I am able to read the Latin, Hebraic and Arabic scripts, and I know numerous words and phrases in Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Urdu, but English is the only language I can speak and read with true fluency. Since moving to a largely Bengalineighborhood in 2008, I have begun to learn Bengali script as well. I do not immediately recognize all the letters yet, but I at least now have a substantial understanding of how South Asian scripts function.
I have been repeatedly asked about the fairly complex name my parents gave me. It is of Hebrew origin with the name “Mosheh” able to be traced back further to Egyptian.
ʼElyāqîm means “(he whom) God set up” or “(he whom) God established” and was also my mother’s father’s name. I find it a particularly beautiful name, although I acknowledge it to be enough of a mouthful that no one calls me that. (It’s theistic nature also belies the fact I am an atheist, Humanist and Bright.) The ʼEl‐ portion is from the Semitic *ʼ‐lroot and the ‐yāqîm portion from the *q‐w‐m root.
Mōšeh probably just means “child” and was chosen as a masculinization and Afro‐Asiaticization of my mother’s mother’s mother’s name Masi (מאַסי).
ʼĀdām means “human” and was chosen as a counterpart to my mother’s father’s Western name “Alex,” of Greek origin.
My tribal name is Kōhēn (כהן), but I rarely use it because a need to distinguish me from someone else with the same name has not yet occurred.
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