tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8010473.post-80969200669417256822008-03-22T08:12:00.000-07:002008-03-22T08:12:00.000-07:002008-03-22T08:12:00.000-07:00The name game... I grew up in an area where by U.S. Census counts, 75% of the population claims German descent. Full of Muellers, and Diffendarfers, and Metzgers. My maiden name is Weigold. Pretty solidly German.<BR/><BR/>When I came out to L.A. a lot of people assumed I was Jewish. One Jewish woman in a writing group said, "But it's such a classically Jewish name!" I guess because it ends in "gold." <BR/><BR/>I remember reading about how the German government forced Jews to purchase surnames a few hundred years ago, and you could end up with something pretty derogatory if you could afford one with a silver or a gold in it.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, the woman who made the comment absolutely sneered at my gentle protestations and I think discounted me as a self-hating Jew, and has never been very nice to me since. (We see each other occasionally through mutual friends.)<BR/><BR/>It's an interesting issue for me because I'm saying, there's nothing wrong with being Jewish, for Pete's sake, it's just not the truth about my heritage and it does matter to me. I'm not supposed to be proud of being largely German in the presence of a Jewish woman, either, I think.<BR/><BR/>My German family came here in the late 1800s, before the height of the horrors, thank you. Oh, and my grandmother was Jennie Quinn.<BR/><BR/>Which means I'm genetically predisposed to love potatoes and beer. ;)Sundryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11395065569691894697noreply@blogger.com