Jewish girl names are unique among all of the world’s languages: no one knows for certain which one belongs to the Jewish people. Jews are a diaspora people, a people scattered around the world in various cultures. A child born into a Jewish family may be named after one of two given names or after an ancient version of the family name and still be known as a Jew.
We all have our own unique way of thinking. It is up to us as Jews, to make sure that we continue to use the traditional family names that are our birth names while we’re growing up. In our efforts to make sure that the Jewish girl who we named after the grandfather or a grandfather is truly Jewish, we will also need to make sure that our girls name their mother’s sisters’ sons and daughters.
Jewish girl names are part of the tapestry of Jewish history. We are the children of the first great Jewish diaspora (in the West) and the women of Israel are our tapestry. Our tapestries need to be constantly re-dyeing if not for the girls in the families to have to find new families to join.
