Do you know who David Grün is? That was the name of Israel’s famous first prime minister, who proclaimed the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948, before he changed his name to David Ben-Gurion. The country’s first female prime minister also changed her name from Golda Myerson to Golda Meir after immigrating in 1921. Yitzhak Yezernitsky made a career as Yitzhak Shamir and the former president of Israel, born Szymon Perski, became known as Shimon Peres.

As you can read in Gershon Nerel’s article, it is common for immigrants to Hebraicize their name after arriving in Israel. In addition to the symbolic meaning of a new beginning in the Promised Land, changing one’s name also has practical applications.

“Hello Bjooran!” my landlady greeted me. I had rented my own apartment for the first time as a 23-year-old student. “My name is Björn, like Björn Borg, the tennis player,” I tried to correct her. Without much success....

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