Talkin' 'Friday' On 'Monday'

Many people have asked me, 'Is Friday your real last name?'. Yes! It really is. (with a short story) Friday was my maiden name, but it was actually 'Frieday' with an 'e'. Some of my family members had it without the 'e' too. (spelling mistakes at the hospitals - ha!) It turns out that my German Grandparents changed their name from Freitag to Frieday. I have always used 'Friday' for all my creative work - the bank even knows me as Patti Friday. So, why the heck am I talking 'Friday' on 'Monday'? Because as some of you know, I have wanted to convert to Judaism for decades and every time Jewish holidays happen...I start to dig again. My parents believe our ancestors were actually Jewish; if my maternal Grandmothers were Jewish, then I would be Jewish now. But if is comes from my paternal side, then maybe not. Hmmm. Confusing. Interesting. Unsolved. I will settle for being 'Jewish By Choice'.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from (respectively) Middle High German vritac and German Freitag ‘Friday’ (Old High German friatag, frijetag, a translation of Late Latin Veneris dies: Freya was the Germanic goddess of love, sometimes considered as equivalent to the Roman Venus). The German name may have denoted someone born on a Friday or who performed some feudal service then. However, Friday was considered unlucky throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages (because it was the day on which Christ was crucified), and it seems more likely that the name was given to a person considered ill-omened. It is found as a byname in this sense in Old High German. This is by far the commonest of the surnames drawn from the days of the week, followed by Sonntag ‘Sunday’, traditionally a day of good omen. Among Jews, it seems to have been one of the names that were distributed at random by government officials.