OK, poll time.

[mamajoan]

The discussion on my previous post has really made me curious, so here goes.

[Poll #463419]

Comments

[mogwar.livejournal.com]

I associate the name more strongly with Jewish than with African American, but there are lots of both ethnicities here, and it's a fairly common name with both.

[algernon-mouse.livejournal.com]

I meant to comment on this earlier. Our son's name is Benjamin - and he was pretty close to being an Isaac. Friends of our's named their son Joshua.

None of us are Jewish.

I think it's very common now to have names that cross religous and cultural lines. I think it's probably rude to assume that you're Jewish based on your son's name being Isaac. Now, if your son was named Ezekiel - I may be inclined to assume that you're Jewish, and not just using a name that you selected because you like the sound of it in conjunction to your last name.

Does that make sense?

[skreeky]

Unless you're in Tennessee (where I grew up) and yelling "HEY ZEKE!" is going to get you a tall blond guy in plaid coming out of the barn yelling "HEY WUT?"

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

It definitely makes sense. I agree that it's rude/inaccurate these days to assume that you're Jewish based on an Isaac -- and I didn't mean to imply in my other post that my coworker "should have" assumed I'm Jewish; I thought she knew I was Jewish from our interactions over the years, not just from my son's name. But I do think that one can think of Isaac as a Jewish name but still not immediately assume Jewishness every time one meets an Isaac. If THAT makes any sense!

[skreeky]

I grew up conservative Christian in the south, and names from the "Old Testament" as we so quaintly called it, were totally normal. Zeke and Zach and Jonathan and David and Michael and Aaron and Jacob and Jeramiah and Daniel and Obediah and so on.

I can honestly that I have never met goyim named Moses/Moishe, Noah, Ephriam, or Elija. But then again, the only Noah I know is female so normality goes out the window anyway.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Well, actually Noa (without the h) is listed as a girl's name in my Hebrew Baby Names book. It's very popular as a girl name in Israel apparently, and I've considered using it if I ever have a daughter, but here in the States I think she would run into a lot of "but that's a boy's name!"

But thanks for the data point about the south. I found that really interesting.

[kenboy.livejournal.com]

I know a Noa!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My primary partner is "Casey," and he's often assumed to be female -- a friend of mine was surprised to find out I was involved with a man when she met him, though I'd called him "he" and "him" plenty of times, because she so associated it with women -- but something like 45% of Caseys are male.

[victoriacatlady.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even realized Casey was ever a female name. But the primary association I have with that name is the poem "Casey at the Bat."

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I've met Christian Noahs and Elijahs fwliw.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

I may consider it more Jewish than African-American because I'm not American, mind. But I definitely consider it Jewish.

[white-and-nrdy.livejournal.com]

I think of Isaac both as a Jewish name and as a science fiction author name. ;)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Well, Asimov was Jewish, so there ya go. :)

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I associate it with Asimov.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

...who as I mentioned in another comment was Jewish, hence proving my point. Only not, because the quiz is about your personal associations. D'oh. ;)

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

I probably would have associated it as Christian first and foremost, if you were not American. There aren't very many Jews in Australia, or at least not visibly.

[aelf.livejournal.com]

I consider it a Judeo-Christian name. Except, since I was raised as a christian, I'd probably just call it a biblical name. Biblical names are popular in my family, and seem to be growing in popularity these days, so I wouldn't assume any real religious bent.

[pickinguproses.livejournal.com]

Exactly what my reply would have been. All the males in my family (including my sons) have biblical names, and so do all the little boys at church. Since I'm a Christian, if I assumed anything it would be that the name was Christian. I wouldn't have assumed, though, because biblical names are becoming so common.

My youngest (Gabriel Jude) was almost Isaac, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Noah, and Elijah...but all those names were taken by close friends/family by the time he was born.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

To me, it's a Judeo-Christian name that could be found in just about any culture with Judeo-Christian roots. If it were Yitzhak or Itzhak, I'd be more likely to think Jewish, specifically.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I think of Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef in South Park.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I've known people from a variety of backgrounds named Isaac, including a Mexican guy I was hot for when I was 13, one Jewish kid, and a handful of other people. It seems to be about as background-nonspecific as Michael or Rebecca.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

I can only think of Asimov and Newton - I've no idea whether they were Jewish or not.

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Asimov definitely was Jewish. Newton, probably not.

And yeah, the name voyager is super-cool, isn't it? It has provided me many hours of work-avoidance fun. ;)

[flick.livejournal.com]

I shoved this in tickybox, as you said to pass the link on, so you're probably about to get a load of Brits messing up your sample...!

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry!

I'd agree with those above - it seems like a Hideo-Christian name, but if I met someone called Isaac I wouldn't really think it implied a religion for them,like a lotof biblical names.

[missfairchild.livejournal.com]

I'm a Brit and think of it as a biblical name.

[gailg.livejournal.com]

I think of it as a Jewish name, but the first person who comes to mind with that name is Isaac Hayes.

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

I think of it primarily as a Jewish name, but I wouldn't assume someone was Jewish solely based on having the name Isaac (because it certainly is used by people with other cultural backgrounds).

the name Isaac

[(Anonymous)]

Gut reaction is Jewish, however, I think I have actually known (of) more blacks named Isaac (or Ike) than Jewish people. The only white Ike who comes to mind is Eisenhower. My son in K has a schoolmate with a younger brother (~2yo) named Isaac/Ike, and then there's Ike Turner and Isaac the bartender on the Love Boat. That's 3 blacks, 1 white non-Jew, and 0 Jews. I guess what I really think of it as is "biblical". Oh - make that 2 in category 2, for Isaac Newton. There is also an Isaiah in my son's afterschool program, who is bi-racial.

I couldn't see how to fill out the poll, possibly it requires a pop-up which I have adblocked.

JG

Re: the name Isaac

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Eisenhower was not an Isaac, though; his name was Dwight. So why he was called Ike, I don't know.

I don't know why you couldn't fill out the poll either, unless it's that you need to be logged in as an LJ user.