Lance? Butch? Mordechai? Help me pick a baby name!
Since I’m knocked up, I find myself thinking a lot about Jewish baby names. But since my yuppie generation has decided to embrace all the cool old fashioned named, I find myself in a tricky spot… because all the good names are being totally overused. Hannah is out. Nathan is out. Just look!
So now I need your help, to point me toward the best Jewish names for boys and girls.
Maybe I’m overly concerned about picking a Jewish name because my husband isn’t Jewish. If we go with a non-Jewish name, I fear they’ll end up feeling like outsiders at Hebrew school. Sometimes I worry I fixate on this too much. I lean toward names like Abraham and Moses. Super-Jew names. My dad likes Gershom for a boy, Shifra for a girl. Is this silly? Should we just call him Giovanni and be done with it?
But at my son’s bris, when I had to think about (and talk about) the meaning of his name, it really hit me that it does mean something to have a cultural name. To be connected to your community through a name. And Jewish biblical names do carry such weight, such meaning. Whether or not you go with a Jewish “regular” name, or you pick two names for your kids, it’s a very real way of connecting to Judaism:
Jews living in gentile lands have historically taken local names to use when interacting with their gentile neighbors. … The practice of taking local names became so common, in fact, that by the 12th century, the rabbis found it necessary to make a takkanah (rabbinical ruling) requiring Jews to have a Hebrew name!
Hebrew names are used in prayer in and out of synagogue and for other religious rituals. When a person is called up in synagogue for an aliyah (the honor of reciting a blessing over a Torah reading), he is called up by his Hebrew name…
Here’s a FAQ on Jewish baby-naming customs, in case you’re interested. And also a list of Jewish names.
Now, help me pick a name???