[net.religion.jewish] Naming - letting the kids choose their own names -- Jewish names

avi@pegasus.UUCP (02/18/84)

Marla Baer responded to one of my articles in net.social with:

 M	In response to Avi's article about naming their children after
 a	relatives, in my household, I am also Jewish, all the children are
 r	named after someone who has died.  This is done by giving them the
 l	same initials, NOT the same name.  I was named Marla Susan, Marla
 a	after my father's mother Molly, and Susan after both grandfathers -
	Sam.  The reason this was done, as I had it explained to me, was to
 B	remind me, and others of those who had died, and in some small way
 a	keep their memory alive.  I intend to name my first child in honor
 e	of my father Arthur, who died when I was 16.
 r			(ssc-vax!marla)

With all due respect, this is misleading information. There is no one way to
name Jewish kids. Some people give the exact same name as an ancestor had.
Others make combinations of a first name from one ancestor and a middle name
from another. Many modern Jews give their kids an American (or whatever
nationality is appropriate) name that is different than the religious name.
This name often tends to sound similar, or start with the same letter of the
alphabet. Others just ignore everything and make up new names entirely
(somebody had to at one point, or we would all have the same names.)

Some Sephardic Jews even name their kids after themselves -- something I
couldn't imagine doing!!! In summary, it is not wise to make generalizations
on issues like this. While I agree that this is how Marla got her name, I
don't want people to think that her way is the only way. In particular, many
people (including myself) would only name boys after male relatives and
girls after female relatives. Just using the same initials, and even then
mixing the genders, seems useless to me.

As it happens, my fiance'e says her parents would be content with having an
English name that is similar to that of one of her relatives. Since my
parents are only worried about the hebrew name, it sounds like things will
work out fine. However, if we have more than one child, I would strongly
consider choosing a name that we WANT. Ultimately, it is our child!!!!

I am linking this discussion into net.religion.jewish. This is just another
example of a discussion that may not be of general interest, but had nowhere
to go until that newsgroup was created.
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi

dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (02/22/84)

My impression is that more Jews today - particularly among the
Orthodox community - are giving their children Hebrew (or Yiddish)
names with no English translation - just a transliteration for the
birth certificate. This is what we intend to do with our children.
It happened much less in the last generation, even among the Orthodox.
Is this a Toronto phenomenon or is it increasing continent-wide?

Dave Sherman
-- 
 {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave

rlw@wxlvax.UUCP (Richard L. Wexelblat) (02/23/84)

Apropos of the naming after living relatives, Andy van Dam -- of a
Dutch Sephardic tradition tells me that his family alternates names
of first sons.  That is, he is Andries, his father Levi, Andy's
grandfather is Andries, Levi's grandfather is Levi.

The tradition of not naming a child after a living relative is
definitely of middle-european (probably Galitzianer) folk origin.

--Dick Wexelblat (Lev Haim ben Mortke Hesch)
  ...decvax!ittvax!wxlvax!rlw