What’s in a name? - The Jewish Standard

Our new great-granddaughter has been named! The name that she bears will identify her throughout her life as a daughter of Israel, a proud Jew, a bat-Yisrael.

Names matter. They tell much about the baby’s parents and their values and dreams for this new little person, she who will bring honor to the memory of those for whom she has been named. What a privilege and serious obligation for parents to begin their new child’s life with a treasured remembrance of loved ones. Our girl will hear the stories of the lives of her great-great-grandmother Guggie and her great-grandfather Yehuda. We pray she will always model herself after her distinguished ascendants, the forebears who are no longer with us.

She was named in the beit knesset of the Harvard Hillel, their family synagogue. It was a joyful assembly on a rainy Shabbat as we all awaited the announcement. We had come from near and far, great-grandmothers from London and Montreal, we two from West Orange, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. She will be known throughout her life as Gittl-Tovah Yehudit. Gittl-Tovah means good in Yiddish and in Hebrew. Yehudit means a Jewish female in Hebrew. Her name is a promise that she will need to fulfill, to be a good human being and a proud Jew. It’s a parental vow to imbue her with the drive and ambition to bring such names to fruition. They will!

I think of names often, particularly since I have never been satisfied with my own name. I was named in 1939, when the strong tradition in American Jewry was to give babies two names, an English name and a Hebrew name, often with some connection, elusive or otherwise. Thus, for example, I was called Shoshana, rose, in Hebrew, and Rosanne, another form of rose, in English. In Israel I am still called Shoshana. That’s the good news.

In America, the name has always been a burden. It is regularly spelled incorrectly and it often leads to derivatives and endless nicknames. And it doesn’t sound Jewish. In the third grade I remember a school assignment to write a composition beginning with the phrase, “If I Had A Wish.” Even then, at the tender age of 8, my composition was “If I Had A Wish, I’d Wish My Name Was Not Rosanne.” Things never got better. I didn’t grow up disliking my name and then abruptly switch gears and decide I liked it after all. Nope. Not me. I didn’t like it then, and I still don’t. But, alas, there was nothing to do about it — and that’s exactly what I did. Nothing.

But today many new Jewish parents are eschewing cute or popular names, or annoying ones like Rosanne, often naming their babies with inspiration from family practice or Jewish history, or even creating inventive new Hebrew words that are reminders of contemporary events. Sources may be ancient or modern, but they bring Jewish tradition to the fore, so that even the youngest children have a name connecting them to their peoplehood. This is the wave of the present, which will hopefully gain continuing momentum.

All our great-grandchildren are blessed with identifiably Jewish names. Thus Gittl-Tovah is the little sister of Elchanan, who was named for one of King David’s mighty heroes. We pray for him to have a life of peace, never to be called upon to be a warrior.

In Israel, our grandchildren are parents to two babies. The elder is called Nael Beeri. Nael is a Hebrew word meaning gift from God. Beeri, now a place of pilgrimage, is a kibbutz in the western Negev Desert, currently rebuilding after shocking death, destruction, and devastation. His name will be a constant reminder of the Hamas attack on that peaceful place near the Gaza border where 101 people were killed in a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Nael Beeri, our sabra great-grandson, will forever bear his name as a tribute to those lost to our Jewish world shortly before his birth.

Our eldest great-grandson is called Noam. At the conclusion of the Torah service, we replace the Torah in the ark and sing Etz Chaim He, which includes the phrase Darchei Noam, ways of pleasantness. It is then, each and every time, that my thoughts veer to him, indeed a pleasant boy, now aged 9, with three younger siblings modeling themselves to be inspired by their big brother. That is good because he is loving, kind, and exceedingly pleasant. His name describes him perfectly.

We have great-grandchildren named Itai, Lior, and Yael and we have Tamar, Sophie Eden, Gabriel, Yonah, and Mekimi, whose name you will recognize from our beautiful psalm of uplifting. Listen for her name on Shavuot when we sing Hallel.

The names that our children are given can inspire them to become seriously Jewish and committed to becoming identifiable and eager members of our ancient tribe, a noble pursuit.

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of 12. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

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