GEN1526 When the Jews were slaves in Egypt, they had no Mitzvot-commandments, to perform. (The one commandment previously given, circumcision, was no longer observed at that time).  Without commandments, how did the Jewish people remain Jewish?   What did they do in Egypt to show that they were worth to be redeemed and become the Jewish people, the nation of God? The Midrash Leviticus Rabbah 32:5 says that they kept using their distinctive Jewish names (as well as their distinctive Jewish language and clothing). … Another Midrash describes this act of using Jewish (and not Egyptian) names as an ethical characteristic of the Jewish people.   A parallel to today can easily be drawn: Even those Jews who do not keep a Jewish lifestyle can remain distinctively “Jewish” by using their Jewish names.  The Maharal Gevurot Hashem 43 explains that their uniquely Jewish names kept the Jews from assimilating into Egyptian society and losing their Jewishness.   Another commentary Tur on Exodus 1:1 points out that the Hebrew name for the book of Exodus in the Torah is actually “Shemot,” “Names,” because it was their names that made the Jewish people deserving of the Exodus.  Early on in Egypt, Joseph understood this principle and put it into action.   Pharaoh had given Joseph a special Egyptian name demonstrating his rank as royalty of Egypt [this verse].   Yet nowhere in the Torah do we see that Joseph ever used this non-Jewish name, and once he revealed to all that he was a Hebrew, he was called in the Torah (and apparently called himself) only Joseph, the Jewish name given to him by his mother and later taken on by so many Jewish “Josephs” through the millennia.   AMJV 187