My real name is Bar-John.


>What happened is that Jewish parents in America wanted to give their children names that would help them blend into the mainstream. So boys who would have been Isaac or Israel in the old country became Irving. My father-in-law is Bernard rather than Berel (his Hebrew/Yiddish name) or Baruch.
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>This trend seems to have stopped now that it's not a handicap to be Jewish in America. There are still Jews giving trendy or different names, but the motivations are different. And lots of American Jews are back to giving Hebrew and Biblical names. Of course now, as Tracy pointed out, many of those names have become quite trendy themselves.
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>Tamar