The BiG Story

Step 1: Tradition, Tradition
I Yes, it is a tradition among Ashkenazic Jews to
1 name children after relatives who have died, while
Sephardim usually — but not always — prefer to
name their sons and daughters after those still liv-
ing. How did all this come about?
The Ashkenazi system of naming began around
the 4th century B.C.E. as
la way of remembering
those who had passed
:away. When you think
about it, this is a power-
: ful tool for family tradi-
tion: generation after
:generation after genera-
1 tion with the same name.
Another reason has to
do with superstition:
What if the Angel of
I Death came to take an
:adult Hannah Rachel,
1 but instead in error took
ea baby named Hannah
Rachel in the same fami-
ly after hearing her
1 name? To us, it might
sound like a bunch of
I nonsense. But remember,
years ago children died
:every day of horrendous
diseases like whooping
1 cough and TB — dis-
eases which we today
virtually ignore, thanks to
1 immunizations. Losing a
1 baby to death was a
:very real possibility, so
not carrying the same
name as an older rela-
tive, more likely to be
I chosen for death first,
was a form of -protection
for the child.
A third reason, root-
: ed in mysticism, has to
do with the fact that
Judaism emphasizes the
:close relationship
between an individual
and his or her name.
To Ashkenazim, taking
on the same name of
I another close family
member would seem
almost like robbing

from the essence, or soul, of the one who first
bore the name.
Sephardic Jews, meanwhile, developed different
views on what to call their children. They believe
that the person for whom a baby is named actual-
ly will live longer if he has a living namesake. Usu-
I ally, the first-born grandson in a family is named

:

for his paternal grandfather, while the first grand-
daughter shares her name with her paternal grand-
mother. Next honored in this fashion will be the
maternal grandparents, then aunts and uncles.
While some Sephardi parents name their children
after themselves, it's pretty much a rarity to find a
"Jr." anywhere in the Jewish community today.

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m,-OneAeah

.kewn to be
idons?
, but when
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osest they could
s. Thus, a Yitzhak
f the great melt-
rving (which is really
ottis
Isadore (which is Greek),
while Shrnuel became Sheldon or Sey-
mour, both of which are British in origin.
Just about everyone knows that Jacob
and Esther and Adam and Miriam are
names from the Torah. But did you know
that Kayla, quickly becoming one of the
ular choices for both Jewish and
rents of baby girls, also has its
s rig Hebrew? Kayla is the Yiddish
elk,' which means a crown of
a victory crown).
ow did the name become so popu-
cif among parents with no Jewish connec-
tion? The likeliest connection, believe it or
not, is to a soap opera. About 20 years
ago, Days of Our Lives (which did indeed
employ Jewish scriptwriters at the time) had
a leacing character named Kayla.
• Israel is regarded as the place where

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names in the

the Jewish people make a fresh start while
reaching back to their Middle Eastern
roots. Many Israeli parents will scour the
Tanach (Jewish Bible) to find names that
are a departure from the well-worn patriar-
chal and prophetic names borne for so
many generations. Thus, Mr. Barak, the
prime minister of Israel, and Mr. Olmert,
the mayor ofJerusalem, are both named
Ehud (from Judges 3:15). Other such
names that have become more common
include (for males) Yair (Judges 10:3),
Amnon (II Samuel 3:2) and Yuval (Genesis
4:21), and (for females) Avital (II Samuel
3:4), Yael (Judges 4:17) and Noa (Num-
bers 26:33).
One unusual example is Rabbi Shear-
Yashuv Cohen of Haifa, whose first name
is derived from Isaiah 7:3.
In a slap at tradition, some extreme sec-
ularists (the ones who have Yom Kippur
picnics) purposely choose to give their
children scriptural names with negative
associations. These include Nimrod (Gen-
esis 10:8), the great hunter and one-time
opponent of Avraham; Elifaz (Genesis
36:4), a son of Jacob's brutish brother,
Esau, and Vashti (Esther 1:9), the ill-fated
wife of King Ahasuerus of Persia. Other
Israelis, seeking a stronger Middle Eastern
association, give their male children
names such as Amir and Aziz (and for
girls, Amira and Aziza), that have mean-
ing in both Hebrew and Arabic. Thanks
to Disney's The Little Mermaid, Ariel has
become a popular girl's name in Ameri-
ca, but Hebrew speakers know it is a
male name (from Ezra 8:16). Just ask one
of Israel's most famous generals, Ariel
Sharon (he's all man). ❑

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