In 2003 Aaron Demsky published "Some Reflections on the Names of the Jewish of Kaifeng, China." Here he examines the first names of the Kaifeng Jewish women found in the Memorial Book of the Dead, and sheds light on their origins. I have not read of any investigation of women's names in the the Memorial Book of the Dead (or regarding the community in general).
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| The first page of the women's entries |
Demsky states this of the Kaifeng Community names: "The female names are always of interest. Since feminine names generally retain the vernacular traditions, they shed light on the history of the community, especially migration patterns and non-Israelite cultures." In other words, male names would typically be Hebrew and Chinese, whereas female names, as more vernacular, less tied to the dominant gender, would have more retain local traditions. Let's examine some female names.
Persian names:
Dawlat and Dosath, daughters of Elijah, with Dawlat meaning Good Fortune, and Dosath meaning Friend or Lover, page 71.
Arzu daughter of Naftali, were 'rzw' is Persian for Hope or Desire, page 73.
Dor or Dur, daughter of Yehuda, is Persian for Pearl, page 74.
Dordanah or Durdanah, daughter of Pinchas, Persian for One Pearl, page 77.
N'z, Naz, the daughter of Hananiah, is Persian for Glory, page 73
Sh'd, Shad, the daughter of Adam (so this was a Chinese woman) is Persian for Happy.
Given the Judeo-Persian colophons in the extent manuscripts, it is not surprising that the Kaifeng community continued to use Persian names in the 17th century. This is yet another piece of evidence pointing to an original community hailing from Persian Jews or Persian speaking Jews from Central Asia. But there are also names in Arabic.
Arabic names:
Mwbrky, Mubarki, daughter of Bethuel, Arabic for Blessed, page 74.
Salmuth, daughter of Chayl, Arabic for Dark 76.
Salmuth, daughter of Yob (Job), page 72
QMR, Qamar, daughter of Shmuel, Arabic for Moon, page 75.
QMR, Qamar daughter of Adam, page 77
QMR, Qamar, daughter of Joshua, page 78
Shemesh, daughter of Rabbi Yehuda, being Hebrew or Arabic for Sun, page 100.
This article favors a certain reading of the history of the Jews of Kaifeng. The stele recount families arriving in Kaifeng en masse. But this may be a legendary account of their origins. Perhaps the core group that arrived at the turn of the millennium were Judeo-Persian speaking Jews. But at least until the 1400s, when the last Jews from the West were in contact with the Jews of Kaifeng, some of those visitors and settlers must have spoken Arabic. The women's names prove this convincingly, as well as certain Kaifeng synagogue traditions/services which appear to harken to Yemeni customs/liturgy. Or do they prove this convincingly?
According to Demesky, "the Arabic/Persian names, primarily among women, point to the persistent contact with their Muslim neighbors" page 100. But we have no proof of this. The names could be from historical contacts with Jews from Persian/Arabic speaking lands settling among the Kaifeng Jews. It could just as easily be the high prevalence of Arabic names/words found in Persian.
An entry from the Encyclopedia Iranica notes this regarding loan words: "A dictionary-based sample yields an inventory of approximately 8,000 Arabic loanwords in current use (Rāzi) or about forty percent of an everyday literary vocabulary of 20,000 words (not counting compounds and derivatives)." These figures are for modern speakers of Persian. Was this the case among the Jews of Kaifeng? Was their Persian infused with Arabic words? If so, we have a ready explanation for the Arabic names of Kaifeng women.
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