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This list of Yiddish personal names was ratified by the RAS Division Cataloging Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries at the 2002 convention (June 23-26) and approved by the Library of Congress in 2003. Before ratification, Yiddish names of Hebrew or Aramaic origin in a Yiddish context were treated and romanized as Hebrew or Aramaic words. The forms in columns 3 and 4 below were used as see references/variants from authorized access points for Yiddish authors. Currently, these names are treated and romanized as Yiddish words, using the forms in column 4. The forms in column 2 remain the authorized forms for Hebrew or Aramaic names in Hebrew or Aramaic contexts, and the forms in column 2 and in column 3 are retained/added as variants of the authorized Yiddish form in column 4. 

Forms given in column 3 below are from Alexander Beider's Dictionary of Ashkenazic given names (Bergenfield, N.J. : Avotaynu, 2001). Authorized forms in column 4 agree with Beider's forms except when these conflict with forms or romanization practice in Uriel Weinreich's Modern English-Yiddish, Yiddish-English dictionary (New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1968), ALA/LC's primary source for Yiddish romanization. In cases of a conflict, the form found in Weinreich's dictionary (sometimes with the highly significant ALA/LC variations laid out in the note below) takes precedence over the form found in Beider. Where Beider's romanization has not been adopted, the form in column 3 is bracketed. 

If an authorized romanization is needed for a name not on this list, contact LC's Israel and Judaica Section c/o atau@loc.gov.

Note: ALA/LC Yiddish romanization practice involves the substitution of “ḥ” for Beider’s “kh,” (based on the Weinreich system which is strictly phonetic and therefore uses "kh" for both ח and כ), the representation of final ה by “h,” and special characters for certain Hebrew letters: ṿ = consonantal ו, ṭ = ט, ḳ = ק, ś = ש, s̀ = ת. Please note that ALA/LC Yiddish romanization does not use the ayin or alef diacritics used in Hebrew romanization, even for words of Hebrew origin (unless the context is specifically deemed by the cataloger to be a Hebrew "micro-context"), such as often happens in Yiddish religious works.

Footnotes

¹ Discrepancy from Beider form to accommodate Weinrich practice.

² If the name in the text is written as one word, romanize as one word.

³ Beider gives this form as an equivalent of הדסה.

⁴ Form supplied by Zachary Baker

⁵ Name is derivative of either אלחנן or יוחנן.

(Updated January 2023)

(downloadable copy)

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