Reply To: Meanings of the names Zelig and Zalman

Home Forums Bais Medrash Minhagim Meanings of the names Zelig and Zalman Reply To: Meanings of the names Zelig and Zalman

#997007
LevAryeh
Member

I will say with a clear conscience that if I had the choice between naming my child after an ancestor with an embarrassing name or angering my wife’s family (my family wouldn’t get angry), I still wouldn’t name my child after the ancestor. Giving a child an embarrassing name can literally kill the child’s self-esteem for the rest of their life.

Even burying “silly” names behind a cavalcade of “normal” names is hurtful. There are many occasions where a child (or adult) will have to state their complete name, and will have to hurriedly mumble that last embarrassing bit.

The Kaminetsky family, by the way, uses one name per child, and always Biblical.