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Once, in the midst of some enjoyable family time, when the discussion shifted to the Ashkenazic practice of naming children only after the deceased, versus the Sephardic practice of naming even after the living, when I astounded my family with my brilliance:
??????? ?? ????? ??? ???? had five sons: ?????, ?????, ?????, ?????, ?????.
????? his eldest son wasn’t named after his father; perhaps he named him after his father in law. But why wasn’t his second son at least named after his father?
“It must be,” I concluded, “that his father was still alive, and the custom of old was apparently not to name children after living people.”
Perhaps they named after grandfathers and great-grandfathers first.
Or they were Ashkenazim. Some say that the reason not to name after a living grandparent is so as not to appear that they are calling the parent by his name. In fact, one of the interpretations as to why Abaye was called Abaye is that his name was Nachmani, which was his grandfather’s (and Rabba’s father’s) name.
Avi K, I don’t think there was such a thing as “Ashkenazim” back in those days…
Do you have any proof that Matisyahu’s father died before
he gave his son the same name? (I think I remember reading a
depiction of him being alive at the time of the Chanuka story.)
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