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Two cents about the question, not the names (**rant**)
in reply to a message by Laura
Okay, maybe more like twenty-seven cents.This question bothers me a lot, and so does SSF's response that Rosemary's "a little Catholic" but Rose would be "good." So seeming "a little Catholic" is bad? At least on a Jewish kid, is that it?I am Catholic. My son's name is Gideon. Never yet has any Catholic - or Jew - ever approached me and said his name is "a little too Jewish for a Catholic kid." I could have named him Moses or Noah or Elijah or Isaiah or anything else, and I would not hear those comments. Similarly, if I had named him Francis I would not get pats on the back from other Catholics - "good job choosing such a solid Catholic name, dodging all those popular Jewish ones."You never hear people say to each other, weird how popular that Jewish name Jacob is, huh?I don't understand why members of the Jewish faith, or people of ethnic Jewish heritage, ask, Is XYZ Jewish enough?, and then nearly always get comments back about something being too Catholic. Like Margaret. I mean, honestly. Like, Yahweh forbid a little Jewish girl suffer the terrible misfortune of being named something so thoroughly Catholic as Margaret.I have a friend in Britain of Indian heritage (as in, Mumbai, not Dakota). She just had a baby she named Zane. Nobody in her family has commented about it not being Hindu enough (though I grant you someone may be thinking it - but if there is someone, that someone is guaranteed to be of the generation before that of my friend). If she were Jewish, would there be comments made that Zane isn't Jewish enough?Do Jewish people have such incredibly high standards, or such utter disdain for us goyim? Catholics in particular? Or does it just feel that way to me alone?I cannot fathom it at all, not at all, and it frankly rankles the shit out of me.I would welcome rational explanation, if anyone cares to offer one; not that I am demanding one, just that I'm quite willing to hear what the deal is./rant
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