First names - indication of roots?

[cbcarolyn]

Tracing back my Everett family I have found a whole bunch of names that I feel are traditionally Jewish eg Ephraim, Reuben, Manassah, Benjamin, Mahala, birth dates all around 1830.  Would this mean that I have some Jewish roots or did people use the old testament for inspiration for names?

[Garethboxing]

In Wales there were certainly plenty of people given Biblical names though not Jewish, particularly whenever there was a Revival. I suppose the modern equivalent would be the rash of Kylies around today...
                Gareth

[cbcarolyn]

I did wonder whether it was a Kylie type of thing - wasn't sure if that sort of thing happened then, I don't think they had a TV!!!!

Maybe someone had learnt to read and they were extracting the names to be a bit different.  These were in Harlow.

[avm228]

My Eldred family in Essex (no Jewish roots - in fact they were parish clerks for generations) used all of those names except for Manassah, plus several other Old Testament names - Ezekiel, Emanuel, Ezra, Jabez, Hesia, Ephraisa, and lots and lots of Rebeccas.   Mahala in particular seems to have been popular in Essex.  It's quite a modern idea that these names are characteristically Jewish - up to the first half of the 19th century they were used enthusiastically by Christian families, as they still are in the US.

Anna

[Nadine Moore]

Could it be that they went to church more regularly than nowadays and heard these names every week in the bible readings?

[Lendevon]

All the names mentioned were common in the Essex fishing community where my ancestors were living in the 19th century.
Mehalah was the title of a very popular novel set on Mersea Island, Essex. The Essex answer to Lorna Doone.

[cbcarolyn]

thanks for all the replies - I had never heard of Mahala before.  These are a way from Mersea - but can see they may have been a connection.