Reply to Can I name my Jewish daughter Mary?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is weird culturally because of the Catholic focus with the Virgin Mary, but it is biblically Jewish. [b]No one questions Mark or Paul[/b] with Jewish boys, and there are a ton of Jewish men with those names...very New Testament. It really is just cultural.
Now, Christine, Christina, Chrissy...that is a Christian name.[/quote]

Not entirely true. Jews are "Saul," which was Paul's Jewish name. Jewish "Paul"s again, are largely named after older relatives who picked an assimilated Christian version of the traditional Jewish name.

"Mark," like "Julius," are/were popular Jewish names because they are Roman names.

-- mom to a "Julius Saul," named after an Orthdox great uncle (deceased) and a great-grandmother and great-grandfather, Paul and Pauline.

[/quote]
You are taking it away too far. St. Paul, St. Mark- My point is that these are Christan religious names and I can list 20 Jewish Marks and Pauls..while yo can list original sources, so can Mary...but it was culturally taken by Catholic culture.[/quote]

I am telling you what Jews actually think and say to each other. I am not speculating on history. I am a Jewish woman who has had four babies myself, and heard countless conversations among other Jews, especially those of my mother's generation, about these "Christian"-y name choices. Is Christian-splaining a thing? You don't have to like it, or think it's reasonable, but this is what Jews will say about little Mary. They will say, "That's an odd choice. I don't know why she would name her daughter Mary. It's so Christian." Not all Jews, but enough that if you participate in Jewish life at all, you might want to think twice before setting yourself up for a lifetime of hurt feelings, or feeling misunderstood.[/quote]

This is not making Jews sound good. I don’t want to believe anyone would make a child feel bad about her name of all things. [/quote]

And you think Christians would react any differently to a Christian boy named Mohamed?[/quote]

Oh, well, if Christians do it, it must be okay... Wait!

Isn’t the whole point to repair the world rather than replicating intolerance?[/quote]

Being surprised by a name and it causing some confusion isn't the same as intolerance.  Few if any are suggesting you should mock a Jewish Mary or a Christian Mohamed.  But that doesn't mean a few eyebrows won't be raised.  Tikun Olam doesn't vitiate human nature.[/quote]

Nor does tikun olam mean we must erase the things that make us a vibrant and distinctive culture. Names are important in every culture and serve as in markers in every culture. [/quote]

Somehow the “lifetime of hurt feelings and being misunderstood” you predicted was downgraded to “a few raised eyebrows”. This just makes me feel bad thinking of converts who keep birth names, especially transracially adopted children. If the name “Mary” is enough to cause a born Jewish child to go through vetting at every new engagement with the community, what does an AA or AS Jewish child face? [/quote]

Are you Jewish?  There's an obvious difference between an adopted child keeping their birth name; and choosing the single-most Christian girls' name deliberately.  [/quote]

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