Conference taveng::bagels

       
       re .0:
       
       Aron is a Jewish name if the person who has the name is Jewish;
       otherwise, it isn't.
       
       --Mr Topaz

    But aren't some names jewish in origin? A friend of mine
    named Levin said that her name came from the Levites descending
    from Jacob (Something like that). Maybe it is spelled Aaron. 

       re .2:
       
       We might have a cultural misunderstanding here (or maybe not),
       as node TENERE is in Valbonne.
       
       In the US, you really don't hear much about the ethnic origin of
       names, probably because it's too easy to make erroneous
       conclusions about the bearer of the name.  In fact, some people
       consider it improper to ask about the origin of names.  In Europe,
       there seems to be a different attitude---a person with the family
       name 'Steenbeke' would be recognized as coming from a Flemish
       family, for example, and there isn't much cultural opprobrium for
       making such an association.  Although some names are generally
       perceived to be Jewish names, there are so many exceptions that
       it's not worthwhile to speculate.
       
       --Mr Topaz 

Re: .0, .2

Perhaps if you explain the context of the question, the answer will be more
clear. In other words, what prompted your curiosity about this name?

Jem

    I certainly did not mean to offend anyone. This was my grandmothers
    last name (she is no longer living). My mother always said that it is
    a jewish name. I have a lot of respect for accomplishments of jewish
    people in history and I was just curious if some of my ancestors were
    jewish. I guess there is a more appropriate way of finding out.

    	re .0 Don't pay any attention to these people :-)
    Aron is often a Jewish name, I have distant relatives with both a last
    and a first name like that. It's a perfectly valid question, though
    it's not always possible to get the exact answer. There certainly are
    "Jewish" names around like Cohen, Rabinowitz, Katz, etc. Most of the
    people with these names are probably Jewish by blood, though not all.
    Just like any other type of a name, like Ferraro, or McDaniel, or
    Brown.
    
    DG

As the others have said, it could be.

Not only that, but according to jewish law (halacha) if this was your mother's
mother and if she was jewish, then you are too  8^{).

A tenative welcome to the club.
Gavriel

    thanks!

    Many Jewish names (and others) were shortened or modified at
    immigration time.  Your ancestor may hav been Aronowsky, etc.  Or
    the name may have an entirely different origin.  No way to tell
    without a geneology.

    Not that it proves much but would the Germanic sounding name
    "Boeggeman" (my Grandmother's maiden name) have any possible Jewish
    connections?
    
    My mother's maiden name was "Irvine" but that's Scottish in origin.
    
    Mark

    What part of Germany did she come from? The reason why I'm asking, is
    that once the origin is established, you could try and ask somebody
    originating from there, as well. Maybe I could help in pointing you to
    somebody. To my Austrian ear, the name sounds German German, but not
    "Jewish".
    
    Advisingly yours,
    
    Chris

    Re .11:
    
    Thanks for the response, Chris. It turns out that Boeggeman is probably
    a North German name from Westfalen or Lubeck along the Baltic and
    apparently goes back to the 17th century according to my genealogical
    sources.
    
    Just out of curiosity, my father's mother's maiden name was Metzendorf.
    "Metzen" I think is "Mason" (like in Steinmetzen) but I can't remember
    what "dorf" is....can you help my failing memory for German?
    
    Thanks again.
    
    Mark

Mark,

Dorf means village (as in D�sseldorf).  It is probably a place name.  Most
likely Metzendorf became a family name when someone moved from Metzendorf to
somewhere else, before the time of fixed family names.  That person would have
been known as So-and-so from Metzendorf.  Eventually the name "from" gets
dropped.  While this gives some indication that at least one ancestor hailed
from someplace (which at that time was) called Metzendorf, it does not make
tracing that person to Metzendorf any easier because if s/he had any surname
there it was probably NOT Metzendorf.

Gavriel
You might get better response to this kind of query in VIXVAX::GENEALOGY (which
I have been lax on keeping up with  8^{).

    Re .13:
    
    Thanks for the info.....I've been running simultaneous (more or
    less) in GENEALOGY as well with pretty good results.
    
    I just felt more comfortable here intially anyway exploring any
    Judaic connections to those family names.
    
    Thanks again.
    
    Mark

    I have a question on the translations of the names for Adam's lineage
    in Genesis 5.  Could someone tell me if these are correct?
    
    thanks,
    Mike
    
Name           Translation
----           -----------
Adam           Man
Seth           Appointed
Enosh          Mortal
Kenan          Sorrowing
Mahalalel      Blessed God
Jared          Shall Descend
Enoch          Dedicated or Teaching
Methuselah     His Death Shall Bring
Lamech         Power or Disparing
Noah           Rest