Could i be jewish? My name is Ishmael.?

Answer 1

No...what is the rest of your name. You're probably muslim...is your mom or dad jewish?? how could you not know that?? where are your parents from? Grandparents? This is yahoo answers, but we possibly can't know everything about you if don't proveide us the rest of this information. But ishmael is a arabic name, if your parents were jewish it would be an insult to your family...

Answer 2

It's extremely unlikely that a Jew would name a male child Ishmael. Ishmael was the half-brother Isaac (Isaac was the younger son, whose mother was Sarah; it is Isaac from whom the Hebrew people descend); Ishamel, in both Muslim and Jewish tradition, is the ancestor of the Arab peoples, and was Abraham's son by Hagar, the daughter of the Pharoah of the times. While a Jew is not prohibited from naming a child any particular name, I would not expect most Jews to name a son Ishmael.

Answer 3

Hm, glancing through the Wikipedia entry on Jewish Americans--Bob Dylan, Saul Bellow, Norman Cousins, Allen Ginsburg, Clifford Odets, Phillip Roth, J. D. Sallinger, Maurice Sendak, M. H. Abrams, Harold Bloom, Lionel Trilling, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Oscar Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Andre Previn, Richard Rogers, Joseph Lieberman, Henry Kissenger, Scott Turow, Leon Uris, William Kunstler, Neil Diamond, Kinky Friedman, Art Garfunkel, Mel Torme, Jascha Heifetz, Burt Bacharach, Aaron Copland, Jerome Kern, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, Henry Winkler, James Caan, Billy Crystal, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Kevin Kline, Woody Allen, Judd Hirsh, Michael Landon, Leonard Nimoy, Peter Sellers, William Shatner, Paul Newman, Tony Randall, Mel Brooks, Peter Falk, Lee Grant, Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, Gene Wiler, Carl Reiner, Milton Berle, Mike Wallaace, Danny Kaye, Lorne Greene, Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey, Jr., Sean Penn, David Duchovny, River Phoenix, . . .

No Ishmael here. What's more, no common denominator among given names.

Answer 4

First Name
Ishmael
Biblical name borne by Abraham's first son, the offspring of his barren wife's maidservant Hagar. It is composed of Hebrew elements meaning “to hearken” and “God”; an angel told Hagar “Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction” (Genesis 16: 11). The name is hardly ever used in the English-speaking world. In Islamic tradition, Ishmael or Ismail is believed to have been the ancestor of the Arabs.

Last Name.
Ishmael
Muslim: see Ismail.
Dictionary of American Family

Answer 5

Not so likely. Ishmael was the man from whom Islam descends from Ibrahim (Abraham). More likely, your parents just liked the name and gave it to you without any relationship to religion. Of course, only your mother can answer the question for sure.

Answer 6

Most of the commenters in here neglect the fact that one of the famous Rabbinical Scholars in the Talmud
was name Rabbi Yishmael. Yes, he was a son of The Prophet Abraham and his Concubine Sarah and is though of as The Father of Arab Nations. However, it would appear to me that if Jewish Sages were named Yishmael, it is a perfectly legitimate Hebrew name. That being said, most people named Yishmael are of The Muslim faith.

Answer 7

U could...or ur parents really liked the name..... yes there are particular names that are from diffrent nationalitys but that dosn't mean u are...Ur parents could of liked the name...ask em'