The trend in recent years is to give Hebrew, rather than Yiddish names, as the "Jewish" name for children. In Israel Yiddish names aren't popular with most people, except for Chareidim and Chabad.
Therefore, sometimes it's hard to figure out which Hebrew name is the source or equivalent of the Yiddish one.
One of the problematic ones is the female name, Pessia, or Pesha, which are considered the same. There's nothing directly similar in Hebrew.
According to one of my "rabbi neighbors" Pessia is Batya.
Follow this:
Batya according to Sfaradi pronunciation
Basya according to Ashkenazi pronunciation
Pasya because P and B switch like the Arabs call potatoes, batata
Pesya (Pessia) because short vowels are vague; my grandmother wrote "grendma"
Pesha is pronounced like Pessia
I wrote about the connection to an email list and then someone wrote saying that a relative named Betty had "Pesya" on her gravestone.
Any other name questions?
31 comments:
That's complicated! Wow.
Esther actually IS my Hebrew name. Hebrew, not Yiddish, right? :)
Yes, Hebrew, from the Scroll of Esther, the root to hide. That's because G-d controled things behind the scenes, hidden.
Oooh, I like that. Thanks!
What about the name Yuta or Yota?
What can you tell me about the locale that this is from. My great grandmother was named/called in English: Ette Bertha, evidently one of the common translation names from the 1880s- early 1900s migrations. Having finally gotten her tombstone readable, it says, Yuta (or Yota) Bracha. And what is Yuta/Yota from, what does it mean. My closest guess is Yehudit but its only a guess.
Maybe Esther? A common nickname is "Ettie"
My "Hebrew" name was given as Pesha. I am not understanding how it is pronounced? I thought it was PESH-a. That is how I have always said it.It was given by my Rabbi and I was Bat Mitzvahed with it. I hear it means Daughter of G-d. I was disappointed to learn it is Yiddish and not Hebrew.
Penny (Pesha) Otte
I'm not expert, but I've heard that Pesha or Pesya is a female version of Pesach - Passover, and was originally used for girls born on that holiday.
Jeremy
govega, Many people consider the names of the same importance.
a, There's no real linguistic connection between Pesha and Pesach, but it's very possible that, people used the name for the reason you said.
My given hebrew name is Pesha, later I learned in yiddish is essentially means sin. My mother assured me that the name pesha has a different meaning in Hebrew. Is this correct? If so, what does it mean?
It means "daughter of Gd."
Right
That is correct, Batya.
Yes-Kabbalah is about hidden things very often. We have to uncover them, and put light to them.
That is correct, Batya.
It was very common among people with Yiddish backgrounds to get a Yiddish name, rather than a Hebrew name, and there is a connection, in that many are correlated with a Hebrew name.
It should also be noted that the European governments made Jews get rid of their Hebrew names at various times in the 1700s, depending on where you lived in Europe.
One of the many ways “around” this, was by having coded names.
There are entire books about these coated names and encoding them.
I was born right before Passover, and name to Pesha by my Yiddishkeit grandmother.
My mother had little interest in her children, so certain things were left to my grandmother to take care of.
She was on my father’s side, but died when I was very little.
One would definitely think the name is correlated with Passover, because of its correlation with Batya.
I think all of us here probably know the letters sin and shin in Hebrew, the S and S-H.
Spelled with the letter sin, the name Pesha is pronounced Pessa, not Pesha.
It does not mean sin. You are mispronouncing the name it if you think that.
Wondering why none of my comments show.
Comments don't come up automatically on old posts. I have to approve them, and sometimes I don't see the notice in my mail.
Because of my parents disinterest, I was named by my grandmother Cohn.
I was given the same name, Pesha, and I am Jewish.
It is Yiddish, not Hebrew.
I was born right before Passover.
Likely because Batya saved Moses.
My grandmother died when I was very little, so I was never able to find out more.
Because of my mother having little interest in her children, I was not even able to find out my Hebrew name until I was in my forties.
Esther, everything was darkness, and then because of HaShem, he created light. We have to uncover G-d in times of darkness. Unfortunately, my relatives have long been passed away, so I have no one to go to to ask these things.
My name is Phyllis, but my Yiddish name is Pesha.
Do you know what was a common it is equivalent for the name Bernice? And Beatrice? Do you have any ideas?
Thank you so much. I get frustrated I have no relatives to ask anything.
I know more from DNA test.
I got a picture of my great grandfather from a relative that was a Holocaust survivor. She passed away though a long time ago. I have been on my own with everything.
I always thought Bertha I had something to do with Batya. I wish someone in Poland had written these things down for us. Sadly, they were probably such common knowledge that they just expected us to still know. It was a culture interrupted.
But no matter where the Jewish people went, no matter where they were exiled to, or ran away to, or fled to, or whatever Jews they met up with, they all spoke Hebrew, and that helped keep us together and alive as a people. People, make sure your children know how to speak Hebrew.
Do not deprive them of the Hebrew education.
Penny, Do not be disappointed. Yiddish is a beautiful culture, and it is a combination of Hebrew in German.
Always be proud of your heritage and your people and yourself and your religion. It is all very beautiful.
Even though you have a Yiddish name, you still have a Jewish soul, and that is what matters.
People keep saying that Pesha is associated with Batya.
Before the Holocaust, Pesha was a very common name, and as a nickname, it was Pessy.
I was named after a relative that did not survive, but my mother wanted me to have an English first name. I would have rather had it be Yiddish.
Embrace your name, because it still represents a very beautiful culture.
My great grandmother was called Bessie most of her life, but was given that name as a little girl by the immigration official when she escaped to the US Later in life she changed her name to Batya. I have wondered for years what her original name was, and recently learned it was Pesha. Interesting to learn how all her names tied together. My blessings on that little girl, fleeing horror, and to the woman who held on to her culture.
She must have been a very strong women. Thanks for sharing.
In transcribed Yiddish records, it is spelled Peszah.
Transliteration from language to language is a very inexact and subjective "art."
That is why I noted it was a transcription. But it was once a very common Yiddish name until the Shoah.
I was born right before Passover started. I think you’re right.
❤️
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