Mathilde Tagger’s legacy to Jewish genealogy continued even after her death last December. At that time, she and Avotaynu were working on her next (and eighth!) book: Dictionary of Sephardic Given Names. Fortunately she made final corrections before her death, and now Avotaynu is able to publish her final work.
Dictionary of Sephardic Given Names contains nearly 2,000 Sephardic given names that have been compiled by the author from hundreds of sources.
A typical entry includes:
• Name: In the case of a variant or a diminutive, the root name is also shown.
• Gender: Masculine or feminine—not always obvious from the name itself
• Etymology: The origin of the name.
• Variants: When they exist, they are part of the root name entry.
• Place: When a name is peculiar to a specific geographic area, the area is indentified.
• Source: The source where the name was found.
• Diminutives: If existing, they are part of the root name entry.
The book is 166 pages and costs $24.00 plus shipping. Additional information and how to order can be found at http://www.avotaynu.com/books/SephardicGivenNames.html.
Photograph of Mathilde Tagger courtesy of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
Shalom! Words cannot describe the tremendous gratitude I feel for my fellow Sephardim brothers and sisters and I. Thank you for contributing to all our efforts in decoding the mysteries of our our stolen past! May we all come together as one once again!
This is very interesting. My great Grandfather came from Portugale to Spain to Mexico.
Mathilde was very generous with both her time and resources. She was very helpful when I was first researching my family history which happens to intersect the Tagger genealogy.
Thank you Mathilde