Change name on birth certificate

justforfun87

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 9:05 am

I dont even care to go anon. We named our beautiful baby boy Betzalel recently as we loved the name. I have always felt strongly about Jewish names/story of Mitzraim and the fact that it seperates us in galus blah blah. The little voice in my head though also says in the holocaust people with secular names had easier times getting out.
After saying and having to repeat and spell his name though for the 10th time to the pediatrician secretary/airline/pharmacy I am afraid I set him up for failure. In our state we have a year to change the name on the birth certificate. Should I go ahead and just give him a secular name? My other kids have jewish names but easy to pronounce.. with this name people are giving me blank stares.

Help!

amother

DarkGreen

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 9:11 am

I'm sure you'll get a bunch of people encouraging you to keep his beautiful name as is, but as someone who deals with name conversations on a regular basis, I wish my parents would've just named me the easily pronounceable name that matches my yiddish name. I know some don't care, but I'm shy and I hate the extra attention and needing to explain my name for every interaction.

Ima03

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 9:27 am

My name has the ches (CH) in it (as do 3 of my kids). Co-workers, medical staff, etc can't pronounce it, but I'm totally OK with it. I work with many people from India, and nobody can pronounce their names either.

amother

Bluebell

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 9:38 am

I would change it. I have a name that's really easy for anyone in the world to pronounce and my sister does not. She's hated her name her whole life.

justforfun87

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 10:29 am

amother Bluebell wrote:

I would change it. I have a name that's really easy for anyone in the world to pronounce and my sister does not. She's hated her name her whole life.

Ugh I don't want him to hate it. I feel bad about this whole thing as I still don't even see him as a betzalel and quite honestly have trouble saying it myself. No nickname has stuck yet.

scintilla

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 10:46 am

I wouldn't change it, I have a CH name and I've never minded the extra time to spell it out. And I've lived in places without any Jews and in Brooklyn, it's never bothered me. I think Betzalel is a beautiful name!

Plus as an adult, it doesn't come up so often anyhow. How often do I switch doctors etc...usually they ask for birth date, then last name and then they try say my first name and whatever they say I just say "yep that's me".

amother

Petunia

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:09 am

I have a kid like this and it doesn’t even phase them. They would much rather have a name they like that family, friends know then a random name so that the secular world could get their name correct.
I know someone that has a kid with the name yehuda and guess what they still have issues with being called correctly.
Atleast where I live the medical ppl ask if they Said the child’s name correctly and if not how do you say it.

Bottom line I say leave it.

justforfun87

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:12 am

scintilla wrote:

I'm just thinking in the corporate world how they will never pronounce his name correctly. If he stays in the frum community fine.. but if he becomes a high power attorney they will fumble with the name. I didn't realize how much my secular cousins/in laws would struggle pronouncing the name until I told them and then had to repeat it slowly and practice it with them 😄. Weirdly enough I have a Tzippy and didn't agonize over the name but zippy is easy enough to say

scintilla

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:15 am

justforfun87 wrote:

Think of the current (last I checked lol) PM of the UK. "Ethnic" name, richest PM in history iirc.

You do have a valid point. They may fumble. But I think they will learn, and I don't personally think it's reason to change it. There's actually big movement in the world currently to keep names from your culture and not change them to more western names, interestingly!

amother

Honeydew

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:15 am

My husbands name is Shmuel. On his birth certificate as well. He has a high corporate position and every single person calls him Sam. Only his license (for his degree) says shmuel, That’s it….

amother

Natural

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:28 am

justforfun87 wrote:

Ugh I don't want him to hate it. I feel bad about this whole thing as I still don't even see him as a betzalel and quite honestly have trouble saying it myself. No nickname has stuck yet.

Tzali?

amother

Natural

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 11:28 am

justforfun87 wrote:

Ugh I don't want him to hate it. I feel bad about this whole thing as I still don't even see him as a betzalel and quite honestly have trouble saying it myself. No nickname has stuck yet.

Tzali?

amother

Tanzanite

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 12:32 pm

Omg I coukd have written this. My son is Yisroel and has a lot of medical stuff so they fumble with his name constantly and end up going with "hey you" or "little guy" more often than not. Dont even get me started on secular family; they cant or wont say it. Interestingly, spanish speakers are the closest because Israel in spanish is pronouced like the hebrew Yisrael. So grandma and doctors cant say it, but the cleaning lady is a pro lol.

amother

Outerspace

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 12:41 pm

amother Tanzanite wrote:

Well better Yisroel than giving an English name Israel. I know someone with English name Israel who gets a lot of nasty comments and attitude due to ‘controversies’ people have about EY.

BetsyTacy

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 12:46 pm

I love the nickname Tzali. I'm glad your other children have easy to pronounce names, but my kids names have been butchered in ways I had not thought possible, even the ones who have short ones with, no "ch" sounds included.
In the corporate world, they can figure it out-worst case they call him B.

Goldie613

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 2:56 pm

What about adding a more "regular" first name, and leave Betzalel as the middle name? Yes, you'd still have the obviously Jewish piece in there if C"V there was trouble, but it would eliminate your worries about pronunciation and professional standing.

amother

Pansy

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 5:13 pm

I always envied people with "easy" names because everyone butchers mine. Then I made friends with a Rhoda who said she's been called Rhonda, Rwanda, Reena, Rana, Ronnie, Rosa, Renee, Josie, Jodie, Jada, Prada and Yoda. If people can mess up Rhoda, they can mess up anything. Don't bother changing the name. Ethnic is "in." Your ds will be able to create a short nickname for himself if he gets tired of the butchery. We all know Raphaels and Dvoshas who are Ralph and Donna at work.

amother

Oxfordblue

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 5:23 pm

How I wish I had a different legal name... No one can pronounce it and it bothers me.
Some doctors just call me by my last name and I appreciate it! much better to be called Friedman or Gordon than a mispronounced first name, which ends up sounding super weird.