Jewish naming traditions Q

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Related question: is it typical that my Jewish friend named her girls as 1) girl #1 has the mother's middle name (but the common nickname version, not commonly used as a full name) 2) girl #2 has mom's first name but with a different spelling

Sounds like your friend just loves her mom and her mom's names.

Sorry, to clarify, the children are named after the children's mother. My friend named the kids after herself. For some reason I thought Jewish tradition was not to name your kids after living people.

OH! Well then yes, that's strange and you are correct - we name babies after the dead, to keep their memory alive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we were naming our kids, our conservative rabbi said we could just give our kids (twins) the same Hebrew names as the people we were naming them after and their American names didn’t matter. So we picked names we liked and the Hebrew names are the same as the people who died.

We did more or less the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Typically we use the same name or corresponding male/female version if we like it, plus the same Hebrew name. If we don’t like the name, it’s acceptable to use a name starting with the same letter, plus same Hebrew name. I have one of each.

[Anonymous]

Ashkenazi tradition is to name after the deceased; sephardi tradition is to name for the living

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends say it is bad luck in Jewish tradition to actually use the name of the dead relative.

And also no baby showers BEFORE baby is born.

-Christian with Jewish cousins

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashkenazi tradition is to name after the deceased; sephardi tradition is to name for the living

This. Not all Jews are Ashkenazi. Sephardic Jews have many very different traditions, and this is one of them.

[Anonymous]

Ashkenazi here-
1. Name after deceased relatives to honor their memory and keep them alive through stories. Using the first letter only allows multiple grandchildren to name after the deceased without having a whole generation in one family named Benjamin.

It really does keep the kids connected and interested in family history every time we say you were named after your great-grandma Sylvia she was a fantastic swimmer, blah blah blah.

2. Naming after the living isn’t done because evil eye, superstition/tradition of the idea that the angel
of death might be confused and take the younger person first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ashkenazi tradition is to name after the deceased; sephardi tradition is to name for the living

This. Not all Jews are Ashkenazi. Sephardic Jews have many very different traditions, and this is one of them.

+1

The Ashkenazi Jewish people I know won't name a baby after a living relative. It's both about honoring the dead and because of a superstition. Sometimes they use the same name (or the opposite-sex version of the name, so Michaela for Michael), or the same first letter. And they don't have baby showers before the baby is born. But I do know a couple of Sephardic Jews who say that's not their tradition; you can name a baby after a living relative if you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ashkenazi here-
1. Name after deceased relatives to honor their memory and keep them alive through stories. Using the first letter only allows multiple grandchildren to name after the deceased without having a whole generation in one family named Benjamin.

It really does keep the kids connected and interested in family history every time we say you were named after your great-grandma Sylvia she was a fantastic swimmer, blah blah blah.

2. Naming after the living isn’t done because evil eye, superstition/tradition of the idea that the angel
of death might be confused and take the younger person first.

I’m the one with twins who just used the Hebrew name - it was my mom’s. My brother used the first letter of my mom’s nickname (different letter than her real name) for his daughter’s name. Other brother used mom’s real name for his daughter’s middle name. So we are all covered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because how do you name your newborn son Bertha? You don’t. You name him Benjamin after Bertha.

Robert or Albert would technically make more sense.

The tradition is good though. It gives people more options.

One religion's or culture's traditions don't make more sense than another. That's a really close minded approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends say it is bad luck in Jewish tradition to actually use the name of the dead relative.

Different traditions.

Ashkenazi Jews (which has been 'dominant Jewish culture in a lot of the US for historical reasons) name for deceased relatives. Jews of eastern descent (Sephardi/Mizrahi--of which there are many) name for living relatives

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because how do you name your newborn son Bertha? You don’t. You name him Benjamin after Bertha.

Robert or Albert would technically make more sense.

The tradition is good though. It gives people more options.

One religion's or culture's traditions don't make more sense than another. That's a really close minded approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends say it is bad luck in Jewish tradition to actually use the name of the dead relative.

Interesting. My parents used the initial for me, but the same name of a great grandfather for my brother. We are just told it's bad luck to name someone after the living in Judaism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friends say it is bad luck in Jewish tradition to actually use the name of the dead relative.

Interesting. My parents used the initial for me, but the same name of a great grandfather for my brother. We are just told it's bad luck to name someone after the living in Judaism.

yeah, that sounds like a really specific tradition. I know a ton of people who have used the actual name and that is pretty standard. Now, if the relative had a bad life or died young, that is different, there's a bit of a superstition around that. We named our son after my husband's grandfather (same name) with middle name after my aunt (male version of her name). My aunt had a very unhappy life, and my husband was a little nervous about naming for her, especially same name. But at the end of the day we are rational people and it's a superstition, and anyway it's just the middle name, so he was persuaded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friends say it is bad luck in Jewish tradition to actually use the name of the dead relative.

Different traditions.

Ashkenazi Jews (which has been 'dominant Jewish culture in a lot of the US for historical reasons) name for deceased relatives. Jews of eastern descent (Sephardi/Mizrahi--of which there are many) name for living relatives

I personally named my kids the exact name of a deceased relative, although plenty of my family and friends only use the first letter of the first name, or only use the Hebrew name and name in English whatever they want. Of my Sephardi friends it is very common to name the firstborn male after the male patriarch in the family. So I see a lot of my friends firstborn sons with the same name as their living grandfather.