First names

Naming of children in the Block, Bloom, Gorden, Gruber, Scharff and Ghertner families (from Central and Eastern Europe) certainly seems to have followed a tradition of naming after an ancestor, although not necessarily one who had recently died as was Jewish custom. Here are deceased ancestors and deceased individuals for whom they were named (an assumption but I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb here).  The living descendants probably already know the origins of your name.

  1. Solomon Block (1826-1886)
    1. Solomon George Block (1886-?)
    2. Lewis Solomon Block (1898-1983)
      1. Lewis Solomon Block, Jr. (1926-1983)
  2. Emile Levy (1847-1902), father of  Fanny Fay Levy
    1. Raymond Emile Block (1892-1968)
      1. Raymond Emile Block, Jr (1918-1993)
  3. Emma Bloch (1854-?), mother of Fanny Fay Levy
    1. Emma Marie Block (1965-1980)
  4. Sam Block (1864-?) (a son of Solomon Block who may have been namesake of …)
    1. Samuel Alexander Block (1893-1981)
  5. John Bloom (1832-1883)
    1. John Rhine Bloom (1884-1935)
  6. Eduard Scharff (1857-1917)
    1. Eduard Lynton Scharff (1923-2009)
  7. Arvaham Ghertner
    1. Avraham Ghertner 1908-1988)
  8. Harry Gorden (1888-1963)
  9. Frank Rickey Bloom (1890-1955)
    1. Frank Rickey Bloom Jr. (1921-1975)
  10. Fanny Fay “Dannie” Levy (1873-1925)
    1. Faylese Fanny Scharff (1926-2015)
  11. Simon Ghertner (1882-1945)
  12. Harry Gorden (1888-1963)
  13. Frank Samuel Fleisman (1892-1970)
  14. Jessie Grace Block (1899-1972)
  15. Alven Simon Ghertner (1914-2012)
  16. Morton I. Bloom (1916-1944)
  17. Jean Fleisman (1915-2005)
  18. Leslie Gilbert Gruber (1921-1977)
  19. Frances Jean Bloom (1921-1978)

See Naming of children at Myjewishlearning.com.

Among Ashkenazim–that is, Jews of Central and Eastern European origin–the custom is to name the child after someone, usually a family member, who has recently died. In most cases this is a grandparent or great-grandparent. The usual explanation for this practice is that the parents hope that in receiving the name of an admired family member, the child will emulate in his or her life the virtues of the deceased namesake. To a certain extent, too, it is believed that the soul of the loved one lives on in the child who now bears his or her name.

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