S/o naming children through ruach hakodesh

happy chick

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 10:26 am

Someone commented on one of the other threads about naming children being ruach hakodesh. I've heard that too, it's what we've always been told. When I asked my parents why I was named after a Rebbetzin and not a grandmother , that's the answer I got.
But when it came to naming my own children, some of them were a given, there was not question about it. But some of them were actually very difficult to decide, especially that DH wasn't helping and kept saying whatever I want.
Clearly, what we ended up deciding (or rather what I decided) is what was meant to be, but I didn't find any ruach hakodesh or any revelations in my dreams.

amother

Brown

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 10:36 am

It's not an overt ruach Hakodesh. There's no bas kol that calls down "This child shall be named _____" but the feeling you get that this name suits this child is a form of ruach Hakodesh. I'll try to find the source and will post when I do.

For example one of my kids we had the name prepared before birth. We knew if it would be a girl this would be her name. She was born erev shabbos so she would be named the following morning and that Friday night my husband and I were looking at her and we both said, that's just not her name. We can't give her that name because it's not her. Was a strange experience but we ended up choosing another name that night and it suits her so well. When our next daughter was born, she got the name we had originally planned and it suits her perfectly. It's not a strong overwhelming feeling of Gd speaking to us. It was just the subtle feeling that this name isn't suited for this child.

amother

cornflower

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 10:54 am

I had a dream in the early weeks of my pregnancy with my first son (before I knew I was having a boy) that I walked into the shul and my husband was standing there with tallit and tefillin and asked me "nu, where is he??" and I asked "who??" and he replied "(son's name)! we need to do a brit!" and sure enough, his brit was not on a chag or shabbat (DH wore tefillin), and despite trying several venues we ended up in that specific shul and when I told DH about the name he said in my dream, he said it was perfect!

amother

Lemon

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 11:10 am

I've written this story before. My first was due and then born on a chassidish day so it made sense to give a certain name that happened to also be the names of grandparents. However the baby was so tiny and the name felt so huge. Instead we gave a different relative name that was already given many times.

Fast forward, a very dear and close relative who was an older single (as in, never married and 60) dropped dead. We always called a nickname and I never even knew the full name until we had to say tehillim. It was the same name that we did NOT use for the baby. I told dh, I'm so glad we didn't waste the name.

Lo and behold, my second child was named after the relative... And also born on a chassidish day of the exact same namesame. Ie could have been named for the birth date but was already planning to name for the relative.

amother

Firebrick

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 1:12 pm

One of my DDs was conceived after a miscarriage. I was waiting and waiting for the miscarriage to actually happen, and it finally took place on the yartzeit of a great woman. I later visited her kever, and on her matzeivah was also the name of a sister that had been killed in the Holocaust. At that moment, I made a private mental pact to name a child after this sister (I already had an older DD with the name of this great woman).

When DD was born, my husband turned to me and asked, "Can I tell you what name I have in mind?" I answered no, and said I wanted to bring up my idea first. When I told him the name, he said that it was the same one he was thinking of!

A few minutes later, a BIL called (he didn't know we had just had a baby) with a question. When he heard we had just had a girl, he asked, "Can I suggest a name?"

Sure enough, it was unanimous!

My latest DS, though, I had a long list of boys names I was waiting to give. Then, when he was born, DH thought of a totally different name. Since I didn't have any strong feelings, I relied on DH's Ruach Hakodesh.

amother

Azure

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 1:34 pm

happy chick wrote:

You wouldn’t necessarily get it though a dream or feel the ruach hakodesh as you’re imagining it. Your decision on the name, whatever you decide it will ultimately be, is the decision Hashem put in your mind.

happy chick

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 2:27 pm

amother [ Seagreen ] wrote:

What's a "chassidish day"?

A chasidishe yom tov is a day such as chai elul (Alter Rebbes birthday) or yud alef Nissan (Lubavitcher Rebbes birthday) or any other day that's a special day connected to lubavitch. Not sure if this is what she meant.

happy chick

Mon, Aug 10 2020, 2:29 pm

amother [ Red ] wrote:

It's a strong feeling .
But even you don't feel it the name was given by רוח הקודש.

Just my point. Some were a given but the others were very difficult. I was texting back and forth w DH until he was going up to the Torah to name dd. With another, we were sitting in the hospital waiting to leave but we couldn't figure out what to write on the birth certificate. And after I finally did write it down, I walked out the hospital praying that I made the right decision and I wouldn't change my mind the next day.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:05 pm

We always had a list of names we liked but purposely didn't actually choose until after the baby was born so that we could see what baby looked like/make sure the name fits/ wait for Ruach hakodesh. In the end we always ended up giving the top-of-the-list name.

Now I'm pregnant again and just a few days ago I literally read every girl's name on shemli.org.il to make sure there's nothing I'm missing, but my top name hasn't changed, and it's one I thought of a couple years ago.

singleagain

Thu, Aug 13 2020, 11:15 pm

Here's a really interesting story.

My parents had picked a name for my brother. And after the Brit the mohel brings him to my mom saying "mazel tov on firstname, secondname" and my mother was like "no no it's supposed to be firstname middlename"

It was a very similar sounding name.

They went to the tape, my father said firstname secondname. And the funny thing is... Secondname really really fits this brother.

My dad probably just said the wrong name bc it is so similar.... But I think it was maybe ruach hakodesh

shanie5

Fri, Aug 14 2020, 5:29 pm

Night before youngest dd was born, we decided on a name. Then she was born and the name didn't fit. We-DH and most of our children-were discussing names and nothing was right. After they left, I got a mazel tov call from a friend. (Friend happens to be sister to Yael-she who created imamother .) As we were talking, I thought "she has a daughter named_______ ." And we used that name along with a second name that had been in my mind from the beginning of the pregnancy.
Btw, friend has a few dds, but only 1 name came to me then.