Why did Jack change his name from Kurtzberg to Kirby?
Well, it certainly wasn’t from any desire to hide the fact that he was Jewish, which is something that has occasionally been suggested by folks who didn’t know him. Jack was very proud of his heritage and faith. When he was starting out in his career, he was somewhat frantic to make a living and very prolific. In many of the publications in which his early work appeared, he did multiple strips and, like other artists in that situation, signed them with an array of pen names. These included Bob Brown, Jack Curtiss, Lance Kirby, Teddy, Ted Grey and many others. It wasn’t so much a matter of concealing one’s religion as of having a name that sounded like a professional cartoonist. Finally, when he began working with Joe Simon, Joe suggested Jack pick one name and stick with it. He picked Jack Kirby. In later years, he got quite irate if someone suggested it was to hide his lineage.
