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What To Name
The Baby

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"The crown of a good name excels all
other crowns, including the crown of
learning, of priesthood and even of roy-
alty." — Mishnah

'W

hat's hot and what's not
in names for Jewish
babies?
Jewish couples have
more decisions to make than just
choosing a name for their child. Like,
do they name the baby after a dead
relative? Will the child have a Hebrew
name, and if so, what will it be? Or,
will the couple give their child an
Israeli or biblical first name in lieu of
two sets of names (English and
Hebrew)?
According to Anita Diamant, pro-
lific author of books on Jewish themes

including The New Jewish Baby Book,
biblical names are popular today.
Benjamin and Nathan (almost
unheard of a few years ago) are popu-
lar for boys. For girls, Rachel, Sarah
and Rebecca are favorites.
While boys' names tend to be more
traditional — Michael is a perennial
favorite in many languages (including
Mikhail in Russian), girls' names gen-
erally reflect fashionable trends,
Diamant says.
According to a very unscientific
several-months-long tally of birth
announcements in several anglo-
Jewish newspapers, including the
Detroit Jewish News, Baltimore Jewish
Times, Philadelphia Exponent and the
Washington Jewish Week, the following
trends are emerging:

In newspapers which print American
and Hebrew names, most parents are
continuing the Ashkenazi tradition of
using the same first letter for the child's
Hebrew and English names.
The most popular names (first and
middle) for boys are Alexander, Jacob,
Maxwell, Noah and Samuel. For girls
there were no clear-cut favorites, but
"A" names — Alexandra, A]ana,
Amanda and different variations of
Allison — are popular.
Trendy names, like Taylor and
Morgan, keep popping up, and old-
fashioned names like Molly, Sophie
and Emily (or Emilee) are making a
comeback — but not in huge num-
bers. For girls' middle names, Rose
was the stand-out winner. 111
— Robin Schwartz-Kreger

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10/24

1997

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