name question?

Question

if you had ancestors whose names were alma, esther, eva and norma what ethnicity would you say they would be?? jewish???

Answer 1

Italian, Latin or greek

Answer 2

Alma
English: a relatively modern creation, of uncertain origin. It had a temporary vogue following the Battle of Alma (1854), which is named from the river in the Crimea by which it took place; similarly Trafalgar had occasionally been used as a female name earlier in the century. Nevertheless, the historical event seems only to have increased the popularity of an existing, if rare, name. Alma is also the feminine form of the Latin adjective almus nourishing, kind (cf. alma mater fostering mother, the clichéd phrase for an educational establishment). In Tennessee Williams's play Summer and Smoke (1948), a bearer of the name explains that it is “Spanish for soul” (Latin anima), but this seems to be only coincidental.

Esther
Biblical: name borne in the Bible by a Jewish captive who became the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus. According to the book of the Bible that bears her name, she managed, by her perception and persuasion, to save large numbers of the Jews from the evil machinations of the royal counsellor Haman. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah “myrtle”, and the form Esther is said to be a Persian translation of this, although others derive it from Persian stara star. It may also be a Hebrew form of the name of the Persian goddess Ishtar. Cognates: Scandinavian and E. European: Ester. Hungarian: Eszter. Irish Gaelic: Eistir.

Eva
Latinate form of Eve, used commonly in English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Scandinavian languages among others. In Ireland it has sometimes been used as an Anglicized form of Aoife. Variants: Polish: Ewa. Irish Gaelic: Ébha. Scottish Gaelic: Eubh, Eubha.

Pet forms: Spanish: Evita. Czech: Evka, Evuška, Evulka, Evinka, Evicka.

Norma
Italian and English: apparently invented by Felice Romani in his libretto for Bellini's opera of this name (first performed in 1832). It is identical in form with Latin norma rule, standard, but there is no evidence that this word was the actual source of the name. In recent times, it has come to be taken in England and the Scottish Highlands as a feminine equivalent of Norman.
A Dictionary of First Names

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

alma (soul in spanish) could well be spanish or mexican, esther is definitely jewish so is eva and norma is italian. But all those names could be beginning of 20 century in England as they loved to use names from litterature and music.

Answer 4

You can't use first names as a valid determiner of ethnicity. Given names go through fashionable phases. I have a German ancestor named Julia and an Hungarian ancestor named Giselle -- both of which would be considered French names.

Answer 5

I have several Esthers, and no reason to think they were Jewish. I

Answer 6

Those would be fairly typical forenames for an English family in the early 1900s. I don't think you can make any assumptions from those forenames alone.

Answer 7

Esther is Jewish, so is Eva.

Norma is English.

Alma is Latin and Spanish.

Answer 8

A name is JUST A LABEL, and it is not a guarantee of any ethnic, religious or nationality. The only only only way to know something about YOUR ancestor is to identify him/her, and find records about them. Anything else is a guessing game.

Answer 9

Do you know their maiden names? That's usually easier to decipher on ethnicity. I've known women with all of the names you've listed. Two Mexican, one Caucasian (German), and one African American. :-)

Answer 10

All those names are in my family and we are Anglo Indian catholics. I would use the surnames to trace ethnicity rather than the christian names.

Answer 11

Maybe but in my tree I have a Mahala and a Bepil and they were Methodists.