Would you name after an uncle?

amother

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 4:39 pm

That was a very special person but did not have any children?

amother

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 4:49 pm

amother Ruby wrote:

Sure why not?

Because some people won’t use a name if that person had a hard life. Someone that was nebech full of bad mazal

amother

Olive

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 4:50 pm

My uncle was an amazing person. He had special needs and wasnt able to marry. He had 2 names one was an inlaws name so we couldn't use it, but we gave the other name to our baby.

amother

Ultramarine

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 4:52 pm

amother OP wrote:

Because some people won’t use a name if that person had a hard life. Someone that was nebech full of bad mazal

Just because he never had kids doesn't mean he had a bad life. My uncle was a talmid chacham and died young ,had a wife but no kids. I would've loved to name after him if circumstances were different for me

amother

Hydrangea

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 4:57 pm

amother OP wrote:

Because some people won’t use a name if that person had a hard life. Someone that was nebech full of bad mazal

So you can name after and add a name.

coloredleaves

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 5:02 pm

A lot of people add Baruch or bracha for bracha as the middle name or chaim or Chaya for life or a joyous name for middle name . But it gives a lot of nechama to the grandparents to have a grandchild names after their child

amother

Ruby

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 5:14 pm

amother OP wrote:

Because some people won’t use a name if that person had a hard life. Someone that was nebech full of bad mazal

You didn’t mention anywhere that he had a hard life. You just mentioned that he was a special person and did not have children.

There are many famous Gedolim and Rabbaim who did not have children. The Chazon Ish, Lubavitcher Rebbe, to start, and many people name after them.

amother

Jetblack

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 5:26 pm

Many great people never had children and people name after them
Sara shnerir, the Lubavitcher rebbe, the Chazon ish, rebitzen David
My personal thoughts on it is that there are certain people who Hashem felt the needs of the klal were so great that they needed to devote their full energy to klal Yisrael.

amother

Canary

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 5:37 pm

We named after someone who died young from an illness
We were actually told that we didn't need to change the name because it's the same name as a gadol
We ended up changing it anyways because the second name was a family name so we named the baby 'firstname chaim'

amother

Chambray

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 6:35 pm

It never seemed just to me that a person who wasn't zoche to have children or had a hard life or died young now gets further penalized by not having anyone named after him. Talk about adding insult to injury! Talk about giving power to a baseless superstitious belief!

My husband's nephew named a son after his great uncle (iow my mil's brother) who never married. He was a wonderful person, everyone was very happy to perpetuate his memory, and my mil was thrilled to tears.

amother

Lightyellow

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 6:39 pm

We named after my aunt who had no children.

We asked multiple rabbanim (both litvish and chassidish, including Rav Shmuel Kamemetzky) and all said that it is absolutely fine.

amother

Garnet

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 6:58 pm

My middle name is after an aunt who never had children, but who was very close to my parents.

I lost a brother a couple of years ago and if I were still having children I would consider naming for him. A younger brother had a daughter a year or so after we lost our brother and named for the niftar in a way that honored him without being a weird female version of his name. In a way, I think that was better so close to his petira, because it might have been hard to call someone by his name.

amother

RosePink

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 7:18 pm

Yes if he was a good person I absolutely would.

amother

Tanzanite

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 7:48 pm

Yes, both my husband and I have siblings that named after uncles on each of our sides that didn't have children.

We would, too, if we had more boys.

We only wouldn't name after someone that died very young and childless without adding a name; older and childless isn't such a problem.

amother

Rainbow

Fri, Jul 07 2023, 7:50 pm

We did. But they didn’t have children because his wife was experimented on in the Holocaust. Depends what the reason is. And you can always add a name to change the mazel.

amother

Gold

Sat, Jul 08 2023, 2:15 pm

amother Hydrangea wrote:

So you can name after and add a name.

Especially Avraham as a 2nd name

amother

Burlywood

Sat, Jul 08 2023, 2:43 pm

I was named for someone who died in the Holocaust before she had a chance to marry.
I'm honored to have her name.
Didn't affect my life. BH I married and have children.

amother

Cantaloupe

Sat, Jul 08 2023, 2:52 pm

We named after dh's great uncle who didn't have children because of his wife's illness and after an elderly friend of mine who was a holocaust survivor who never got married. We felt that people who didn't have children have an especially great need that someone names after them to keep their memory alive.