Names from Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof, based on Sholem Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman, introduced the world to the richness of Yiddish naming traditions. Set in the fictional shtetl of Anatevka in Tsarist Russia, the musical's characters bear names that were commonplace in Jewish communities across Eastern Europe.

Tevye (good) is the philosophical dairyman at the story's center. His wife Golda (golden) and daughters — Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, and Bielke — each bear names with deep roots in Yiddish culture. The matchmaker Yente gave her name to the English word for a gossip, though the name itself means 'noble.' Motel the tailor carries a diminutive of Mordechai, and Fruma Sarah appears as a memorable ghost.

These names experienced a revival after the musical's 1964 Broadway premiere and continue to be chosen by parents who want to honor the Yiddish cultural world that Sholem Aleichem so lovingly portrayed.