A group of Israeli rabbis has put together a list of names they say should be off-limits to Jewish children -- including Ariel and Omri, the given names of Israel's prime minister and his eldest son.So far, the Rabbi's aren't recommending that children carrying the banned names be denied entrance to Jewish schools, but can name-based segregation be far behind? Already, some schools reject students of Sephardic heritage, or the children of newly Orthodox parents.
If the Rabbis must insert themselves into a matter that really isn't their business, why not publish a list of recommended names instead? Lots of great Jewish names are underused, or forgotten. I would love to rehabilitate names like Yishmoel, Tarfon and Popa (all tanaim) Abaye (an amorah) and Chabakuk (a prophet.) And there are dozens more.
While we are on the subject, I could do without the practice of giving children multiple names or naming them after ancestors. Neither appraoch is very Torah-True. All of Jacob's kids, for instance, had but one name, and though they were all born after the death of Jacob's very own grandfather, not one of them was called Avrohom.
