Opposite page: Shoshana, Leslye,
Alyssa and Michael Indenbaum smell
the roses in their Franklin back yard.
This page: Dr. Gary and Ann Duchan
struggled with finding good names for
their sons, Benjamin, Noah and Jacob.
modern moniker. If a relative's
Noah was given his paternal
name was Jonah, for example, great-grandfather's name.
the child could be named Jason.
"It was a lot easier for me to
Ms. Beresh, director of the Eu- name my dog Yankee," Dr.
gene and Marcia Applebaum Duchan said, recalling the strug-
Jewish Parenting Center at Con- gle for the name following the
gregation Shaarey Zedek B'nai birth. "Naming a child and shar-
Israel, now sees more Jewish par- ing in that decision is not easy."
ents give their children Hebrew
"You go from the joy and mir-
names or the actual name of a acle of the birth to the next step,
long-dead relative.
naming the child, where there is
"I am seeing more Sams, So- a lot of compromise and discus-
phies and Sadies," she said. "It sion," he said. "The best thing to
isn't like the Jennifer and Jere- do is to discuss naming the child
my generation."
early in the pregnancy, if not be-
She attributes the change to fore. At the end, things get pret-
parents being more comfortable ty busy."
with their Jewish identity and
And no matter what the name
wanting to share it with or instill is, it is not written in stone. Peo-
it in their children.
ple change their Hebrew or Eng-
"I think that comes with a com- lish names for a variety of
fort level and a sense of pride in reasons. Leslye Indenbaum's
who you are and what you be- grandfather was born Israel Sil-
lieve," she said. "It is nice to see." berg, but when he came to Amer-
But naming a child for a rela- ica he changed Israel to Irving.
tive can sometimes cause prob- In memory of his birth name, she
lems.
has given her second daughter,
Dr. Gary and Ann Duchan Alyssa, a derivation of it, Yisraela,
have named three sons: Ben- for her Hebrew name.
jamin Gabriel, Jacob Eliot and
Others change their name for
Noah Samuel. But it wasn't al- different reasons. Like many peo-
ways easy coming up with those ple with serious illnesses, Ariel
names.
Jacobs, a 12-year-old California
"With Noah, we didn't have a AIDS patient, plans to add Chaya
middle name until just before the to her Hebrew name to fool the
cantor asked for one at the bris," Angel of Death.
Mrs. Duchan said. "We couldn't
"She is very interested in
decide if we were going to use my changing her name," said Ariel's
grandfather's name or my hus- mother, Robin Jacobs. "She be-
band's grandfather's name."
lieves it could work." ❑
Do's. And Don'ts Of Naming Children
0
r. Cleveland Evans knows a thing
or two about names. As a mem-
ber of the American Name Soci-
ety and the author of Unusual and
Most Popular Baby Names, he has
studied trends in naming children for
several years.
Gathering names from state health
department records, he has found him-
self asking the question "Why would
they do that to a child?" more than
once.
He, too, was affected by having a dif-
ferent name. Growing up in a suburb
of Buffalo, N.Y., Dr. Evans' name was
frequently the target of joking.
"The teachers called me Grover and
the kids would call me Ohio," he said,
adding that he has since grown to en-
joy having a different name.
He offers suggestions to parents
who are in the process of choosing a
name for their offspring.
1.Name a child something he or she
can grow into. Don't name a baby a
fluffy name he or she will have a hard
time using as a professional.
"Remember that you are naming
a person, not just a child," Dr. Evans
said. "Problems happen when parents
don't see that child growing into an
adult, particularly with girls."
2. Try to stay away from naming a
child a cute name to go with a last
name. For instance, if your last name
is Payne, naming your child Ima is
probably not a great idea.
"People do that because they believe
it will imbue their children with a
sense of humor," said Ruth Beresh, di-
rector of Eugene and Marcia Apple-
baum Jewish Parenting Center at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek B'nai Is-
rael. "There are other ways of doing
that."
3. Try to give the child a name that
means something. Dr. Cleveland
Evans feels the Jewish tradition of
naming a child for a deceased relative
is a great idea.
"Use the name to give the child a
personal myth as they grow older," he
said. "It gives them a history and a
sense of belonging right from the
start."
4. Stay away from naming a child a
"belligerent word," Dr. Evans said. On
his list of names from 1993 are a few
little girls named. Passion and boys
named Notorious and Cobra.
"Think of how they will feel when
they are older."
5. Try sticking to a common spelling
of a name. With unusual spellings the
child will constantly have to correct
people who will use the common
spelling.
"Most people who think this is cute
will have other people thinking they
are illiterate," he said.
J.D.S
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