Trends in American Jews’ Naming of Pets

Incorporating pictures of cute animals, Dr. Benor presents analysis of data from her 2019 survey. Abstract: Leibring (2016) argues that pets’ names serve three functions: singularizing, expressive, and ritual. Using data from a battery on pets’ names in my 2019 snowball-sample Survey of American Jewish Personal Names, I argue for a fourth function: social/identity. 30% of the 5583 Jewish and Jewish-ancestry respondents who have owned pets report that at least one pet had a name they consider Jewish. I analyze 2032 pets’ names and the owners’ explanations and stories. Pet name sources (# tokens and examples in parentheses) include personal names (1039, Abby, Max), sometimes after a human or pet honoree (86, Sadie, Rachamim); biblical or rabbinic literature (470, Akiva, Genesis); characteristic or circumstance (216, Gingy, Shmutzik); Jewish-identified food (215, Bamba, Farfel); zoonym (181, Ketzel, Tuki); Jewish religiosity (179, Mitzvah, Shtreimel), especially holidays/seasons when the pet was adopted (142, Afikomen, Latke); historical figure or current celebrity (127, Bar-Kochba, Bernie); term of endearment (90, Motek, Shayna Punim); Israel (73, Sababa, Zelda); literary or cultural reference (65, K’tonon, Purrchik). Source languages include Hebrew (930, Tikva, Yofi), Yiddish (428, Pipik, Fresser), Aramaic (14, Shunra, Zutra), Arabic (12, Habibi, Yalla), and Ladino (6, Boreka, Hijo), and wordplay is sometimes employed (54, a cat named Golda Meow, a turtle named Matzav ‘situation, what turtle’). I offer quantitative analysis of animal type, decade of naming, and Jewish religious and social engagement of the pet owner, and I show how pet naming allows American Jews to construct identities and communities. The findings contribute to our understanding of the onomastics of companion animals. Bibliography: Abel, Ernest L. (2007). Birds are not More Human than Dogs: Evidence From Naming. Names, 55:4, 349-353. Ainiala, Terhi, Minna Saarelma, and Paula Sjöblom (2016). Names in Focus: An Introduction to Finnish Onomastics. Translated by Leonard Pearl. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society / SKS. Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Alicia B. Chandler (2022). “American Jewish Personal Names: Results from A National Survey.” Los Angeles: HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project. https://www.jewish-names.org/survey. Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Alicia B. Chandler (2024). “Categorizing personal names among Jews in the contemporary United States.” Onoma 59: 49-72. Chadwick, John (1958). The Decipherment of Linear B. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chen, Lindsey N.H. (2017). Pet-Naming Practices in Taiwan, Names, 65:3, 167-177. Fischer, Henry G. (1977). More Ancient Egyptian Names of Dogs and Other Animals. Metropolitan Museum Journal 12: 173-8. Laugrand, Frédéric, and Oosten, Jarich (2002). ‘Canicide and Healing. The Position of the Dog in the Inuit Cultures of the Canadian Arctic’, Anthropos 97.1: 89–105. Leibring, Katharina (2009). ‘Zwartje, Flight of Delight and Chikai. Borrowed Names for Animal Names in Sweden’, in Wolfgang Ahrens, Sheila Embleton, and André Lapierre (eds.), Names in Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic Contact. Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, August 17–22, 2008, York University, Toronto, Canada. Toronto: York University, 658–64. Leibring, Katharina (2016). “Animal Names.” In Carole Hough, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 615-627. LePage, R.B., and Andrée Tabouret-Keller (1985). Acts of Identity: Creole-Based Approaches to Language and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rogan, Bjarne (1994). ‘Navn eller nummer? Motiver for navngiving av ting’, in Kristinn Jóhannesson, Hugo Karlsson, and Bo Ralph (ed.), Övriga namn. Handlingar från NORNA:s nittonde symposium i Göteborg, 4–6 december 1991. NORNA-rapporter 56. Uppsala: NORNA-förlaget, 81–97. Saarelma, Minna (2012). ‘Animal Names’, in Terhi Ainiala, Minna Saarelma, and Paula Sjöblom (eds.), Names in Focus. An Introduction to Finnish Onomastics. trans. by Leonard Pearl. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 202–9. Warchoł, Stefan (2004). ‘Tiernamen’, in Andrea Brendel and Silvio Brendler (eds.), Namenarten und ihre Erforschung. Ein Lehrbuch für das Studium der Onomastik. Hamburg: Baar, 773–94. (cited in Leibring 2016)