Jewish Pet Names Unleashed

Dr. Sarah Bunin-Benor, a leading scholar in contemporary Jewish studies & linguistics, joins Rabbi Robyn for a heartwarming & enlightening episode of the Mazel Pups Podcast. Listen in as she recounts her transformation from a child who was scared of dogs to an adult who does serious academic research into the names of Jewish people’s pets. You’ll also hear how her daughter convinced her &  husband to adopt a dog, & how she now loves dogs!
Sharing facts & anecdotes she’s acquired from her extensive study of Jewish people naming their pets (both what the pets are named as well as why), Dr. Bunin Benor gives us insight into pet naming within Jewish families, providing a unique lens into how pets’ names often carry deep cultural & emotional significance.
She’ll shine light on various trends in Jewish pet names: from names that mirror personal human names to those inspired by foods, holidays, historical figures & more. Dr. Bunin Benor reveals the stories behind popular Jewish name choices as well as the humorous, sometimes whimsical, names that reflect pets' personalities & adoption tales. 
Listeners are sure to be amused & entertained by the witty examples of Jewish pet names that showcase cultural references & playful wordplay (e.g., Ruth Beta Finsberg for a goldfish). In addition to the fun, you’ll learn about the academic value of studying pet names & how what people choose to name their pets reflects broader cultural practices. 

Dr. Benor is the Founding Editor of https://www.jewishlanguages.org/

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor is Vice Provost & Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles campus) & Adjunct Professor (by courtesy) in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Linguistics in 2004. She has published & lectured widely about Jewish languages, linguistics, Yiddish, American Jews, & Orthodox Jews. Her books include Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers, 2012) & Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps (Rutgers, 2020). Dr. Benor is founding co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Languages (Brill) & co-editor of Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present (De Gruyter Mouton, 2018).

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Rabbi Robyn

Transcript

Rabbi Robyn Frisch  Host   00:08

Shalom, welcome. I'm Rabbi Robyn Frisch, and this is the Mazel Pops podcast. If you are Jewish or Jew-ish, however you define that, and you love dogs, then this is the podcast for you. 

I am super excited about today's guest.  Today we have with us Dr Sarah Bunin Benor and there are a variety of reasons - I'm not going to spend the whole entire podcast telling you why I'm so excited - but I do want to say that I first met her a number of months ago, when I was actually looking for someone to lead a webinar for my work, and just a few minutes into our conversation I knew that she was the right person to speak for our webinar. 

Also, she is a professor of contemporary Jewish studies and linguistics at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the school from which I was ordained. And one of the books that she's written is “Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism.” And that's a book that I particularly loved and found very important for me personally, due to the fact that I have family members who are Haredi, who are ultra-Orthodox. 

And then I found out that she has studied dog names and was interested in the phenomenon of people naming their pets both human names and Jewish people naming their pets with Jewish names. So I feel like every topic that I'm interested in, she is an expert in the field and she is literally - and I'm telling the truth - the only person I've ever told that I am a Fangirl. 

So I could spend hours and hours going on. But rather I want to hear from you and I want to be able to ask you questions. So I'm really thrilled to have you here today to talk about dogs and Judaism. And you're actually working on a book about dogs and Jewish people and the names that they give to their pets, so I'm excited to hear about that as well. But before we start any of this, you have to go through the Mazel Pups Lighting Round. I have four questions for you, just like we have Four Questions at a Seder. We're across coasts, but even if you were here, I don't think I would have four cups of wine. It's not the full Seder thing, but I do have the Four Questions. 

First question, no big surprise: Do you have a dog or dogs? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   02:27

First, I have to say that was one of the best introductions I've ever gotten. Thank you so much. Yes, I have a dog. Her name is Libby. She's an Australian Kelpie, 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   02:41

And can you share a fun fact or two about Libby?

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   02:53

Well, we got her at a rescue and my daughter, who was to be the primary dog person, was walking around and connected to lots of dogs, but this dog licked her hand and howled in a kind of singing voice and she immediately knew that this was the one, and it was just a bond from the start and she's really been a great asset to our family. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   03:11

What do you like the most about Judaism? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   3:14

I like the community aspect, the fact that there is a Jewish community in time. That I'm doing the same things that my Jewish ancestors did. Jewish community around the world. I'm doing the same things that Jews around the world are doing. And the local Jewish community, that I get a lot of joy from. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   03:34

Finally, what is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   03:39

Passover/Pesach, because it's kind of like an opportunity to be a professor in my home, leading a Seder. And also there's just so much richness in the liturgy, the Haggadah, and the foods we eat, the traditions we have. And it's also an opportunity for bringing people together. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   4:02

Thank you. And now we're going to move on from the Lightning Round and go back many years. I want to go back to when you were growing up and ask: did you have a dog when you were growing up? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   04:13

No, I did not. In fact, we always asked my parents for pets and the answer was always no. Then finally they gave in and let us have goldfish. And then, that was it. That was the only pet we were allowed to have. Then, when my kids were growing up, I also didn't want to have a pet. I wasn't so into dogs. I wasn't so into, I was kind of scared of then actually. I grew up in a Jewish family that was scared of dogs, which was a common story and then. But my husband was into dogs and he didn't want us to have a dog. But the kids really did. And so finally we decided to get a starter pet of some guinea pigs. So we got a pair of guinea pigs, Latke and Toffee. And then we finally gave in and went the dog route. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   05:07

So was Libby the first kind of time you've realized…or did you realize, that you really love dogs? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   05:15

Yeah, totally. I was a little bit hesitant. I was nervous about the work and Libby jumping on people, but I was told… I've totally changed and now on the streets I walk up to dogs, I'm not scared of them  I understand dogs better - and dog owners - and it's been, it's been a wonderful experience. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   05:40

So, as an expert on dog names, I have to ask you: Did Libby come with her name when you adopted her, or did someone in your family name her? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   05:47

So no, she came with the name Delilah, which also could have worked. But I just had one rule when we get a dog, you have to give it a Jewish name, and so my daughter chose the name Libby, because it means “libi” my heart. In Hebrew, and also in Yiddish, “libe” means love, and this dog is all about love, and my daughter and the dog's relationship is all about love. So it was very fitting. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   06:14

I'm actually very impressed because I had a similar rule, but my kids didn't let me follow it. Our first dog is Bo, which, back when I was at Hebrew Union College in Israel 30 years ago, I decided that when I got a dog -because I learned that Bo was the command form of come for a male. So if it was a male it was going to be Bo, and if it was a female it would be Boie, the command form for a female. And then the Obamas got in the way and they named their dog Bo and it became the most popular dog name, which it was not when I originally thought of it. But I was still committed and my kids were young enough that we named the first dog Bo. 

And then, when we adopted our second dog, it was right after Purim, it was right when the pandemic was starting and I thought: “oh, there are so many, you know, he could be Shushan or Mordechai, we could call him Mordie,” And I had all these wonderful names - and my kids vetoed all of them. And we ended up with Frankie, because he looks like a frankfurter. He's long, he's part basset, hound. And then also there was at Fordham, there was a baseball player, the "Fordham Flash, named Frankie Frisch, who I think is a distant relative - although like very distant relative, perhaps…it depends on who you ask in my husband's family…who was not Jewish. So it is in no way a Jewish name. But I got the dog. 

So, going to some of the work you did, what sparked your interest in Jewish pet names? Plenty of people say like I'm going to give my dog a Jewish name, but they don't go research what everyone else is doing.

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   07:45                       

Right. Well I got…I started doing this research before I even had guinea pigs. And I was working on a book about Jewish names in general - and kind of a crossover academic, popular book about Jewish personal names, family names, synagogue names, so many other types of names - and then one of those was pet names. And I posted on Facebook about a bunch of these categories, I think it was pet names, names of vehicles, names of synagogues and names of streets that are Jewishly connected, or something like that. And most of the responses I got were about pets. And people were so excited about it and so interested in other people's responses, and so I realized this is definitely something that people want to talk about, want to hear about, want to read about. So I decided to put the bigger book about Jewish names on hold and work instead on a Jewish, a book about Jewish names of pets, and so then I started working on it, but then got involved in other projects and put it aside and I just started working on it again a few months ago, and so I've been doing the data analysis now. I have over 2000 names of pets. I mean 2000 pets that are in this data set, and so I've done some quantitative and qualitative analysis of their names, and I'm excited to talk about it today. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   09:19

Interesting. You know, I grew up with a Kugel for a dog. My mother had no interest in a dog, but we kind of did what your family did. We just kept getting all these other different - we had snakes and I don't even remember - all kinds of things and finally she's like, “Okay, I don't want a zoo. Just get a dog and get rid of the rest of them.” But the deal was she got to name him, so he was Kugel. So I am curious: are you, I don't know if this is something that you've looked at, but are you finding Jewish names are more common than they used to be, or just that people are talking about it more? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   09:51

Yeah, so I don’t know. I just have data from people that I collected in 2019 and I do see a trend in more recent ones having more Jewish names. But that could just be when they were born. I mean because I don't have data on whether people who have had pets, adopted pets in the 1960s, gave them Jewish names. I only have the data about the names that they consider Jewish, so I'm not exactly sure. But my guess is that that has become more popular recently. Certainly, Jewish pet ownership has become more common. I mean I don't have actual data on that, but I think that's the case, especially dogs, and I mean I've certainly noticed many families that didn't used to have dogs and now do. So I think there's been an uptick in Jewish acceptance and love of dogs. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   10:49

Yeah, it's interesting. On Instagram I put on the Mazel Pops page. You know, if you have a dog with a Jewish name, please share. And I got literally, I would say 100 people sent me pictures of their dog with Jewish names. I'm sure they're happy to share with you. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   11:04

Yeah, I should add that data to my collection. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   11:06

Yeah, there were a lot with all kinds of names. Of course I had a preference for those named Mazel. It was really nice, and actually my husband grew up with a Mazel. So do you have a sense of why it is that Jewish names are so popular for dogs these days? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   11:22

Yes, oh, I should mention, though, that most Jewish pet owners do not give their dogs Jewish names. Most of them - I think it was something about like 30 percent or so - of the people in my survey from 2019 who own pets said that they have had at least one pet with a name they consider Jewish. So it's not as common, you know. It's not like most Jews do this. But it is more common among Jews who are Jewish professionals, rabbis, educators, Jewish studies professionals, etc. And also more common among people who have more Jewish friends, not surprisingly. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   12:02

Interesting. And are there certain names that you see more often than others? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   12:07

Yes, okay. So this is the analysis that I've just done in the last few days in preparation for this interview. So thank you for that impetus and let me tell you the results. I'm very excited to share this. You're the first person, and all your listeners are the first people, to hear this. 

So the categories. Well, Hebrew names are much more common than Yiddish names. So in my 2000-something pet corpus, I have 925 names that are Hebrew and 424 names that are Yiddish and 15 names that are Aramaic. So that's the language breakdown. And then we get to the categories. By far the most popular category, which was kind of a surprise to me, is personal names, names that are also names of humans - and so I have 1,033 of those. And every other category is much, much smaller. I have 216 that are named after foods, 213 that are named after characteristics or circumstances. And some of them are in multiple categories, so they're not all going to add up to 2000, right? 131 in the animal word category. Oh, and I should point out this is not just about dogs, this is about pets in general, right? So but in a minute I'll tell you the most popular names of dogs. 

Okay so animal words, and then historical figures or current celebrities, 126. Terms of endearment, 90. Words relating to Israel, 73. Literary or cultural references. And then smaller categories of wordplay and Sephardi and Mizrahi references. There are also a lot of references to the Tanakh, the Bible. Some, a few, just a few references to rabbinic texts. Lots of references to holidays, or also months or seasons or days or the Torah portion of the week, And other references to Judaism that aren't about holidays but that's much less common. Then also honorees. A lot of animals are named after other animals or after humans, and that's a very Jewish thing, to name after someone. Sephardi Jews tend to name after living relatives and Ashkenazi Jews tend to name after deceased relatives. But we're all naming in honor of people and that is a big part of naming pets too, which I was a little surprised about that. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   14:58

That I've never heard before. It's interesting and I wonder - you know thinking of like I've been reading about and thinking about on my own - like what mourning rituals are appropriate when someone loses a pet. And you know I would say there are things you should do, but saying Kaddish, Mourners Kaddish, would not be appropriate. That's for a human, even though a pet is part of your family. And you know I hadn't thought about it before, but is naming after a loved one, like for some people that may be crossing the line and for others that may be a really powerful way to remember someone…so even with the naming of pets those things come into play. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   15:31

That's right. Or even naming after their, their loved ones, pets. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   15:36

Oh, interesting. Yeah, that feels a little more comfortable, I think. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   15:40

Yeah, like someone, one woman named her dog Sadie after her grandfather's horse named Sadie.

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   15:51

That’s great. Okay, so what are the most popular dog or pet names? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   15:53

Okay, so the most popular dog names, and I'm going to divide this by the gender of the dog names. and I'm gonna divide this by the gender of the dog, we have female, male and unisex names. Well, why don't you guess? I'm curious, what do you think are the most popular names for dogs? 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   16:09

I would say Bagel is probably up there, based on my experience. Shayna.

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   16:16

Well, you’re right. Shayna is indeed the most popular name for dogs. I have 43 dogs…spelled in different ways: S- h-a-y-n-a, S-h-a-i-n-a. There's even S-h-a-n-a that people pronounce as Shayna. So yeah, lots of dogs named Shayna.

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   16:28

Which makes sense. It means “beautiful.” 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   16:35

Yeah, it's also a term of endearment, which is, you know, another common category that people are giving their dogs names that are terms of endearment. Some of them are also personal names, like Shayna. But other terms of endearment that you get are like Motek. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   16:55

Oh, I haven't heard that for a dog. I like that, like “Sweetie.” 

Dr. Sarah Bunin   Guest   16:58

Yeah, Motek. Okay, back to the numbers. So Shayna is the most popular, then Sadie. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   17:03

I'm not surprised. Okay, so it's kind of like kids, the older generation of Jewish sounding names.

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   17:10

Right. Then Kelev, okay, which is Hebrew for “dog.” Makes sense category of animal names 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   17:16

Do you get Kalba at all for female dogs, or no? [Note: “Kalba” is the feminine form of “Kelev,”/Dog – it also means “Bitch]

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   17:21

I was surprised. I thought I thought I would, but no, I didn't have any tokens of that. And maybe that's because it also kind of has negative connotation. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   17:31

That's what I was curious. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   17:33

So if someone is knowledgeable enough to know that word, they probably also know that it has negative connotation. Although I was surprised to have some kind of negative names in the corpus, like kind of insulting terms, so, but I have to say that's more common for cats. So there's some cat names like Mishagas, Shovav. Mishagas means “craziness,” Shovav is “mischievous.” Tipesh is “stupid.”  Shmigage – “a loser.” 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   18:03

Oh interesting, yeah, I've never heard those. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   18:05

But I also found some dogs with names like that. So one couple has a pair of dogs named Shade and Mazik, which they translate as “demon” and “destroyer.” 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   18:19

I wonder if that was based on the personalities or they gave them the names before. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   18:24

Yeah, I don’t know. That's a good question.

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   18:19

Because I always say I wish I could have named my dogs after I had them and knew their personality. Like Bo. You know, “come” is lovely, but he never comes. I could say “Bo Bo.” He doesn't come or respond to his name - and he's 11. But he is great about escaping from places and I…he would have been a perfect Houdini. But you know, if I named him three weeks in, I would have known that. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   18:47

That's funny. Yeah, a lot of people do talk about naming them after a characteristic or something in their personality or the circumstance in which they acquired them. Well, this is especially common for goldfish that were won at Purim carnivals to have names related to Purim, like Mordechai and Shushan and Esther. But then, let's see, one dog named their dog Tova [which means “good” in Hebrew], because she was mischievous and they wanted to give her something to aspire to. 

Let's see, one dog was a Bar Mitzvah present and they named her Mitzvah. And another one was named Mitzvah because they wrote that she was scratched and blinded in her left eye and the breeder couldn't find a buyer and just gave the dog to this person. And so this person said she's my Mitzvah, so I'm going to name her Mitzvah. Yeah, so there's definitely a lot of interesting stuff with that. Oh, another one is Mayim [which means “water” in Hebrew]. A dog was named Mayim because he loves the water, that kind of thing. 

A mini poodle was named Matzah, not only because he was adopted on Passover, but also because his fur is white with brown flecks.

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   20:12

Oh, that's perfect. So actually I was curious when you mentioned holidays, like I mentioned earlier, that because we adopted our second dog around Purim, I really wanted to give him a Purim name but was vetoed. Do you…I don't know if you know this, but dogs that have names - and I do hear a lot of Latkes and Matzahs and things like that - do they tend to have come into the family around the holiday? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   20:40

Definitely. In fact, I started making a list of all the holiday-related names and, yes, almost all of them are from that holiday. And well, another one for cats. Shunra is one that I didn't expect. Shunra means “cat” in Aramaic and it's in the Chad Gadya song [Chad Gadya, an Aramaic song, is traditionally sung at the end of the Passover Seder.]. And oh, actually I did find a dog named Gadya as well, which means [goat]. But yeah, you would think that there'd be a Kalba from that same song, Chad Gadya, because that's how you say “dog” in Aramaic. But I didn't find one. But then also Moses or Moshe for Passover as well. Lots of Purim names, not just Mordechai and Esther, but also Vashti is pretty popular; Shushan; Tasha and Tashin from Hamantaschen. 

And then for Hanukkah, okay, a lot of pets are given as presents, as Hanukkah presents, right? And so they get Hanukkah-related names. So Dreidel, Latke, Sivivon, Suvi or Sufganiyah, Donut, Judah, Maccabee, Tsur from Maos Tsur. And Nitzi, which is short for Nitziotz, which means “spark” in Hebrew.  

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   21:54

Love that. So, you know, I'm wondering back for a moment to the people names and I don't know if you know this or you know you have a hunch about it, but certainly, you know, I think it's obvious to any of us who know people with dogs. Like, for example, I grew up with a dog who was never allowed on furniture, let alone my parents' bed. You know, my dog, we would go out, we would shut the…we had a nice size little laundry room, but we would shut the laundry room door, maybe give him a toy or a bone, and we'd come back when we came back. My dogs have the run of the house. They're on all the furniture. 

I literally like sleep in the most uncomfortable positions because I don't want to wake them up in the middle of the night. They, you know, run the house and we talk about them as part of the family, talking to them about my husband. You know, because I talk to them, which I don't think we did either in the same way, have conversations with them. And I'll say: “Abba will be back in a little.” You know, because my children call us Ima and Abba, “mom” and “dad” in Hebrew. And so that's how I refer to my dogs. So I'm just wondering if this human name phenomenon has something to do with the fact that, we don't see them as human, but you know, I don't think we ever talked about Kugel as being part of our family. He was our family dog. And the way we view dogs seems to be so different now. And I'm just curious if you have even just a hunch of it that’s why sometimes we do tend to do more human names sometimes.

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor Guest   23:15

Absolutely. I think that trend started in America in the 1980’s of giving dogs human names. And I think that correlated with when we started to see an increase in considering dogs part of the family. But interestingly, in some other countries that isn't the case. So there was a study of dog names in Hong Kong, I believe, and they found that they did not have a trend of using human names. They use names like Fifi and MooMoo. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   23:46

Rover…their version. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   23:49

Yeah, and so I think. But we might also see changes in other parts of the world, and so, yes, I think that it makes sense that the most common category in my data was the human name. For that reason. And yeah, my, my dog also gets the run of the house, except my room. That's the one place she's not allowed. And she knows it. We keep the doors closed mostly, but even when the door is open, she doesn't come in there. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   24:18

Wow, where does she sleep? 

 Bunin Benor   Gues   24:20

Oh, with my daughter. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   24:23

Okay, so she gets a bed. Just not in your bed. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   24:25

Yeah, and when we, when we get a house sitter, we make sure they're okay with sleeping with the dog, because she always needs someone to sleep with. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   24:34

I'm wondering if it works both ways. Like, we give our dogs more human names because we treat them more like humans and part of the family. Does giving them the name, do you think, work similarly? Okay, they have a human name. We then therefore view them more as something we should treat more like we treat humans, that's more part of the family? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   24:53

I think that probably does happen. Do you feel that you, if you, if you had a dog named Frank, you said, yeah? 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   25:01

Frankie, yeah. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   25:03

Frankie. And then let's say you also had a dog named Matzah Ball, and what do you think? You would see Frankie as more human-like than Matzah Ball. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   25:13

I don't. I mean have I Frankie and Bo, so that's it. So I kind of do have that and I, I personally don't. But I think it's hard. You know two dogs in one family. Maybe it's a little bit different because you're more likely to treat them the same, I would imagine. But I could, I would think overall, as we name them how we name kids, that you know, even if our motivation is because we see them like kids, that it works the other way too, that we then treat them a little more like that because they have names more like that. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   25:44

Yeah. So I'm not sure it's a good question, empirical question that we could do research on. But I will say there are some great stories of people using the animal's name in ways that they interact with the pet. So, for example, there's a pet named Sevivon [Sevivon is “dreidel” in Hebrew], a dog named Sivivon, and they like to spin him around. And then there was a dog named Shoko and they dressed him up on Purim in a plastic bag. So he was Shoko B'Sakit, which is chocolate milk in a bag. That's a common treat in Israel. You know, a common drink in Israel. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   26:26

I'm just curious what is the most…either your favorite or - these might be two different things - your favorite or the most interesting or unusual name of a pet that you've heard? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   26:36

Okay. So my favorite pet names are the ones involving wordplay. And so I'll give you some that I found from dogs. First, which is here, let me find these okay. So there's a Bichon called Harpo Barks, which is great because it's like Harpo Marks, but, and Harpo kind of looks like a Bichon, you know, with the white, light hair.

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host

He wouldn’t have made a good Groucho. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   27:06

That's right, exactly. And then there's other ones that are more coded, like a dog named Perry, because the dog was a papillon, which means ”butterfly” in French and “parpar” in Hebrew is butterfly, so they named the dog Perry. So I think it's clever and in a coded way. Or another one like that is…you mentioned a dog that looks like a hot dog. There was another one named Nikki, short for Naknikia, which is Hebrew for “hotdog,” and he's a wiener dog. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   27:40

Right, so you wouldn't meet that dog and think, “oh, he's got a Hebrew name.” 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   27:49

Yeah, exactly. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   27:40

Maybe if you knew the people and or if they shared that with you. Interesting.

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   27:48

Yeah. And then, and some people use coded names like this as a way of “bagel-ing” people – meaning, a way of trying to determine if that person is Jewish. So, for example, someone has  a greyhound named May, which is short for Shayna Maydel, “pretty girl.” And she says that she uses it as a code to see if guys that she meets when she's walking around her neighborhood with the dog are Jewish. And so if someone says, you know, I like your dog, then maybe she'll say that it's short for Shayna Maydel and see if there's a glimmer of recognition. 

But some of the other pets have very punny names. I'll just say a few of them: Amitai, which is a Siamese cat, and instead of spelling it T-a-i they spell it T-h-a-I, Thai. And then Perchik the cat, but it's spelled P-u-r-r, so it's based on the “Fiddler on the Roof” character. 

And my very favorite pet name of all, Ruth Beta Finsberg. It's a beta fish. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   29:02

That is very cute. I've heard of some dogs with variations on her name. Definitely that's probably a popular name. You mentioned how, not shockingly, rabbis and Jewish professionals and, you know, people in academic Jewish areas are very among the most likely to give their pet some sort of jewfish name. Otherwise, was it mostly, did you find people who were more engaged Jewishly or not? Because in some ways I could see people saying like “we don't do anything Jewish but we gave our pet a Jewish name,” like that kind of that covers us. Or did you find those people that tended to be more engaged? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   29:39

Yes, definitely. The people who do the Jewish name thing tend to be more engaged Jewishly and more educated Jewishly. So, yeah, and there are plenty of Orthodox Jews who have Jewish names of pets. It's not actually more common among Orthodox Jews than non-Orthodox Jews, but Jewish engagement is definitely an independent variable. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   30:06

So I mean this question with all due respect. You know I said how highly I think of you. You are clearly a serious academic and you have a lot of credentials. You have your BA from Columbia - comparative literature you studied. You have your PhD from Stanford in linguistics. You've started websites about language that are very important. You've written important books. You do this teaching at Hebrew Union College and University of Southern California. So I'm wondering if in any way, you're concerned that you're writing this book, which is a serious study but it's also on maybe a lighter topic than some of the other topics that you've written about, if you're at all concerned that people will think: “Oh, she's not she's not as serious as I thought she was and this is a lighter topic.” 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   30:46

Yeah, it's a great question. No, I'm not, because I do think it's a serious topic. Even though it's fun and fluffy, literally, it's not. There is also academic import and, you know, my findings can tell us a lot about contemporary American Jews. They can tell us about what's important to American Jews. And clearly, texts and holidays and foods, cultural practices from the old country, Israel - these are all things that are important to American Jews. And also it shows that Jews have creative ways of demonstrating their identity, not just through the names of their children, but also the names of their pets. And within that, there's a lot of creativity in using trends that are common among Americans more broadly, but also with distinctly Jewish features, like using multilingualism and using all these sources that are important to Jews.

 I'm not the only one. I attended a conference on onomastics, which is the study of names. I've attended this conference a few times and I have a paper that's coming out soon in one of the onomastics journals, and one of the papers at this conference that I attended was about clown names - names that clowns choose for themselves, like medical clowns. And you know that's, I think, a common thing for people who study names to study something unusual. Another thing I'm hoping to study someday is names of, Jewish names of drag queens and roller derby people. So theit roller derby names and drag names are both names that people select for themselves, and Jews sometimes select names that are Jewishly marked in some way. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch    Host   33:09

I love that. Well, I'm glad to hear that actually, because I think...I mean, obviously, I think this is a really fascinating and important topic. So I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. 

So I just want to conclude by asking how can listeners stay updated on the progress on eventual release of your book about Jewish pets names? 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   33:29

So they could subscribe to the email list of the Jewish Language Project which I run, and I do see this as part of that work. The Jewish Language Project does research and education about Jewish languages around the world, including endangered languages from many places and also American Jewish English, how Jews in America speak English, and I see the Jewish names of pets as part of that. It's part of our language. It's words we say. It's words we say a lot, and so when my book comes out or when other things relating to names are available - like I'm planning to create online databases of Jewish names, then we'll announce that on that list. So anyone can just go to jewishlanguages.org and click on subscribe to mailing list. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   34:19

So we'll include a link to that as well, but I was going to ask you. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you so much for being here. As you know, I love to speak to you and this is a special treat for me and I'm so glad that I'll be able to now share you with others and they'll be able to hear about this. And I can't wait till the book comes out. 

Dr. Sarah Bunin Benor   Guest   34:36

Wonderful. Thank you so much. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch   Host   34:36

Hi again, I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. If you did, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd give us a five-star rating and follow Mazel Pups on social media. Thanks, 

Rabbi Robyn’s Dog Bo   34:36

Hello. Shalom friends. I’m Bo. One of Rabbi Robyn’s dogs, and an original Mazel Pup. If you enjoyed today’s podcast, don’t forget to hit that “Subscribe” button, give us a five star rating, and follow us on social media. Thanks for listening.