This talk explores how Jews got “Jewish“ first names and family names in the modern era and how their naming practices have not only served as a source of identity but also one of conflict within Jewish communities (for example, between Orthodox, Zionists, and Yiddishists in eastern Europe) and at times had serious, sometimes catastrophic, consequences in Jews' interactions with state bureaucracies seeking to induct them into the military and otherwise record and regulate aspects of Jewish life and death.

Professor Kalman Weiser teaches Yiddish language and Jewish history at York University.