Naming baby the same as a living relative?

[r***@hotmail.com]

Hello all,
I am wondering if people have some advice. My wife and I are expecting
a baby any day now and we are having a bit of a naming dilemma. We are
considering naming him after my grandfather Hank, who died many years
ago. (His actual name was Henry but he went by Hank, and we would
probably do the same thing - name the baby Henry but call him Hank.)
The dilemma is that my 19-yr old cousin was named after him too. (He
actually goes by Henry, not Hank.) So the question we cant seem to
figure out is whether its ok to name him after my grandfather, or
whether the custom of not naming a baby after a living relative would
apply. Obviously, we would be naming him after my grandfather, not my
cousin, but...I just don't know. I have read conflicting opinions on
this, and my mother said that her father actually had several first
cousins with the same name, as they were all named after the same,
deceased great-grandfather or grandmother, so she doesn't think
it's a problem. My cousin also said it would be fine. That all said,
I would love to know what others think.
(Also, I am an Ashkenazi Jew, for what its worth. I've read that the
naming practices are different for Sephardic Jews.)

Thanks very much for reading this.



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[m***@erols.com]

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In soc.culture.jewish.parenting on 18 Jul 2005 14:50:41 GMT

Post by r***@hotmail.com
Hello all,
I am wondering if people have some advice. My wife and I are expecting
a baby any day now and we are having a bit of a naming dilemma. We are
considering naming him after my grandfather Hank, who died many years
ago. (His actual name was Henry but he went by Hank, and we would
probably do the same thing - name the baby Henry but call him Hank.)
The dilemma is that my 19-yr old cousin was named after him too. (He
actually goes by Henry, not Hank.) So the question we cant seem to
figure out is whether its ok to name him after my grandfather, or
whether the custom of not naming a baby after a living relative would
apply.

No, it doesn't apply. You're not naming the baby after the cousin but
after your grandfather. There are loads of cases of mulitiple kids
named after the same ancestor by different sets of parents, and living
at the same time.

The only consideration that comes to my mind I've never heard
mentioned in the way I'm about to: that maybe someone else deserving
of a namesake would be neglected while this man gets two. What I have
heard is the contrapositive, that we did name the baby after grampa
Plony because no other baby had been. But that's the advantage of
giving the baby two names and having more than one child, and afaik,
even if these don't apply, you can pick whom you want your kid named
after.

One should keep track of the known or known-to-you good qualities of
the person, and then nurture those qualities in your child. You
should nurture all the other possible good qualities too, of course,
but there is a special relationship between someone and the person he
was named after. If nothing else, *that* he was named after him is
the special relationship. You can tell him that his great grandfather
had such a quality, and he can too.

Post by r***@hotmail.com
Obviously, we would be naming him after my grandfather, not my
cousin, but...I just don't know. I have read conflicting opinions on
this, and my mother said that her father actually had several first
cousins with the same name, as they were all named after the same,
deceased great-grandfather or grandmother, so she doesn't think
it's a problem. My cousin also said it would be fine. That all said,
I would love to know what others think.

By golly, you already said everything I said.

Post by r***@hotmail.com
(Also, I am an Ashkenazi Jew, for what its worth. I've read that the
naming practices are different for Sephardic Jews.)

They don't have the restriction at all. I knew a Separadic girl for a
while who warned her mother, that since she dated mostly Ash. guys,
she couldn't promise to name a child after her.

Post by r***@hotmail.com
Thanks very much for reading this.

Meirman
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[fred]

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Post by r***@hotmail.com
Hello all,
I am wondering if people have some advice. My wife and I are expecting
a baby any day now and we are having a bit of a naming dilemma. We are
considering naming him after my grandfather Hank, who died many years
ago. (His actual name was Henry but he went by Hank, and we would
probably do the same thing - name the baby Henry but call him Hank.)
The dilemma is that my 19-yr old cousin was named after him too. (He
actually goes by Henry, not Hank.) So the question we cant seem to
figure out is whether its ok to name him after my grandfather, or
whether the custom of not naming a baby after a living relative would
apply. Obviously, we would be naming him after my grandfather, not my
cousin, but...I just don't know. I have read conflicting opinions on
this, and my mother said that her father actually had several first
cousins with the same name, as they were all named after the same,
deceased great-grandfather or grandmother, so she doesn't think
it's a problem. My cousin also said it would be fine. That all said,
I would love to know what others think.
(Also, I am an Ashkenazi Jew, for what its worth. I've read that the
naming practices are different for Sephardic Jews.)
Thanks very much for reading this.

Not a problem, since your son will not be named after your cousin. It
is quite common for multiple members of the "next generation" to be
named for the same relatives. My grandson has 4 cousins named for his
other grandfather's father.

Have you researched your grandfather's Hebrew name as well?



=============================================================================
This post reflects the author's opinion; the moderators' opinions may differ.
Posters seeking medical or halachic information should consult competent
authorities in those fields.

ACKs are handled by an autoresponder. Munged From:/Reply-To: means no ACKs.
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Use "X-Ack-To: none" to suppress Acks. "X-Ack-To:" goes on a line by itself.
--
This forum discusses issues specific to childrearing in a Jewish context.
Submissions: scjp-***@scjp.jewish-usenet.org ** NEW ADDRESS **
Pre-Review: scjp-***@shamash.org
Want the FAQ? Send the message "send scjp-faq" to ***@scjfaq.org
SCJ FAQ/RL? Send the message "send faq 01-FAQ-intro" to ***@scjfaq.org