Avotaynu

RESEARCH INTO THE ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

- Friday, June 13, 2025 -

Given Names of the Jewish Women of Damascus – 1583-1909

Filed Under Mediterranean, Mizrachim, Surnames, Syria سوريا By on

Among the many challenges one faces in Jewish genealogical research is the paucity of sources relating to female given names and surnames. This was clearly illustrated at the lecture of Dr. Lea Haber–Gedalia in the 2015 IAJGS Annual Conference in Jerusalem [1]. There are many reasons, among them the fact that women are not allowed to appear as witnesses in the rabbinical courts, thus depriving us from a primary source. Hence we must rely upon unusual resources when seeking to fill out our family trees.

Damascus woman dorsey

So far the major source or reservoir of female given names and surnames are the marriage contracts (ketubot) and divorce (gittin) collections in different libraries and universities, or tombstones (matzevot) which survived destruction and depletion. Surviving pinkasei mohel (circumcisers’ logs) provide details about the mother such as those recorded by a mohel from Nurenberg, Alexander Tachauer [2], who mentions the mother’s surname, or Maatook Dabby, a mohel in Alexandria between 1928-1952 [3], who mentions the mother’s given name and surname. But in general there is great difficulty in obtaining women’s names in a systematic manner or order over a long period of time.

Many attempts have been made over the years to index Jewish given names and surnames, most of which have focused on a specific country or region. The most recent of these (in 2015) was a consolidated dictionary of Sephardic given names by the late Mathilde Tagger [4]. This very useful research tool includes a bibliography listing all the major works that were published so far  in this domain [5].

bonfils Jewish Damascus girl 2

While Tagger’s work covers quite well the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), Egypt, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Erets Israel and even the Caribbean Islands it seems that there are serious gaps  as far as Syria, mainly Damascus, Lebanon and even Iraq are concerned. The Syrian city of Aleppo is a relative exception, benefitting from the publication in 2012 of a detailed study of the city where the composition of given names is discussed in some detail.[6]

This article is an attempt to begin to fill in just one lacuna, namely the Jewish female given names in Damascus between 1583-1909. Based on the same source as in the author’s recent article in AVOTAYNU [7],  the following is an overview of the Jewish female given names as they appear in the Shari’ah courts within the city of Damascus.

It is important to remember, based on the experience of almost every Jewish genealogist, that there might be quite a difference between the person’s given name as it appears on the Jewish marriage/divorce document or his/her tomb inscription and the name he was known by outside the community. One of the first scholars who discussed the issue of Jewish female given names in both in Aleppo and Damascus, was Eliyahu Strauss-Ashtor in his monumental book on the history of the Jews in Egypt and Syria under the Mamluks (rulers of Syria prior to the Ottomans). Strauss-Ashtor was the first to note that Hebrew given names were very rare among Syrian Jewish females and almost all of them bore Arabic names, though he cautions that the Jews may have used Hebrew given names in their inner circles and correspondence [8].

Jews in Damascus

 

Our research is based exclusively on Muslim/Ottoman documents, not Jewish ones. Of the 84 female given names extracted, only half appear in Tagger’s index based on prior research. This is a clear indication that Damascus female given names  were beyond the scope of the literature published thus far. While the female Damascene given names we encounter  in Tagger’s compilation are mainly Biblical/Hebrew, such as Esther, Miriam, Rivka, Sara, Mazal, Hanna and Rachel, in our own research we have found a far greater number of Arabic names such as Faridah, Qamar, Azizah, Ghazala and Jamila, or Turkish/European ones such as Adele, Bulisa, Katherine, Victoria, Roza and Kadun.

The Arabic female given names which are not included in Tagger’s volume include names such as Zahia, Zina, Zarifa, Rahima, Mudallala, Mufaddala and Shaqra [9]. We were surprised to encounter several given names which have distinctive Islamic flavor such as Zainab and Kulthum [10].

It is interesting to note the absence of any Spanish/Ladino given names from the list. This may be an indication that either there was no sizable non-Mizrahi Sephardic community in Damascus so they are not reflected in the volume that is the source of our data, or that the Sephardic Jews somehow managed their affairs without the need to turn to the Muslim courts.

European given names mentioned above appear only at the end of the 19th century: Adela(1894), Katherine (1886), Victoria  (1894), and are another indication of the increasing European influence on the Jewish community in the city, probably following the opening of the Alliance Francaise school there.

The Jewish female given names found in the Shariah courts are as follows:

Jewish Female Given Names Found in the Records of the Damascus Shariah Courts
Name Language Year Tagger
Adela European 1894 Yes
Asiyyah Arabic 1733
Awnia Arabic 1716
Aziza Arabic 1770 Yes
Badra Arabic 1758 Yes
Bajura 1822
Banat Arabic 1700
Barah 1885
Bida Arabic 1805
Bina Arabic 1895
Buland Turkish 1895
Bulisa Turkish 1892 Yes
Diba 1835
Dinar Arabic 1885 Yes
Ester Hebrew 1751 Yes
Farida Arabic 1894 Yes
Ghazala, Gazala Arabic 1741 Yes
Habiba Arabic 1733 Yes
Hanna Hebrew 1731 Yes
Hannla Undetermined 1884 Yes
Hasana, Hasna Arabic 1787 Yes
Jamila Arabic 1905 Yes
Kalsen 1878
Karaz Arabic 1905
Katherine European 1886
Khala Arabic 1759
Kulthum Arabic/Islamic 1888
Laila Arabic 1709 Yes
Latifa Arabic 1716
Lea Hebrew 1787 Yes
Lora, Laura European 1894 Yes
Lulu Arabic 1751 Yes
Malka Hebrew 1788
Maluk Arabic 1757
Marhaba Arabic 1689
Mariam, Miriam Hebrew/Arabic 1689 Yes
Mazal Hebrew 1787 Yes
Miahura 1822
Mirki Ashkenazi/Yiddish 1888
Muanasa Arabic 1787
Mudallala Arabic 1757
Mufaddala Arabic 1743
Muhsina Arabic 1743
Muna Arabic 1700
Nada Arabic 1878
Najma Arabic 1744 Yes
Nammura Arabic 1887
Nuzha Arabic 1878
Qadun, Kadun Turkish 1842 Yes res. Beirut
Qamar, Kamar Arabic 1585 Yes
Rachel Hebrew 1709 Yes
Rahima Arabic 1729
Rahlu 1905
Rahma Arabic 1733 Yes
Rihan Arabic 1751
Rika, Riketta, Ricca European 1702 Yes
Rita European 1757 Yes
Rivka Hebrew 1796 Yes
Rogina, Regine European 1890 Yes
Roza, Rosa European 1878 Yes
Ruh Arabic 1744
Rumia Arabic 1787 Yes
Rushan 1788
Saleha Arabic 1798
Samha Arabic 1702
Samiha Arabic 1787
Sara Hebrew 1765
Satut Arabic? 1757
Sawsan, Suzanne Arabic 1893 Yes
Sebastia Latin/italian 1702
Setin, Cetina? Spanish? 1719
Shaqra Arabic 1729
Ster, Ester Hebrew 1787 Yes
Stirun 1787
Sultana Arabic 1712 Yes
Tasbin 1744
Victoria European 1894 Yes res. Beirut
Warda, Wardia Undetermined 1788 Yes
Zahia Arabic 1884
Zahra Arabic 1738 Yes
Zainab Arabic/Islamic 1770
Zakia Arabic 1729
Zarifa Arabic 1802
Zina Arabic 1787
* Indicates that the given name was found in “Dictionary of Sepharadic Given Names”
 (described in Footnote 4 below)
.

Click here to obtain the list in Excel spreadsheet format

Photographs

Photo 1:  Lallemand, Charles, Jeune fille juive de Damas enas en grande toilette, 1865, Musee de Orsay, Paris.

Photo 2   Mason Bonfils, Jeune fille juive a Damas, ca. 1880, British Library, Fouad Debbas collection, London.

Photo 3:   Unknown, A Jewish Family in Damascus, pictured in their ancient Damascene home, 1901, www.wikipedia.com/wiki/syrian_jews

Notes

[1]  Dr. Lea Haber-Gedalia, Female Surnames – Difficulties and Challenges in Genealogical Research, talk delivered at the 35th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, Jerusalem, July 8, 2015.

[2]  Tachauer, Alexander, The Circumcisions Book of Alexander Tachauer 1914-1956  Jerusalem, 2002 (privately published, in Hebrew).

[3]  Copy in the author’s possession.

[4]  Tagger, Mathilde A., Dictionary of Sepharadic Given Names, New Haven (2015); See http://adam.learnpress.esy.es/2015/08/announcing-the-dictionary-of-sephardic-given-names-by-mathilde-tagger/

[5]  Ibid., 15-19.

[6]  Bornstein-Makovetsky, Leah,  A City Of Sages And Merchants: The Community of Aleppo (Aram Tzova) During The Years 1492-1800, Ariel, 2012 (in Hebrew), pp. 259-260.

[7]  Rosen, Jacob, When the Jews of Damascus Started Using Surnames?, AVOTAYNU Volume XXXI, Number 3, Fall 2015.

[8]  Strauss, Eliyahu, A History of the Jews in Egypt and Syria Under the Rule of the Mamluks (3 vols.), Jerusalem, 1944-1970 (in Hebrew), pp. 332-333.

[9]  As a  checklist of Arabic given names we used http://www.lahaonline.com/index-babies_new.php (in Arabic).

[10]  Gandhi, Maneka and Husain, Ozair, The Complete Book of Muslim and Parsi Names, New Delhi (1994),  http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Muslim-Parsi-Names/dp/0143031848

 

Related posts:

  1. Book Review: Pleasant Are Their Names: Jewish Names in the Sephardic Diaspora, by Aaron Demsky, editor
  2. Jewish Emigration from Aleppo In the 19th and 20th Centuries
  3. Baghdadi Female Given Names -A Crowd-Sourced Fragmental List
  4. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames in Bulgaria: A Window on Its History

Comments

  1. Jacob, the given name Hannla could be Hanula. Excellent work and extremely valuable!

  2. Dear Michael,
    Thanks. You are right. Got more comments and additions for an enlarged version.
    Jacob Roseb

  3. Jacob: very nice, as always; the name Warda on your list could be Arabic for “Rose,” and Wardia “Rose-like” (in smell, color etc). I know the former, though have never heard of the latter.

  4. Thanks for a very interesting article
    My grandparents house was right by the area that housed most of the Jewish family in old Damascus on the street called straight. I have some lovely memories of that area and made lovely friends as well.
    Blessings !

  5. Thanks for the great initiative.
    I would like to comment regarding the following:
    “It is interesting to note the absence of any Spanish/Ladino given names from the list….., ”
    And “…We were surprised to encounter several given names which have distinctive Islamic flavor such as Zainab and Kulthum [10]”-

    1. Female and male given names as well as surnames in the Sharia courts that categorized as “Jewish” include mainly the Musta’arab jews as well as the Samaritans and Caraite communities that lived in Damascus in the investigated period.
    2. It does not make sense, at least for the 16-18th centuries, that no Spanish/Ladino names exist as almost 2/3 of the Jewish community were originated from Spain/Portugal and Sicily.
    It really indicates that “Sephardic Jews somehow managed their affairs without the need to turn to the Muslim courts” as you mentioned.

  6. Thank you for a very interesting article.

    My mother in law was born in Damascus her name was Shafika or Shafiya (the reason for this is that the Y could be read in two different versions so I was told). This name does not appear on your list. Was it an unusual name for a Jewish girl?

  7. My grandmother was born in Damascus and her name was Bahia; her sister’s name was Badia. Her sisters-in-laws were Bakia and Balous.

    Have you done any research on men’s names? My grandfather went by Nathan in the US, but I have learned that his name was Chahali or Shada.

    Thanks!

    Karen

  8. This list contains as Jacob said only 84 names appearing in the moslem Sharia courts list !
    By the way, The name you are talking about is very known and used name but its spelling is Shafiqa. Jews as other Syrians pronounce the Q as A so the name becomes Shafi’a.
    Rafi

  9. This list contains as Jacob said only 84 names appearing in the moslem Sharia courts list !
    By the way, The name you are talking about is very known and used name but its spelling is Shafiqa. Jews as other Syrians pronounce the Q as A so the name becomes Shafi’a.
    Rafi

  10. You are probably right about about the Sephardic Jews managing their affairs outside the Muslim courts.