Why Do Jews Choose Both Secular and Jewish Baby Names?
Jewish baby names are complicated. Why? Well, Jewish parents not only have to choose a secular name for their babies but a Jewish one as well. Once again it’s more difficult for the chosen people. There is a new modern way of getting around this – opt to have a name that can be used for both such as: Aaron, Ezra or Levi. But, why is it that Jews have historically chosen to have 2 names for their babies? Let me tell you a story… Before our son was born, my wife and I were trying to decide what to name him. A family member had just passed away and we were trying to figure out how to name our son after her. She wanted to name our son’s Jewish name after her but I said I wanted to name his secular name after her. My wife told me that the Jewish name is more important then the English, so I asked the woman I had spent the past four years with , “what is my Jewish name?” and she had NO idea… There is a long Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European Jewish) tradition of having two names. Th
