Hould American Jews Change Names? Press Discusses Pros and Cons

Iore Cohens and Levys in America Than There Were in Europe

The decision of Justice Aaron J. very, permitting Everett Levy to change his name to Leroy, but adding to it a strong rebuke is widely commented upon in the Jewish press.

“The rebuke which our friend, Justice Aaron J. Levy, has administered to the Jew who applied for permission to change his name, which is, incidentally, the name of the Judge, to a more American name, was indeed justified, as his action was correct,” writes the Jewish Morning Journal” editorially.

“The Levy who desires to become Leroy received a lesson with which a great majority of Jews and Christians who read it will be in agreement. However, the right of a man to change his family name is beyond question and the wise judge gave him permission to do so. Very few will be inclined to applaud such a change. On the other hand, however, the very same thing is being done by so many Jews and among them a large proportion of loyal and devoted Jews, that the practice cannot be condemned unconditionally.

“Nine-tenths of the Jewish family names today are non-Jewish, anyway, although we have grown so accustomed to many of them that they have to us a Jewish sound. Goldberg, Silberstein and Rosenzweig are no more Jewish than Smith, Brown and Johnson. Pinto and Luzzatti tell the same story, as Nortchkoff and Szereszewski. Jews in Germany have adopted German family names, Jews in Italy, Italian names, and in Poland, Polish names.

“When government orders were issued in such countries as Russia, Austria and others, or when the ‘Gzeirah’ was issued that every Jew must bear a family name, a rush was made for all kinds of euphonious names or for distinguished names wherever it was permitted. In many cases the government officials had to be persuaded for monetary considerations to permit the applicants to assume a nice sounding name. The poor or the stingy who did not pay the price were burdened with ridiculous and ugly names, from which they could not free themselves later.

“Here in America in this respect we have gained more than we have lost. Not in Russia nor in other European countries were there among Jews so many Cohens and Levys as here. Tens of thousands of Cohens and Levys who, in the old country had different names, that is, non-Jewish names, have thrown overboard the old names and assumed the Jewish family name. For every Levy here who assumes a different name, we probably have a score of those who have taken the name of Levy. The sum total is more satisfactory than at the time when it was stated, as is recorded by Ezra, upon the return of the Jews from Babylon to Palestine that, ‘of the sons of Levy I found no name,'” the “Jewish Morning Journal” concludes.

An attitude of scorn toward those who change their names is taken by “The Day.”

“Justice Levy believes that by his decision permitting Everett Levy to change his name, he has helped his people to be ‘rid of him.’ This would be no misfortune. The misfortune is that such changed Jews, try as they are, secular as they are, flimsy as they are, unaffiliated and unconnected, remain in the Jewish group. They contaminate the air. They rear a generation similar to themselves, empty of spirit, colorless, uncertain. To him no cause is holy and no ideal dear. All is for exchange, all is for sale, even the last, one’s very name.

“In our exaggerated secularity and sobriety all this appears as a jest. What’s in a name? It may be true, however, in circumstances where not the Jewish name, but the other name is important, the jest becomes a bad omen,” the paper declares.