In England a century or so ago, was "Isaiah" a posh, or working class, name?

Question

exclusively Jewish, or gentile as well? Thanks.

Answer 1

A name like that is classless,we had a lot less names then we do today so many many people shared common christian names,Isaiah being but one of them

Answer 2

Could have been working class name or posh jewish name,

Answer 3

I go with your first answer as that's what I was going to write.

Answer 4

A century ago would be 1908. Isaiah would have told the listener that he was in the presence of somebody who was Welsh, Jewish, from the North, a Dissenter, or an American. Biblical names were lower class in Great Britain, except among certain Protestant (Dissenting) communities like Quakers or North of England chapel goers.  Roman Catholics used straightforward names, often of British Martyrs. Welsh used Biblical names, often in Welsh versions. ("Daffyd" for David.). Middle class used tried-and-true "English" names, usually names of royalty -- Anne, George, William, Elizabeth, Mary. County (land-holding) families used strange names that sounds in our ears like real estate developments "Templeton," "Farnsworth," "Wallingford" and the like. Aristocrats went their own way...so long as horses weren't frightened. . A fashion for Latinate names gave many women unfortunate names ending in -ia, making the social columns sound like flower catalogues. . Jews used much the same names as Welsh/Methodists, with the exclusion of strictly New Testament Names, but even there they might use NT names such as Bartholomew or Matthew., which are perfectly good Hebrew.

Answer 5

Biblical Jewish names such as Isaiah, Josiah, Isaac &etc., were very popular in UK in the 17th and 18thC but very largely fell from being quite so popular in the 19thC.

Isaac Newton and Josiah Wedgewood are names which spring to mind, both of whom were English and who's parents no doubt wanted to ensure both had quality names which have an ancient history and a connection with Judeism and thus Christianity.

In the USA some Biblical Jewish names remained popular right into the 19thC and even into the 20thC.  Elvis Aaron Presley, being a prime example of the use of a Jewish name but in this case, as a middle name.

Here's something on the popularity of Biblical Jewish names among the English - who seem to have taken up such names from the 16thC

Simon & Schuster: What's in a Name? (Trade Paperback) - Read an ...Early in the Middle Ages, Jewish parents chose biblical names for their children, ... didn't become popular among Christians until the sixteenth century, ...

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cf...

The Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell MP.

Jewish Communities of Eighteenth-Century LondonIn 1656 Oliver Cromwell ended the expulsion of the Jews from England, Cornwall and Wales ... It is also useful searching on Jewish/biblical names such as: ...

http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/oldbailey/his...

British Support for Jewish RestorationConcomitantly, the skepticism of the eighteenth century enlightenment gave way ... An evangelical version of Protestantism became popular in England at this ...

http://www.mideastweb.org/britzion.htm  

Maestro Sir Yehudi Menuin - Master Violinist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JA_VxFAX...