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Goldstein-Goren Series in American Jewish History
A Rosenberg by Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America
A groundbreaking history of the practice of Jewish name changing in the 20th century, showcasing just how much is in a name.
Our thinking about Jewish name changing tends to focus on cliché ambitious movie stars who adopted glamorous new names or insensitive Ellis Island officials who changed immigrants’ names for them. But as Kirsten Fermaglich elegantly reveals, the real story is much more profound. Scratching below the surface, she examines previously unexplored name change petitions to upend the clichés, revealing that in twentieth-century New York City, Jewish name changing was actually a broad-based and voluntary thousands of ordinary Jewish men, women, and children legally changed their names in order to respond to an upsurge of antisemitism. Rather than trying to escape their heritage or “pass” as non-Jewish, most name-changers remained active members of the Jewish community. While name changing allowed Jewish families to avoid antisemitism and achieve white middle-class status, the practice also created pain within families and became a stigmatized, forgotten aspect of American Jewish culture. This first history of name changing in the United States offers a previously unexplored window into American Jewish life throughout the twentieth century. A Rosenberg by Any Other Name demonstrates how historical debates about immigration, antisemitism and race, class mobility, gender and family, the boundaries of the Jewish community, and the power of government are reshaped when name changing becomes part of the conversation. Mining court documents, oral histories, archival records, and contemporary literature, Fermaglich argues convincingly that name changing had a lasting impact on American Jewish culture. Ordinary Jews were forced to consider changing their names as they saw their friends, family, classmates, co-workers, and neighbors do so. Jewish communal leaders and civil rights activists needed to consider name changers as part of the Jewish community, making name changing a pivotal part of early civil rights legislation. And Jewish artists created critical portraits of name changers that lasted for decades in American Jewish culture. This book ends with the disturbing realization that the prosperity Jews found by changing their names is not as accessible for the Chinese, Latino, and Muslim immigrants who wish to exercise that right today.
Winner, 2019 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical Society
Our thinking about Jewish name changing tends to focus on cliché ambitious movie stars who adopted glamorous new names or insensitive Ellis Island officials who changed immigrants’ names for them. But as Kirsten Fermaglich elegantly reveals, the real story is much more profound. Scratching below the surface, she examines previously unexplored name change petitions to upend the clichés, revealing that in twentieth-century New York City, Jewish name changing was actually a broad-based and voluntary thousands of ordinary Jewish men, women, and children legally changed their names in order to respond to an upsurge of antisemitism. Rather than trying to escape their heritage or “pass” as non-Jewish, most name-changers remained active members of the Jewish community. While name changing allowed Jewish families to avoid antisemitism and achieve white middle-class status, the practice also created pain within families and became a stigmatized, forgotten aspect of American Jewish culture. This first history of name changing in the United States offers a previously unexplored window into American Jewish life throughout the twentieth century. A Rosenberg by Any Other Name demonstrates how historical debates about immigration, antisemitism and race, class mobility, gender and family, the boundaries of the Jewish community, and the power of government are reshaped when name changing becomes part of the conversation. Mining court documents, oral histories, archival records, and contemporary literature, Fermaglich argues convincingly that name changing had a lasting impact on American Jewish culture. Ordinary Jews were forced to consider changing their names as they saw their friends, family, classmates, co-workers, and neighbors do so. Jewish communal leaders and civil rights activists needed to consider name changers as part of the Jewish community, making name changing a pivotal part of early civil rights legislation. And Jewish artists created critical portraits of name changers that lasted for decades in American Jewish culture. This book ends with the disturbing realization that the prosperity Jews found by changing their names is not as accessible for the Chinese, Latino, and Muslim immigrants who wish to exercise that right today.
Winner, 2019 Saul Viener Book Prize, given by the American Jewish Historical Society
251 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 2, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 22, 2018
I had high hopes for this book, but it fell a bit short of my expectations. While the first chapter was interesting, there was a huge amount of repetition throughout the book. I feel like the book could have been about 100 pages shorter or would have been better if it had followed families throughout their name change process and seen how it changed their lives.
I also feel that the book could have improved with a stronger editor as the strings of information seem to not be completely connected. Expanding on the discrimination of the 1940s through 60s would have also increased my interested in this book.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review via Netgalley.com
I also feel that the book could have improved with a stronger editor as the strings of information seem to not be completely connected. Expanding on the discrimination of the 1940s through 60s would have also increased my interested in this book.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review via Netgalley.com
October 30, 2018
This book covers an interesting topic, and the reader learns a lot about why Jews changed their names during certain decades, but overall it was a dry read. It was like reading a research paper that kept repeating the same things over and over again. A magazine article or long newspaper story would better suit a general public reader.
(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author.)
(Note: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher or author.)
October 7, 2021
Second reading. I forget so much the first time around. Family resonance for me: my dad was a featured trumpet player in the Big Band/Swing era and his birth name was too much of a marker despite blond hair and blue eyes. His siblings kept their birth names.
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Loved this book. Looking at other reviews here, some people had different takes on it. Boring (wha?), too scholarly, and so on. It was a scholarly book, Fermaglich is an associate professor of history and to my knowledge no historian has taken this on. I know about Jews in the 19th c in Germany being forced to change their names. But this book is even more specific. I love when a phenomenon is noticed, researched and written about.
There was a particular historical time of Jews changing their names--esp. in the 1930s, 1940s and immediately after the war. The millions of eastern European and Russian immigrants had come 1890--1920 and their children were entering the labor market in the 30s and 30s. It happens mostly in NY because that is where most Jewish immigrants settled.
My father used to tell me about the antisemitism that existed in the US from his boyhood in the teens to his own name change in the mid-30s. And nose jobs! no more on that.
Jews changing their names was a sociological phenomenon confined mostly to these 30 years. Lots of reasons: a name like Hyman Goldblatt is not a name that any law office or corporation wants on its letterhead. So Henry Blaine. And this was also a time when the children of immigrants--the girls specifically who had learned shorthand and typing were looking for jobs as secretaries. Not only did they need a nonJewish sounding name, but they had to control their hair, maybe get a nose job, and modulate their speech patterns.
This book could have used a bit of editing. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading the same idea in a different paragraph three pages over. Not every historian writes like Bernard Bailyn or Barbara Tuchman. Maybe only 10% of pages cut - from 2oo to 180.
There were stealthy ways to find out if someone named Henry Blaine was Jewish. Applications could ask: what was your mother's maiden name? where were your parents born? Has anyone in your family ever changed their name? This was so egregious that Jewish organizations worked very hard to get these sneaky questions off applications.
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There was another wave of name-changing. In the early 1970s with the second wave of feminism, women were changing their names all over the place. Didn't want their father's name. Or hated their birth name. I was one of those women and now, 40+ years later, I want my old name back.
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Loved this book. Looking at other reviews here, some people had different takes on it. Boring (wha?), too scholarly, and so on. It was a scholarly book, Fermaglich is an associate professor of history and to my knowledge no historian has taken this on. I know about Jews in the 19th c in Germany being forced to change their names. But this book is even more specific. I love when a phenomenon is noticed, researched and written about.
There was a particular historical time of Jews changing their names--esp. in the 1930s, 1940s and immediately after the war. The millions of eastern European and Russian immigrants had come 1890--1920 and their children were entering the labor market in the 30s and 30s. It happens mostly in NY because that is where most Jewish immigrants settled.
My father used to tell me about the antisemitism that existed in the US from his boyhood in the teens to his own name change in the mid-30s. And nose jobs! no more on that.
Jews changing their names was a sociological phenomenon confined mostly to these 30 years. Lots of reasons: a name like Hyman Goldblatt is not a name that any law office or corporation wants on its letterhead. So Henry Blaine. And this was also a time when the children of immigrants--the girls specifically who had learned shorthand and typing were looking for jobs as secretaries. Not only did they need a nonJewish sounding name, but they had to control their hair, maybe get a nose job, and modulate their speech patterns.
This book could have used a bit of editing. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading the same idea in a different paragraph three pages over. Not every historian writes like Bernard Bailyn or Barbara Tuchman. Maybe only 10% of pages cut - from 2oo to 180.
There were stealthy ways to find out if someone named Henry Blaine was Jewish. Applications could ask: what was your mother's maiden name? where were your parents born? Has anyone in your family ever changed their name? This was so egregious that Jewish organizations worked very hard to get these sneaky questions off applications.
-----------
There was another wave of name-changing. In the early 1970s with the second wave of feminism, women were changing their names all over the place. Didn't want their father's name. Or hated their birth name. I was one of those women and now, 40+ years later, I want my old name back.
November 14, 2021
Kirsten Fermaglich clearly put a lot of time and effort into the research for this book and covers the topic of Jewish name-changing in America fairly comprehensively. I thought she did a good job of contextualizing the history through the decades and highlighting the many nuances and diverse impacts of name-changing.
However, the book was quite repetitive and felt like it could have been half the length (and it's not even that long to begin with). I think it stems from an academic style where you state what you are going to say and then back it up with more detailed examples and references, but it didn't work that well here and instead just felt like the same thing was said over and over. Consequently I found it rather dry and difficult to get through even then the actual content was interesting to me.
I would not recommend this book to the general public; I'd guess that the people who will get the most out of it will either be historians or people with a personal interest in the topic.
However, the book was quite repetitive and felt like it could have been half the length (and it's not even that long to begin with). I think it stems from an academic style where you state what you are going to say and then back it up with more detailed examples and references, but it didn't work that well here and instead just felt like the same thing was said over and over. Consequently I found it rather dry and difficult to get through even then the actual content was interesting to me.
I would not recommend this book to the general public; I'd guess that the people who will get the most out of it will either be historians or people with a personal interest in the topic.
August 19, 2020
Sort of thesis’y but not bad thesis’y
October 16, 2021
3.5 stars. Good material, but could have been shorter with less repetition
January 4, 2020
Kirsten Fermaglich argues that those Jewish immigrants and their children who changed their family name during the first half of the 20th century were not forced to do so by officials at Ellis Island but did so voluntarily to escape the economic consequences of antisemitism and thereby join the white middle class. Fermaglich’s thorough examination of name-changing petitions submitted to the New York City Civil Court confirms this thesis, even though the petitions themselves rarely mention antisemitism but rather declare the petitioners' desire to rid themselves of names that were foreign sounding or hard to spell or hard to pronounce—which may also have been true. (The boilerplate language seems to have been stock-in-trade for lawyers who handled these cases, and Fermaglich’s repeated illustrations are, well, repetitious.)
Additionally Fermaglich argues that name-changers generally remained active members of the Jewish community. This argument I found less convincing, although perhaps it works so long as one conceives of Judaism as an ethnic, rather than a religious, grouping. My gut feeling is that name changers were more secularized than non-name changers, that Orthodox synagogues would have more Rosenbergs, and Reform congregations more Roses. But Fermaglich doesn’t seem interested in investigating the question. If a Tennessee boy, brought up among snake handlers, went to college and joined the Unitarians, we might argue that he remained a Protestant because he continued to attend church and serve as a member of a denominational relief organization. But such an argument would be unsatisfying to anyone who takes religion seriously. Besides, as Fermaglich notes (170), African Americans who became Muslims in post-9/11 America, often added Muslim names, even in a hostile environment.
Finally, I was genuinely surprised that Fermaglich did not mention the short story of second-generation Jewish author Thyra Samter Winslow, “A Cycle of Manhattan,” included in Agus Burrell and Bennett Cerf, An Anthology of Famous Stories (1936). Before I read that story as a boy of twelve or so, it hadn’t occurred to me that one might improve his social standing by changing his name. (The Lithuanian characters go from Rosenheimer, to Rosenheim, to Rosen, and finally Ross, abandoning their personal history and distinctiveness in the process.) Even more striking to Fermaglich’s purpose is that a 1923 Literary Digest book review describing the story suggested that Winslow “amputate the Samter” from her name.
Additionally Fermaglich argues that name-changers generally remained active members of the Jewish community. This argument I found less convincing, although perhaps it works so long as one conceives of Judaism as an ethnic, rather than a religious, grouping. My gut feeling is that name changers were more secularized than non-name changers, that Orthodox synagogues would have more Rosenbergs, and Reform congregations more Roses. But Fermaglich doesn’t seem interested in investigating the question. If a Tennessee boy, brought up among snake handlers, went to college and joined the Unitarians, we might argue that he remained a Protestant because he continued to attend church and serve as a member of a denominational relief organization. But such an argument would be unsatisfying to anyone who takes religion seriously. Besides, as Fermaglich notes (170), African Americans who became Muslims in post-9/11 America, often added Muslim names, even in a hostile environment.
Finally, I was genuinely surprised that Fermaglich did not mention the short story of second-generation Jewish author Thyra Samter Winslow, “A Cycle of Manhattan,” included in Agus Burrell and Bennett Cerf, An Anthology of Famous Stories (1936). Before I read that story as a boy of twelve or so, it hadn’t occurred to me that one might improve his social standing by changing his name. (The Lithuanian characters go from Rosenheimer, to Rosenheim, to Rosen, and finally Ross, abandoning their personal history and distinctiveness in the process.) Even more striking to Fermaglich’s purpose is that a 1923 Literary Digest book review describing the story suggested that Winslow “amputate the Samter” from her name.
June 6, 2019
Fermaglich's book was not what I expected. Given the title I was hoping for an analysis of the historical phenomenon of name-changing within the Jewish community in America, but the book is much more narrowly focused on only New York City. In reality the book is an academic study about name-changing not as a cultural phenomenon but rather how it appeared in historical documents.
"The unofficial nature of American antisemitism encourages many Jews to resist discrimination by using bureaucratic name-change petitions to reshape their personal identity, rather than civil rights activism to change an unfair society. Name changing thus offers us a window into the corrosive nature of American antisemitism." 8
"Indeed, name changing may have actually shaped Jews' middle-class status itself." 9
"These historians' discussions of whiteness, however, do not address one of the central elements that sociologists and theorists have identified in white identity: invisibility, the ability of white people to travel through life unmarked and unseen as a race. Another related hallmark of whiteness for many theorists is ethnic options: individuals' ability to select when and where they identity their ethnic origins...Invisibility-and the ethnic options it provided-were crucial to Jews' successful redefinition as white people in the United States at the end of the 20th century.
"The unofficial nature of American antisemitism encourages many Jews to resist discrimination by using bureaucratic name-change petitions to reshape their personal identity, rather than civil rights activism to change an unfair society. Name changing thus offers us a window into the corrosive nature of American antisemitism." 8
"Indeed, name changing may have actually shaped Jews' middle-class status itself." 9
"These historians' discussions of whiteness, however, do not address one of the central elements that sociologists and theorists have identified in white identity: invisibility, the ability of white people to travel through life unmarked and unseen as a race. Another related hallmark of whiteness for many theorists is ethnic options: individuals' ability to select when and where they identity their ethnic origins...Invisibility-and the ethnic options it provided-were crucial to Jews' successful redefinition as white people in the United States at the end of the 20th century.
August 16, 2018
Having first read about Jews changing their surnames in a newspaper article as it pertained to Jews trying to move into select neighborhoods in my city years ago, I thought this book might be an interesting read. And I wasn't disappointed. I know all about name changes having changed my too ethnic first name to a more acceptable English one! People change there names for all sorts of reasons. I'm not Jewish, but had ancestors who were and have read of surnames being changed over the centuries as Jews moved from place to place. I'd always imagined it was to assimilate, much as Germans did (and likely still do) when moving to say, Mexico! A book can likely be written about that, too and perhaps will in the future! I enjoyed the book, but it could have been edited down a bit. it would have been interesting to read how families actually keep track of their own genealogies as they moved from place to place w=changing their names. It's sad, too, that anyone would need to change their names in order to hide who they were. It did help them in the long run, I'm guessing, at least in the U.S. Interesting read.
March 27, 2019
The Jewish path in America has not always been an easy one. The acceptance of Judaism as a mainstream American religion equal to that of others did not begin until World War I, at least according to Jessica Cooperman’s “Making Judaism Safe for America: World War I and the Origins of Religious Pluralism” (New York University Press). Although some acceptance began during the first part of the 20th century, Jews still experienced economic antisemitism even after World War II. Some Jews tried to ease their economic future by changing their names, something discussed in “A Rosenberg By Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America” by Kirsten Fermaglich (New York University Press). Together, the two books offer insights into American Jewish history and the changing perception of Jews by their fellow citizens.
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
July 14, 2024
I found this book by way of the chapter in "People Love Dead Jews" that basically serves as Dara Horn's reaction to "A Rosenberg By Any Other Name."
This book is a product of five-star research into legal records of name changes involving Jewish names in New York. The quality of the writing is less impressive.
My own grandfather changed his name from Sabsowitz to Saxon when he was a teenager. His two older brothers were changing their names at the same time, too. The oldest brother was applying to medical school and didn't think that a Sabsowitz would get accepted, so he went to the other extreme and picked the most gentile name he could conceive of. My grandfather remained an active Orthodox Jew for the rest of his life.
All that is just to say that Fermaglich's research resonates with me because my family connects to it personally, and because the name changes that people made were deeply personal decisions.
I love reading social history that is grounded in large amounts of data, but also where every anecdote brings the real stories of individuals into starkly personal focus. This book has that.
Fermaglich offers a wealth of findings, some validating and others surprising. She offers a range of interpretations to her data and is cautious in her conclusions, wary of limitations of the data.
I'm surprised that at no point does she contend with the possibility that some people wanted names that were simply shorter, because long names are too long. Discussion of Greek name changes would have been relevant in this context.
That said, most of the points I was hoping she would address, she did address at some point in the book.
A worthwhile and quick read.
This book is a product of five-star research into legal records of name changes involving Jewish names in New York. The quality of the writing is less impressive.
My own grandfather changed his name from Sabsowitz to Saxon when he was a teenager. His two older brothers were changing their names at the same time, too. The oldest brother was applying to medical school and didn't think that a Sabsowitz would get accepted, so he went to the other extreme and picked the most gentile name he could conceive of. My grandfather remained an active Orthodox Jew for the rest of his life.
All that is just to say that Fermaglich's research resonates with me because my family connects to it personally, and because the name changes that people made were deeply personal decisions.
I love reading social history that is grounded in large amounts of data, but also where every anecdote brings the real stories of individuals into starkly personal focus. This book has that.
Fermaglich offers a wealth of findings, some validating and others surprising. She offers a range of interpretations to her data and is cautious in her conclusions, wary of limitations of the data.
I'm surprised that at no point does she contend with the possibility that some people wanted names that were simply shorter, because long names are too long. Discussion of Greek name changes would have been relevant in this context.
That said, most of the points I was hoping she would address, she did address at some point in the book.
A worthwhile and quick read.
August 15, 2025
Dust cover hardcover
An interesting look at the 1930s Jews using the local court systems and not Ellis Island, tô change their names sợ that they can present themselves as more American and less foreign. It was a sacrifice needed to assimilate and ascend up into white collar middle class lifestyles. Now that Jews are more accepted, they have educated có ethnics, and they have the numbers, acculturation has opened up as an option tô them, leading to some Jews to change their names tô sound more Jewish, in ăn ethnic revival. Nowadays, Caribbean, Chinese, and Middle Eastern immigrants are playing the name changing game, in ăn echo of New York Jewish history
An interesting look at the 1930s Jews using the local court systems and not Ellis Island, tô change their names sợ that they can present themselves as more American and less foreign. It was a sacrifice needed to assimilate and ascend up into white collar middle class lifestyles. Now that Jews are more accepted, they have educated có ethnics, and they have the numbers, acculturation has opened up as an option tô them, leading to some Jews to change their names tô sound more Jewish, in ăn ethnic revival. Nowadays, Caribbean, Chinese, and Middle Eastern immigrants are playing the name changing game, in ăn echo of New York Jewish history
February 28, 2019
A study of name-changing, its patterns, its blame. . .
Things like how many of the petitions describe their old names as hard to spell, pronounce, and remember. Cites two petitions that explicitly say it's to avoid antisemitism -- both of them by Gentiles taken for Jews because of their names -- that was less cited by actual Jews. Family patterns, both group petitions and petitions that cite that other relatives have changed their names. How name-changing was used in literature, and how its use there differed from real life. "Application blanks" (forms we would say nowadays) that would ask whether you had ever changed your name, and for your mother's maiden, to ferret these out. How in the 1970s it became the thing to blame the officials at Ellis Island for name changes, which is very inaccurate. And more.
Things like how many of the petitions describe their old names as hard to spell, pronounce, and remember. Cites two petitions that explicitly say it's to avoid antisemitism -- both of them by Gentiles taken for Jews because of their names -- that was less cited by actual Jews. Family patterns, both group petitions and petitions that cite that other relatives have changed their names. How name-changing was used in literature, and how its use there differed from real life. "Application blanks" (forms we would say nowadays) that would ask whether you had ever changed your name, and for your mother's maiden, to ferret these out. How in the 1970s it became the thing to blame the officials at Ellis Island for name changes, which is very inaccurate. And more.
April 24, 2023
A fascinating history of the filings for change of last names in the NY City Civil Courts provides a window through which to view the changing acceptance of Jews in the social-economic life of the city. It amazed me that no one had thought of looking at these cases which describe the motivation of mostly American-born Jews to be able to move into semi-professional and professional strata, to live in the suburbs and to still be active in Jewish communities on their own terms.
January 1, 2019
This heavily-footnoted academic work discusses the records on name changing from the New York City Civil Court, especially as it applied to Jews who were facing anti-Semitism and discrimination. There are some interesting insights, but on the whole this is not light or amusing reading, despite the title, which would seem to promise lighter fare.
May 4, 2019
Interesting, but somewhat unbalanced as it shifts between hard data and anecdotes, Fermaglich provides a fascinating survey of the cultural influences, debates, and effects of name changing in the 20th century and post 9/11 world. However, the lens is very limited to New York City petitions and trends and never seems to admit that it can't speak for the whole Jewish American experience.
December 16, 2020
Decent read! Interesting stories. I enjoyed learning about the history of Jewish name changing in America. The book had a lot of interesting anecdotes and stories. As a read, I’m more of a fiction reader, so this book was more academic than I’m used to and prefer. Altogether a good book that I’d recommend to others interested in this topic.
June 1, 2022
This was a very interesting and informative read, but was very repetitive throughout and didn’t flow smoothly. I had heard the author speak prior to reading this, and she is clearly knowledgeable about the subject matter, but the book didn’t live up to my expectations. I’m not sorry I read it and did learn quite a bit, but I can’t rate it higher for the reasons stated above.
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February 27, 2025Really fascinating research. Some graphs would have helped, and some winnowing down of repetitive facts - I presume this is the popular publication of the author's thesis. I learned a ton, and it explores the topic of name changing, antisemitism, and cultural myths in a nuanced and ground-breaking way.
August 13, 2025
Obviously, the author did extensive research and is highly respected in her field BUT
It really could have used an editor . I chose the book because of interest in the topic but gave up on page 114. To me it felt disorganized , rambling and repetitive . The chapters need to center around answering specific questions.
50 pages of notes 😳.
It really could have used an editor . I chose the book because of interest in the topic but gave up on page 114. To me it felt disorganized , rambling and repetitive . The chapters need to center around answering specific questions.
50 pages of notes 😳.
September 3, 2019
How and why name changing helped immigrants fit in during the 1920s and 30s .... with a closing chapter on why name changing is now a "suspicious activity" and does not work for immigrants during the Big State 2000s.
December 2, 2018
Such an interesting discussion, and one that clearly hit home with me!
January 27, 2019
The methodology is highly questionable.
June 7, 2021
It was super interesting to read the historic context to why my maternal grandfather changed his last name from Goldberg to one that "sounded like nothing and from nowhere".
November 19, 2021
Too much detail for most readers, I think. But an interesting study. Would make for a good long article but not enough for a book really.
January 26, 2022
The book is strongest when it shares poignant, powerful examples of why Jews changed their names in the 20th century; it drags when it addresses legislative and judicial responses to antisemitism, although I was interested to learn the antisemitic history of asking for a mother's maiden name on applications.
My main criticism is regarding the author's disturbing, repeated reference to Judaism as a race ("racial stigma" [page 36], "racial identity" [page 71], etc). Fermaglich uses "racial and "ethnic" interchangeably, when they are two different things. She briefly mentions the "racialization of American Jews" (page 66) but only explains what that means in the next chapter: "Layers of bureaucratic forms in education and employment had identified Jews as a separate race with questions designed to expose their religion and ethnic origin (including questions about their names)" (page 123). This would have been an important, useful clarification in the introduction; instead, the first half of the book promulgates a deceptive misconception.
My main criticism is regarding the author's disturbing, repeated reference to Judaism as a race ("racial stigma" [page 36], "racial identity" [page 71], etc). Fermaglich uses "racial and "ethnic" interchangeably, when they are two different things. She briefly mentions the "racialization of American Jews" (page 66) but only explains what that means in the next chapter: "Layers of bureaucratic forms in education and employment had identified Jews as a separate race with questions designed to expose their religion and ethnic origin (including questions about their names)" (page 123). This would have been an important, useful clarification in the introduction; instead, the first half of the book promulgates a deceptive misconception.
November 23, 2022
Moderately interesting, although if you already know something of the Jewish experience in early immigration, the first quarter of the book is a boring read. Writing overall is horribly repetitive. My estimation might be off, but 20-30 pages could be cut. In general, I had a hard time finishing the book.
June 2, 2018
I truly enjoyed this book! It is a well done study of Jewish name changes, with a focus on the Jews of New York City. Not only is it filled with anecdotal information, but also explanations of why this phenomenon occurred.
It is carefully researched and explains the pressures of anti-semitism during various periods in recent history. There are the obvious and the subtle, all explained with clarity and at a high interest level.
This will make a wonderful addition to any seminar on Jewish American studies. Thanks NETGALLEY, loved the opportunity to read this and look forward to sharing with friends and colleagues.
It is carefully researched and explains the pressures of anti-semitism during various periods in recent history. There are the obvious and the subtle, all explained with clarity and at a high interest level.
This will make a wonderful addition to any seminar on Jewish American studies. Thanks NETGALLEY, loved the opportunity to read this and look forward to sharing with friends and colleagues.
October 12, 2018
Interesting look at the causes and effects of Jewish name changing
I enjoyed this book. Author Kirsten Fermaglich wrote a thorough analysis of Jewish name changing in New York City (NYC) over the past few decades. The book encompasses more than just name changing; it is a look at the lives of the NYC Jewish community over time and the factors underlying name changing. Although I generally don’t like books like this that focus on one geographic area, in this case, I feel that the book is generally applicable to heavily-immigrant Jewish communities elsewhere. Fermaglich gives lots of specific examples of name changing and my one quibble with the book is that sometimes there were too many or too in depth. Nonetheless, it's a good book and I recommend it for anyone interested in Jewish history.
I enjoyed this book. Author Kirsten Fermaglich wrote a thorough analysis of Jewish name changing in New York City (NYC) over the past few decades. The book encompasses more than just name changing; it is a look at the lives of the NYC Jewish community over time and the factors underlying name changing. Although I generally don’t like books like this that focus on one geographic area, in this case, I feel that the book is generally applicable to heavily-immigrant Jewish communities elsewhere. Fermaglich gives lots of specific examples of name changing and my one quibble with the book is that sometimes there were too many or too in depth. Nonetheless, it's a good book and I recommend it for anyone interested in Jewish history.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews