Reply To: Give a child one name or two?

No, I really wasn’t stirring the pot with the “kedusha should go upwards comment.” My concern with naming a girl after a male relative is this…

We name the child after a deceased relative so that their neshama should have an aliya. We all know that men hold time-bound mitzvahs and women do not, as women clearly have an inherent kedusha that men lack. By naming a girl after a male, it’s as if you are limiting the deceased male’s kedusha by tying it to a girl who lacks time-bound mitzvahs.

I’m clearly not the most elequent with my words here at this site. But surely I’m not the only one who has heard this idea?

And furthermore, a child named after a deceased relative is meant to “take on” some of the traits of that relative. Since men do not have babies, wouldn’t you be concerned that naming a girl after a male could possibly cause infertility at a later date?