Couple of ple have asked if DP is Jewish because of DS's name...

[zumm]

...DS is a Jacob. Out of interest, would the name inspire you to ask this question? I know we've gone for an OT name but I'm not religious in the slightest and I just hope I haven't heaped a whole lot of religious baggage onto him.

Also, was leafing through a baby book on names - it states that Jacob tends to be used by Jewish families (the book is about 10 years old).

Is this really current consensus or have people's attitudes to the name changed now it's become so much more popular? To my mind it's akin to Daniel or Sam (which are not necessarily only used by Jewish families).

Worried also because he is quarter Indian, quarter French (my side) and half English (DP) so will I, through using this ?Jewish? name have confused the poor lad/attitudes towards his ethnicity even more?

It is driving me crazy.

Lol our family must confuse the hell out if people then 2 Italian names ,one Arabic and one very Irish name

Oh and I have a very catholic sounding name to boot

A lot of OT names are really popular here. I know a family with five who are Gabriel, Malachi, Eli, Noah, and Isaac. They're not Jewish. :) There are lots of boys named Josiah or Levi as well.

To me "Jewish names" are things like Shmuel, Chaim, etc. Hebrew names.

I wouldn't assume that a Jacob was Jewish - it's a popular name along with Samuel, Daniel, Gabriel, Benjamin, Joshua, Noah and Isaac. I know lots of Jacobs of whom none are Jewish.

DD2 is Miriam which, according to some baby names websites, is only used by observant Jewish parents . She's now 2.5 and no-one has commented upon its origins/asked if we are Jewish.

i know many muslim miriams, and many jakubs, yakub etc

I have an Adam and an Isaac. I've been asked a couple of times if I'm Jewish but it's not a big deal, I just say no but I like their names. I thi k you may be over thinking.

I have a Jewish first name and my maiden name was a Jewish (and odd) name. I married a black, west indian with a Jewish name.

Two of my children have Hebrew names but so many names have their roots in Hebrew its hard to avoid them really.

Jacob doesnt strike me as a particularly Jewish name. I could understand if you had called him Moshe or Reubain but Jacob is pretty mainstream.

Its a nice name.

How mad! Jacob is a really popular run-of-the-mill name, I know lots. None of them of Jewish descent as far as I know.

I wouldn't make any assumptions from a name these days - people ar eless likely to call their kids names driven by their religeon/race than at any other time.

DS is Maximillian - and we only ever call him Max but have been asked if we German before and I wanted to call him Reuben but DH said was too Jewish (and he does look Jewish and gets cross that people ask him if he is).

To be honest - I don;t really care what people think with regards to my DC's names - I chose them because I liked them.

I would not assume somebody with the name Jacob to be Jewish.

I think people often like to work out, what someone's ethnicity is (it's juat a curiosity thing), and it's a polite way of finding out.

My niece is a quarter Jamaican, and people often recognise that she is mixed, but don't like to directly ask, so she gets the - that's an unusual name is it Spanish etc.

Thanks again for the feedback. I need to adopt the 'I really don't care' attitude.
Any tips on that?
Over thinking also, whatwill, check.

Madame - I get where your DH is coming from - and this is nothing to do with not wanting to be Jewish, it's just that I'm not. It's to do with identity and whether you're allied to a particular religion or creed.

I guess I'm wondering whether I sd have gone for an English, Fench or Indian name since at least people might say 'ooh is he a bit French/Indian?' rather than incorrectly asking if he's Israeli or Jewish. But it's too late now.

So I am really heartened to find none of you seems to share this view - it is me being slightly PN crazy I think. Thanks again.

Very odd to think Jacob is only a Jewish name IMO. My (very English) family tree is peppered with Jacobs on all sides going back hundreds of years. Most were 18th and 19th C lead miners in the North East (of England) with no obvious possibility of anything Jewish anywhere near. I would have though it was just one of those biblical names that have been used in England for generations (Joseph, Adam, David, Daniel etc)

If anyone asks again, ask them why they want to know.

Fwiw, it always seems to me that the boys in the DCs' Catholic primary school are called either Jack, Jacob or Alex. It's incredibly popular.

nah, DS is Reuben and we're not Jewish and have never been asked if we are. I think names are all a lot more multicultural now, anyone can be anything IYSWIM

We have a Jacob and no Jewish links at all - DH and I are a combo of lapsed Catholic and occassional CofE. Just really liked the name

I know a couple of non Jewish Reubens :)

I LOVE the name Reuben but I used it on a dog years ago and I have rules about re-using my pet's names.

I used up Atticus on my dog because I wasnt having anymore DCs. Then DC5 came along.

Everybody around here is called Harry, William or Charlie. We must live in a very royalist town.

I wouldn't I just think its a (lovely) old fashioned name and they are quite in now

Reuben is very popular in the Hispanic community in the US.

I hear Jacob and I think Christian parents or just modern parents because Jacob is actually quite a popular name. Lots of OT names are quite normal, Hannah, David, Sarah, Ruth, Samuel... Jacob is going that way, I see it becoming more just a name we think of as a normal name rather than one we associate with Judeo-Christian scriptures. (Isaac and Noah are getting very normalised too).

I have a Jacob and we are a Christian family. I still love his name. I hear quite a few other Jacob's here in the south east.