Mindl: Is it Jewish or Hebrew?
Gene Starn
came to the U.S. Her Yiddish name was Mindl. What would her Hebrew
name have been? Or would that also be Mindl?
Gene
mailto:gen...@earthlink.net
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Mathilde Tagger
Gene Starn wrote:
>My wife's aunt from Romania was called Minnie and then Mina when she
>came to the U.S. Her Yiddish name was Mindl. What would her Hebrew
>name have been? Or would that also be Mindl?
According to S.Gorr:Jewish Personal Names. Avotaynu, 1992:
Minnie, Mina and Mindl derive all from the Feminine Hebrew (not Biblical)
name: "Menuha" which means "quite"- "peaceful"- "restful".
Shalom,
Mathilde Tagger
Jerusalem, Israel
mailto:tag...@actcom.co.il
MMB...@aol.com
grandmother, who was also Mindl in Poland. In the US she was known as
Minnie. My mother, who had delusions of grandeur in many arenas of her
life, insisted the name was really Minna. No evidence of that.
Grandmother's gravestone reads "Minnie."
I have heard two explanations of the origin of the name Mindl. One: it is
a derivation of Wilhelmina, shortened to Mina, the Yiddish diminutive
morphing into Mindl.
Two: according to Rabbi Gorrs' book on Jewish Personal names: it comes
from the Hebrew name Menucha, the female variation of Menachem. Note the
similarity between Mindl and the Yiddish name often associated with
Menachem: Mendel.
A cousin of mine is also named Mindl for my grandmother -- English name
Mildred. She was the person who informed me that I was mistaken in my
belief that our Hebrew name was Mindl -- that it is Yiddish and that women
were not necessarily provided with Hebrew names in Europe because it was
not expected that they would be called up to the Torah. This was before I
knew about the relationship of the name to Menucha. Cousin Mildred said
that since we didn't have a Hebrew name, we could really choose our own,
perhaps Malka. What did it mean, I asked. Queen I was told. That works
for me! Regards,
Mila Mindl Malka Begun
Researching:
ORLIK, TALANSKY: Talnoye -- Ukraine
BEFELER, GRACHNIAK, GOLDBERG, KAMIONKA, PIEKARSZ: Czemierniki, Parzcew,
Miedzyrzec Podlaski, Radzyn, Lukow, Deblin -- Poland
mailto:MMB...@AOL.COM
Judith Romney Wegner
>came to the U.S. Her Yiddish name was Mindl. What would her Hebrew
>name have been? Or would that also be Mindl?
>
>
My (Anglo-Jewish) mother ('aleha ha-shalom) was named Minnie; my father
(Polish-born) often called her Mindl as an affectionate nickname. My
sister claims Mum once said that her Hebrew name was Malka. But on her
ketubbah it says Miriam! (Maybe she was actually "Miriam Malka.") This
neatly illustrates the problem of our female ancestors' names -- there was
often no Hebrew name at all, because there was no traditional ritual
equivalent to the circumcision ceremony, in which the naming of the
child(usually with a Hebrew rather than Yiddish namej) is part of the
ceremonial liturgy.
If your wife's aunt had a Hebrew name at all, the best bets are probably
Miriam and Malka. But many Jewish girls in Yiddish-speaking communities
were given only the Yiddish name -- so she may have been just plain Mindl
all along.
Judith Romney Wegner
mailto:j...@Brown.edu
Perets Mett
version of Minda (spelt in Yiddish with an Alef at the end). In my
wife's family that is definitely the official version of the name.
Mindl, Mina, and Minnie all seem to be derivatives of Minda.
None of the Mindas or Mindls in my wife's and my families had an
associated Hebrew name. This accords with the well attested fact
that women frequently were given Yiddish names only,with no Hebrew
'equivalent'.
Perets Mett
London
mailto:P.M...@OPEN.AC.UK
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