A person's name is a very important in every culture. We find many customs, beliefs, and meanings associated with names. In many societies, a person and there are considered a single identity. Hence, we find the idea that the fate of a person can be influenced by their name. This idea appears in the Bible: for example Avram's name is changed to Avraham, Sarai becomes Sarah, Jacob receives the name Israel, and Hoshea's name is changed to Joshua. Thus, a name is not an arbitrary sequence of letters, but in the opinion of mystics, expresses a person's inner essence and is retained even after death.

Often, people wish to know the meaning of their name and its origins, and to trace the evolution of the names in their family. But we actually cannot be sure where a name comes from or what it means, unless we have evidence such as original documents like personal records recorded at the time the name was given / changed, or official documents stored in an archive or handed down in the family. Thousands of articles and books have been devoted to the study of families and names but even that large body of research does not shed light on the source and origin of every name or last name.

My lecture examines the phenomenon of giving Hebrew names to children in Israel Druze society. It examines the scale and reasons for this trend, which is related to fashion, sociolinguistic, and political-sociolinguistic issues. Language contact, especially between Arabic and Hebrew and the status of the Hebrew language in the eyes of Arabs and Druze in Israel are also discussed.

Conference Title

The Twelfth International Conference on Jewish Names

Conference Country

United States of America

Conference Date

March 18, 2015 - March 18, 2015

Conference Sponsor

Bar-Ilan University - The Faculty of Jewish Studies