Would you assume an Elijah was Jewish?

It's a fab name full-stop. I know one Elijah - he's the son of a rabbi so take from that what you will!

As a Jew, I might wonder if he was Jewish but I'd look for other cues such as your surname by which to take a view. I'd never ask out-right. Jews also might throw in a Yiddish word or two or allude to a couple of Jewish things to gauge a response.

Jewish people do not generally like to be asked if they're Jewish. In some situations it's not threatening - there's no down side to being Jewish - so will answer the question. In other circumstances, we might choose to hold our religion closer to our chest.

Not at all! Lovely name! Go for it

I wouldnt ask someone outright if they were Jewish but, for me, after years of working in the community I wouldnt need to!! and, actually, Jewish people are very proud of who they are and where they come from, their families etc. Ive never met one who doesnt like to talk!! and, thats not stereotyping or saying it in a bad way before anyone jumps on the pc bandwagon. It just is. And, by the same token they are interested in me and my background. Its a two way street.

As for Elijah Ive never heard of a Jewish one, I dont think its particularily Jewish. If you had to ask me to guess I would say Christian.

Not Jewish but Amish(spelling?) popped into my head for some reason !!

25 years ago I would have thought so, but not now.

I agree that being bombarded with personal questions can be very wearing. I used to get this a lot - some people see it as "making conversation" and you sense that they aren't really interested in you, it's just something to say. It isn't true that everyone likes talking about themselves! As for "a polite way of getting out of them" I turn the questions round: "And what about you? Where do you live/are you married/do you" etc whatever.

I don't, however, think there is anything wrong with asking about someone's background if you are genuinely interested. I wouldn't see it as any different from enquiring about, say, Scottish or Irish ancestry. Family history is a very popular hobby these days and can be an interesting topic of converstaion. Obviously if someone is unwilling to discuss it, then you would desist, but don't see any harm in asking.

Percy The questions themselves can come across as aggressive and invasive. The person being asked never knows what the person wants that information for or where the questions are going to lead and there never seems to be a polite way of getting out of them. It's pretty much a demand for information and pointing out/pushing into someone's face how they appear 'different' from the norm. I am constantly asked about my background (even in the middle of very difficult labour I was playing 20 questions with medical staff about very non-medical aspects of my background for the sake of their nosiness) and it can be very stressful and upsetting.

No

Shalom. But no I would just think it was a popular name.

I see nothing wrong with asking someone if they are Jewish, or pretty much anything else, if you are interested in them and their background and so on. The response 'Why do you want to know?' can come over as somewhat aggressive.

My mum had a bit of a "thing" about Jewish people, in that she always commented if someone looked Jewish, had a typically Jewish name, etc. Not in a bad way - she had great respect and admiration for Jewish people and rather hoped that she might have some Jewish blood herself (not found anything yet!). Poor Mum would never have coped with the self-righteous attitudes prevalent today, where it seems taboo to mention anyone's race or religion at all.

Do people really go around asking children if they're Jewish? Call him Elijah and tell him to ask 'Why do you want to know?' if he is ever asked.

Nope! Christian probably if I made any assumption. Actually when I count them up more are black African Christians than anything.

Nice name. I kmow a handful of varying ages.

Ive never met a Jewish Elijah.

No I wouldn't, it isn't very popular in the Jewish or Noahide circles I'm in (I can't think of one either as Elijah or Eliyahu, the original Hebrew version of the name). Most I know go for plainer Torah names (like Daniel) to avoid issues unless they are in the tighter communities -- and those tend to name after someone and tend to be Yiddish names rather than Hebrew.

This thread has made me realize that only one of my four kids has their Hebrew name from the Torah (which is Reuel, which more people know from Tolkien rather than Exodus -- perfect Hebrew geek name).

I'd probably more likely think they might be Christian, but really I see it as a perfectly normal name that might be used by Christian/Jewish/non-religious families alike.

I have an Old Testament name myself, admittedly a very popular one in general usage (at least for my generation!), and I don't think anyone's ever assumed I was Jewish.

Ezra is quite nice too, a bit more unusual. Elisha though - I think to modern (English-speaking) ears it sounds quite feminine, people might assume it's a girl's name, especially if they're not familiar with the origin. Which might not be what you want in a boy's name.

My ds's best friend is called Eli (Elijah). His big brother is Sol (Solomon). They are not Jewish, nor did I ever think that hey might be, although they are quite Jewish names. I don't thik that they are even very religious.

We were keen on Ezra for our potential ds2 (we got dd instead), and dh and I are both atheists. A lot of Old Testament names have become popular recently. Our dog is called Amos (sad to say this is because we used to enjoy watching very old Emmerdale farm episodes and always said we would have pets called Amos and Mr Wilks!)

It strikes me as an Evangelical (sp) Christian name.

i would wonder if he ws jewish but i wouldn't assume. I wouldn't think it strange that he wasn't.
lovely name :)

No I would not. The Elijah I know comes from an atheist family! My DS3 has Elijah as a middle name and we are non practising Catholics.

No

Holy shit I misplaced an apostrophe

What about Elisha? He was a prophet too wasn't he? Are there any little Elisha's running around?

No I wouldn't.

No- Eli/Elijah are pretty run-of-the-mill now.

Going to go against the grain and say that I'm not a great fan of Eli, it sounds very whiny to me. Elijah is better though.