonly change
Manoel
to
Manuel
, and
Maria
to
Mary
. Other frequent changes are from
José
to
Joseph
or
Joe
, from
Francisco
to
Frank
, from
Lourenço
to
Lawrence
, from
João
to
John
or
Jack
, from
Rafael
to
Ralph
, from
Guilherme
to
William
or
Bill
, from
Pedro
to Peter, from
Margarida
to
Margaret
or
Maggie
, from
Ignês
to
Agnes
, from
Amélia
to
Emma
, from
Ana
to
Annie
, and from
Izabel
to
Lizzie, Betty
or
Elizabeth
.
⁸⁸
Among the Rumanians, similarly,
Ioan
becomes
John
,
Marin
becomes
Martin
or
Marian, Dǎnilǎ
and
Dumitrue
become
Daniel
or
Dan
,
Mihai
becomes
Mike
,
Gheorghe
becomes
George, Florea
becomes
Frank, Floarea
becomes
Florence
or
Flora, Cataline
becomes
Katie, Maria
becomes
Mary
, and
Lina
, rather curiously, becomes
Helen
.
⁸⁹
The Italian given-names fare pretty well in the United States. Most Americans call any strange Italian
Joe
or
John
, but it does not outrage them to discover that his real name is
Antonio, Andrea, Carlo, Bartolomeo, Uberto, Nicolo, Tomaso
or
Vincenzo. Giuseppe, Giacomo
and
Giovanni
, being harder for them, are commonly changed to
Joseph, Jack
and
John
. In the second generation almost every
Vincenzo
becomes a
Vincent
, every
Riccardo
a
Richard
, every
Giuseppe
a
Joseph
and every
Tomaso
a
Thomas
, but the influence of the priests keeps the Italians, like the Mexicans, from venturing into the gaudy nomenclature of the Jews. The charming Italian names for women,
e.g., Antonietta, Bianca, Carlotta, Costanza, Letizia
and
Giuliana
, show signs of surviving in America: they are sometimes, though still rarely, borrowed by Americans of the older stocks. The Scandinavian names, in the
main, are likewise under only light pressure,
e.g., Gustaf, Erik, Olof
(or
Olaf), Nils, Anders, Magnus, Gunnar, Axel, Holger, Knut, Jens, Harald
and
Henrik. Hjalmar
is sometimes changed to
Elmer
or
Henry
, and
Sven
to
Stephen
, but the rest appear likely to survive. So do some of the Scandinavian women’s names,
e.g., Hedvig, Sigrid, Helma, Magdalene, Ingeborg
and
Karen
(or
Karin
). But a great many of the Scandinavians born in this country, of course, bear “American” names. The present Governor of Minnesota (1935) is
Floyd B
. Olson, and his Secretary of State is
Mike
Holm. However, it should be noted that the
B
in Governor Olson’s name stands for
Bjerstjerne
,
⁹⁰
and that among the other Olsons and Olsens in “Who’s Who in America” are a
Nils
, an
Ingerval
, a
Karl
, a
Carl
, an
Ernst
, two
Oscars
and two
Juliuses
. The Finns abandon their native given-names much more willingly. Most of the children born in this country are given “American” names, and even among their elders
Kalle
and
Kaarlo
are commonly changed to
Charley
or
Charles, Jussi
and
Juhana
to
John, Matti
to
Matthew, Jaakko
to
Jack, Taavetti
to
David, Yrgö
to
George, Antti
to
Andrew
or
Andy, Kerttu
to
Gertrude, Maija
to
Mary, Lilja
to
Lillian, Elly
to
Ellen
and
Aili
to
Aileen
. The ineffable
Elmer
often displaces
Ilmari
and
Raymond
takes the place of
Reino
. For
Väinö
the common substitute is
Wayne
. Sometimes a
Kalle
, on changing his name to
Charley
, finds the combination of sounds impossible, and must make shift with
Sali
. Similarly, a
Liisa
, Americanized to
Lizzie
, calls herself
Lisi
, for there is no
z
-sound in the Finnish phonology. But she writes it
Lizzie
.
⁹¹