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[Opinions] Grandparents' sibsets
These are my grandparents' families. I would like to hear your opinions of them, and if you wish, your own grandparents' sibsets.Maternal Grandfather:
Birthplace: Tripoli, Lybia.
Father: Khlafo
Mother: Buba (possibly Mahbuba)
Him: Aharon (usually pronounced Aron)
Brothers: Moshe, Amram, Gavriel (nicknamed Berry), Yehudah (nicknamed Danny).
Sisters: Ines, Viola, Liza, Rachel (hebrew pronounciation), Gzala.Maternal Grandmother:
Birthplace: Giaddo concentration camp, Fascist Italian Occupied Lybia. Parents were displaced there from Benghazi, Lybia.
Father: Zion (nicknamed Buya)
Mother: Tzofia (Nicknamed Wasi, Sophia, Sophie, Sasia)
Her: Liza (named after Elizabeth the Queen Mother), nicknamed Aliza after she emigrated to Israel.
Sisters: Hannah, Naomi.
Brothers: Nissim (nicknamed Simo, Simon), and Yitzhak (nicknamed Zacco, Itzik)Paternal Grandfather:
Birthplace: Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine, to parents who emigrated from Kaunas, Lithuania.
Him: Moshe
Father: Yakov
Mother: Sonia
Sister: IlanaPaternal Grandmother:
Birthplace: Mostar, Independent State of Croatia (Nazi puppet state, nowadays in Bosnia and Herzegovina), to a mother who escaped Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Her: Yardena (Born as Gordana)
Biological father: the martyr Yakov, they didn't know each other as he was murdered by the nazis (or their croatian allies)
Adoptive step-Father: Max (lost his family in the holocaust, met and married her mother after the war and then legally adopted her.)
Mother: Hilda Rut
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All of my grandparents are the United States, all coming from the southern states. Paternal Grandfather: William David
Father: Herman
Mother: Francis
Brother(s): Lewis
Sister(s): Dell, Rebecca, and WandaPaternal Grandmother: Cathy Marlene
Father: James Hoyt
Mother: Imogene Mary
Brother(s): Michael Coy, Jeffrey, and Phillip Bruce
Sister(s): Linda Diane, Phyllis Faye, Ginny Lynn, and MaryMaternal Grandfather: Lawrence James
Father: James Carl
Mother: Ines Pauline
Brother(s): N/A
Sister(s): Betty Lou, Joyce, Carolyn Joan, Lois, Doris, and FrancisMaternal Grandmother: Nancy Zoe
Father: James Earnest
Mother: Dorothy Ann
Brother(s): James
Sister(s): N/A
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My grandparents were all born in Italy. They are:Donato (only child)Rosy , had three sisters named Maddalena, Bianca and Lydia.Piero. Had a sister named Maria, possibly some other siblings.Bianca. Had a brother named Amedeo, I don’t think any other siblings?
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I like Aharon, Gavriel, Ines (but with a z), Viola, Zion, Aliza, Hannah, Naomi, Ilana and Max.My grandparents are all from America. My maternal grandparents from the south and my paternal grandparents from the midwest.Paternal Grandfather: Albert Cornelius "Al" (He hated Cornelius)
His father: Ruben Everett "Everett"
His mother: Dena (left when he was young, don't know middle name - married a man named Claude and had two more daughters: Ruby and Ethel)
Sisters: Alma, Marie and previously mentioned half-sisters
Brother: FrankPaternal Grandmother: Marie Catherine
Her father: William
Her mother: Philomena
Brothers: William (died young, don't know middle), Joseph Bernard Francesco "Joe"
Sister: Dolores MariaMaternal Grandfather: Harold Dewayne "Wayne"
His father: Aulcy Bryant
His mother: Emma Sue
His brothers: O'Neal (died in infancy), Aulcy Bryant Jr. "Junior", Thomas William "Bill", Walter Wesley, Kenneth O'Neal "Kenny", Roger Dale

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All of my grandparents were born in Finland in the 1930's and the 1940's.Maternal Grandfather: Kari-Antti Tapio "Kari"
- Father: Leo Antonio André "Antti" - was born in Uruguay to Finnish parents
- Mother: Anja Hertta Airikki
- Siblings: Pekka Juhani Kaarlo, Raisa Maria Carméla, Tuula Sanelma (half-sister)Maternal Grandmother: Pirjo Briitta Johanna
- Father: Svante "Sakke"
- Mother: Aili Ester
- Siblings: Heikki (don't know his middle name[s]), Leila Tellervo (half-sister), Timo Juhani (half-brother)Paternal Grandfather: Jorma Kyösti
- Father: Ahti Edvard
- Mother: Elvi Maria
- Siblings: Seppo Ahti, Pekka AnteroPaternal Grandmother: Liisa Emma Efia
- Father: Veikki Samuli (Samuel in some older documents)
- Mother: Olga Helena
- Siblings: Pauli Adrian, Maikki Hellin, Helena, Saimi Marjatta "Marjatta", Aino Ellen, Erkki Kalevi, Taina Marketta, Riitta-Sisko Hillevi "Riitta"
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such unique name, I have never seen anything quitw like them.
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Wonderful to see all these names and the places your ancestors were from. I’m particularly interested by all the nicknames people have, especially on your mother’s side of the family, and how those change based on the context of language or country. My favorite names are Amram, Berry, Ines, Viola, Zion, Liza, Naomi, Nissim, Zacco, Sonia, Yardena, and Hilda Rut. And I’d love to know more about Khlafo, Gzala, Buya, and Wasi.My maternal grandmother: Elaine Grey
Birthplace: New York, NY
Father: Earle Buell
Mother: Ida Regina (stage name Elaine Grey)
Sister: Nelle
Brother: John ConwayJackMaternal grandfather: Martín Antonio Jacinto (he had a lot of other middle names on top of this, but these are the only ones I can recall off the top of my head)
Birthplace: Guayaquil, Ecuador
Father: Juan Xavier
Mother: María Elvira
Sisters: María “Mariquita,” Mercedes “Meche,” Jovita, Teresita
Brothers: Carlos, Juan, Antonio “Antuco,” Xavier, JoséPepe,” Ernesto & Eduardo (twins), Miguel

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Khlafo means "Redemption" or "Replacement" in Lybian Judeo-Arabic. it was a common name for boys whose brothers died young, similar to "Alter" amomg the Ashkenazi jews. My uncle's name, Yigal, is meant to serve as a translation of Khlafo, and my middle name, Yigal, is after said uncle.
Gzala means a female fawn, or a Gazelle, and as such is a cognate with the english Gazelle, and has the same meaning as hebrew Ayala and Tzviya, german Hilda, and yiddish Hinda. There are women in my family named Ayala after Gzala.
Buya just means "Dad" in Lybian Judeo-Arabic. He wasn't called Buya outside of his family.
I believe Wasi is just a nickname with no real meaning, but Sasi was a common male name among the jews of Djerba and Lybia, in my family it came as a nickname for a man named Sasson.
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Oddly, for the 1930s, I believe 3 out of 4 of my grandparents were only children. The fourth was 1 of 8. My grandfather (Philip) was the last child born in Ireland before they came to Canada.
John
Nora
Mary
Patrick
Philip
Robert
Albert
and possibly Michael? the last child was stillborn and I'm not sure what his name was.
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I think that these names are absolutely wonderful! All of them. My own:
Maternal Grandmother: Vivian
Her Siblings: Shirley, Leo "Bubba", William "Billy", and Richard "Ricky".Maternal Grandfather: Jesse
His Siblings: ?Paternal Grandmother: Rivanna ("Rih-VAN-nuh")
Her Siblings: Joseph "Joe" and Clara.Paternal Grandfather: William "Bill"
His Siblings: Forgot their names.All born in the Southeastern, USA. Every one of my grandparents were born in the early 1930s, except my maternal grandmother (late 1940s).

This message was edited 3/6/2023, 8:57 PM

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Rivanna is neat.
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Thanks! I also love this name; she seems to like it as well. She was named after her grandmother; I don’t know why her grandmother was named. Her cousin is the only other Rivanna in the US, I believe; it’s very uncommon I think (she’s in late 60s or 70s? I don’t know; I’ve never met her before).
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Interesting. I don't know enough about the cultural context to comment on how they fit in.The ones that stand out to me are Yardena, Wasi, Zion, Nissim, Gavriel "Berry", and Amram.My favorites are Yardena, Tzofiya, Gavriel, Nissim, Wasi, Ines, Naomi, Sonia, and Moshe.My grandfather had aunts named Viola and Sonia. Some other family names I remember mentioned in connection are Moselle (Mozelle), Lily, and Veda.
These are my grandparents' sibsets. I think they're fairly typical for the time and place. Born in the southeast US in the 1920s-1930s...Delora
Loveline & Emlin (twins, died as infants)
Vernelle
"Frankie" (I'm unsure if he had a different official name)
Noel "Ikie" (I think the NN is from their surname)
^parents: Noel and Dorothy "Dot"Loretta
Fred Jr "Steve"
Gordon
Page (m)
Carol
?? I'm not sure there's not another.
^parents: Carrie and FredCharlotte
Evelyn
^parents: Ruth and Rixey Neil
^parents: Jessie Mae & Bertram "Elias"*

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This message was edited 3/6/2023, 9:08 PM

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Well, my maternal grandparents are from Italian-occupied Lybia, and as such, were native speakers of hebrew, judeo-arabic, and italian. The feminine names are mostly foreign (though my grandma did have an uncle named Alfonso) and the male names are mostly biblical or some other sort of religious-jewish hebrew names. My paternal grandmother was born into a very secular jewish family in Yugoslavia, so she didn't originally have a hebrew name, despite her parents having them. my paternal grandfather, Moshe, was the only one born in the land of Israel (though he was born during the british mandate), the only one who wasn't a holocaust survivor, and was born into a slightly more religious/traditionalist jewish family than his wife, and as such, had the most classic jewish name of all, while his younger sister had a modern hebrew name.
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Really interesting to see Ines and Viola next to the very traditionally Jewish Moshe et Al. My grandmother, Jadwiga, has a sister named Zofia. I don't know about my other grandparents.
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ever since the hellenistic period, that is, the late second temple period, Jewish women have commonly had foreign names of all sorts, while Jewish men had biblical names of different sorts. It remained a common distinction to this day.
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Do you know why this is?
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the hebrew bible doesn't have a lot of women, not all of them are notable or rightous, and a lot of them are very ugly names that are not for human consumption. but also, women traditionallu don't have a big role in torah study and synagogue services, and as such don't use hebrew as often, since their lives were more centered around family and home and less around torah.

This message was edited 3/6/2023, 2:07 PM

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