Hebrew name

First topic message reminder :

From what I have read online, one part of conversion is choosing a Hebrew name. My Rabbi has not brought up this subject at all, even though we have made arrangements with the biet din and inquiries with the closest mikveh- 200 miles away. It seems like now would be the right time to do it.

Does this come later? Or should I bring it up myself?

Dena wrote:

Rocky_girl wrote:

This appeals to me. I could see using the name of a woman who has taught me what it means to be Jewish as if I were her daughter; It would be special to her as well because she has no daughter.

You'd have to talk to your Rabbi about it. I have heard of it but I don't know anyone who has done it so I'm not sure how it works. Your Rabbi may not agree with it.

Michael, do you know anyone who has used a different name?

I don't. Though I did some Googling after reading the first half of this thread and found a comment thread under the Hebrew Name article on My Jewish Learning where some people were arguing that the traditional convert surname was not halacha but minhag. That article is here.

I don't know anyone who's done it, but I read about it being done (can't remember if it was online or in one of my many conversion books).

I agree that what your Hebrew name is won't invalidate your conversion. A Conservative rabbi may prefer to call you by Abraham v'Sarah instead of the last name you picked, but that won't make anything invalid.

I think picking a last name that honors a mentor would be a wonderful. After all, the reason why Abraham and Sarah are used is because they were the original converts and they also converted many others. They are viewed as the people who create all converts. But if you have someone who did contribute greatly to your conversion, then I can totally see using that person's name instead; it's the same principal.

Great thread! I am hoping to use an alternative patronymic myself, meeting with my Rabbi on it soon, hope he approves :)

Oh, I enjoy reading this old thread!
I have also chosen a Hebrew name, or actually, the man who is now my parter has. In one of our first conversations he suddenly came up with this name and said it fitted me, and as soon as he had said it I knew it was the right name. I also knew at the same moment he was the right person for me.

The name issue has always been very important to me since the name, in a way, stands for a very core of the subject's being. I mean, the name that we live with, that we internalized and that we respond to is in a way a symbolic referent to who we are, how we see ourselves and what we are striving for. It is also a dimension (of course, not the only one!) through other people see us, recognize us and remember us.

My rabbi hasn't brought this issue yet, but it's not an odd since it's been only a year since we started working and he is Orthodox - so it means, a lot of time to go!

But, I was thinking about my name, for sure, and I was choosing according its meaning, sound and also a kind of personal attachment which appeared or didn't appear in the moment I was considering it.

So far I stopped at Sarah Chavivah.

It's weird; as a child I always wanted and even insisted to be called Sarah. It was just that... I was seeing myself with that name. So Sarah was there from the beginning, I've never consider to drop that out. And knowing much more today, of course, being named after Sarah Imanu is a great honor and responsibility, so there's another aspect to it.

And Chavivah - well, it's the name in a closest relation to my birth given name in meaning. Honestly, I've never thought about keeping that dimension of my personal history after mikveh, until a lot of the people in my congregation, completely apart from each other and in different times started telling me that my (current, given) name is really shining through me. So I stopped for a bit. I was never particularly attached to my name - it was somehow old/oldfashioned, plain and "big" for a child (although the meaning could tell differently!) and I didn't quite know how to respond to it. But it seems that it has grown on me through the years, and, after all, it was the name my parents have chosen for me, so, that could be a way of honoring them also in a way.

Besides Chavivah, there were also Simcha and Devorah in the possible combination, and as I have a lot time ahead... You never know.