Parashat Shemot – Calling Oneself by a Non-Jewish Name

A gutn Shabbes!

In our parashah it is written:
Shemot, chapter 1, verse 1:
“And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Yaakov; each man and his household came.”
Ba’al HaTurim on Shemot 1:1:
“‘And these are the names of the sons of Israel who are coming’ – the initial letters form the word ‘sheviyah’ (captivity), to teach that even when they were in captivity they were still ‘the names of the sons of Israel’, for they did not change their names. And this is what our Sages said (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 48): for three things they were redeemed from Egypt – because they did not change their names, etc.”
We see similarly in the Peskita on the verse Devarim 26:5:
“And there he became a great, mighty and numerous nation.”
Peskita Zutarta, Devarim, parashat Tavo, p. 46a:
“Another interpretation of ‘and there he became a nation’: this teaches that Israel were distinguished there. Their clothing, their food and their language were different from the Egyptians. They were marked and known as a nation unto themselves, distinct from the Egyptians.”
From all of the above we see how important it was for the Jews to preserve their Jewish names during the exile in Egypt.

The question: nowadays, in the business world, people call themselves by gentile names such as John, Erik. Is it correct to do so? And if yes, why?

In order to answer the question, we need to divide it into two cases:

A. When one does this because he esteems the gentiles and wants to resemble them in his clothing and in his name.
The Maram Shik writes in Yoreh De’ah, siman 169, that this is forbidden not only on the basis of the midrash, see there, but by Torah law, from the verse “And I will separate you from the nations.” By wanting to behave like a gentile and wearing gentile clothing and likewise calling himself by a gentile name, this is forbidden by the Torah, as explained by the Rambam in Hilchot Avodah Zarah at the beginning of chapter 10.

When the Maram Shik writes about this, he first brings an incident that happened to him when he was the rabbi in the city of Yargin, near Pressburg. Once, when he met a local minister, the minister complained to him and said that it is not proper that Jews call themselves by gentile names. According to him, all other nations cherish the names that come to them from the head of their nation — such as the Hungarians, French, and the like — and they all value their language and their names and do not change them in any way, for they see in this honor and glory. But the Jews, who are among the most ancient of nations and upon whom the existence of the world depends, are ashamed to be called by their own names and change their names to gentile ones, and this, in his eyes, was considered a great disgrace.

The rabbi relates that he had no answer to this, and he writes that he simply deflected it by saying that the long exile is what caused this.

B. When a person does not completely change his name, but does so only for livelihood purposes. Since he works among gentiles, it is easier for them to pronounce a name to which they are accustomed, and also because he does not want to stand out or attract unnecessary attention, and the like.

In the responsa of the Maharshdam, Yoreh De’ah, siman 199, there is a case of anusim (forced converts) who came from Portugal, who had names like those of the gentiles. After they returned to Hashem and His Torah, they changed their names to Jewish names. Afterwards, they needed to write from their place of residence, as Jews, to the place where they had been known by their gentile names — whether to relatives or to people with whom they conducted monetary dealings.

They asked whether they were permitted to write and sign with the names they had when they were in their gentile state, or whether there was a concern of prohibition, because it appears as if they are still maintaining a gentile identity and not acknowledging the Torah of Hashem.

The Maharshdam answered them that all that the poskim of blessed memory forbid and are stringent about is only that a person should not change himself and his person in front of the gentiles so that they will consider him a gentile and point at him and say: “This one is a gentile,” and thus there would be a desecration of Hashem’s Name. But when he merely writes his business and then signs his name with a gentile name, and the one to whom the letter is sent certainly knows that he is a Jew, and others who see the letter think that this property does not belong to a Jew but to a gentile and do not know the person himself — and in addition, this is not something done publicly so that one could say there is a desecration of Hashem’s Name, Heaven forbid — then it is permitted. “What seems correct to me I have written,” he concludes.

On the basis of what we have learned, we can return to the “question of the week.”
The midrash describes how they distinguished themselves from among the gentiles by not changing their names to gentile ones, as well as by their clothing and language, and doing so today as well would be forbidden, as explained above.
Practical halachah regarding gentile names in the business world, and in general: our teacher, HaRav HaGaon Rabbi Amram Fried shlita writes that one should not call himself by a gentile name when his goal is to mingle with the gentiles so that it will not be recognizable that he is a Jew. But when he uses a Jewish name, and only for business purposes with gentiles uses a gentile name, it is permitted.