"Weird Names?" By Whose Definition?

No doubt I'm not the only blogger who's going to blog this one!

NRP aka Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home)'s MK Zvulun Orlev has proposed a bill to restrict parents' rights to choose names for their children, to prevent "weird" names.  Maybe "weird" isn't the right word, since I did check the A7 Hebrew article, too.  What he wants to prevent is negative names, those that could "damage." them in some way, open them to mockery, for instance.

In Hebrew, unlike English, every combination of letters seems to mean something.  Picking a name (or a word) because you like the sounds can be very risky in Hebrew.  Also, we're a country of immigrants, and an ordinary acceptable "name" from one language may be an extremely negative or foul word in another.

For a short time I subbed in the Ofra Girls High School, Ulpanat Ofra.  I taught a class of Ethiopean immigrants. Actually, some or most were probably born here in Israel, but they needed remedial help.  Not a single one of the girls had a Hebrew name.  I have enough problems remembering names and faces, but in that class it was impossible.  For my ears their names were jumbles of sounds.  We'd spend the longest time each lesson just trying to take attendence, as they tried to teach me how to pronounce their names.  I complained to the person in charge of their program that keeping those names would hold back their full absorption in Israeli society.  If they would apply for a job, the lack of a familiar/pronounceable name would put them on the bottom of the pile.

We gave our children names from the Bible, mostly pretty obscure ones.  Their feelings about their names are rather mixed.  The one child who got totally conventional names had her nickname added officially to her identity.  I made that nickname up.  She doesn't mind having a unique name.  I love the names I gave my kids.  There's a lot of special meaning to their names.

After our second daughter was born, someone told my husband that her name was weird and would make life tough for her.  We didn't agree.  Having that name gives her a special connection to the Bible and to a street in Jerusalem.  I study Bible in Matan, and whenever one of the teachers (who actually knows her) mentions her name, she gives me a special smile. 

There's one downside for me about my children's names.  I can't be discreet about adding the names of the singles/still unmarried to any lists to pray for.  Nobody else has these names, especially combined with the "middle-name" and mine as "mother of."

If this law becomes law, no doubt people will sue if stopped from registering their children's names.  In Israel most children are named in religious ceremonies, and only later are the names registered.  Boys get their names at their Brit Milah and girls are named in synagogue when the father, or some other relative/friend, is called to the Torah.  In the end, even if the parents and authorities don't agree, the parents will use the name they wish, and the child will add or change her/his name when applying for an identity card.