What's In A Name?

In the August 7 issue of The Week, there was an article in the “Best Columns: The U.S.” section entitled, “Why should Jews pretend to be WASPS?” by Ron Rosenbaum of slate.com who argues that it is time for “one of our most wildly successful Jewish Americans,” Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, “to change his name back to the one his parents gave him – Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz." The author argues that Stewart’s popularity is due to “his genius for exposing the “pretentious masks” worn by politicians, media figures, and other big shots” and as such, he should change his name and remove the “faint but unnecessary relic of anti-Semitism.” As a mother of a young boy with a “Jewish” first and last name, it makes me think. Knowing we would raise our son Jewish, I wanted him to have a Jewish first name, although since it is in the Old Testament, it is also a Christian name. My husband just liked the name for a number of reasons. Unintentionally, his name reflects both his parents religious backgrounds. Funny how things turn out.