Is It Proper? Is it proper for an adult to change his/her given Hebrew name?
Advertisement    A persons given Jewish name should not be treated lightly. There are, after all, many reasons why we receive the names we do. In many cases, we are named after someone  within the Ashkenazic community, in memory of departed individuals; within the Sephardic community, in honor of living individuals. Other significant considerations are often factored by parents into the determination of a childs given Jewish name. Ignoring these considerations can easily be interpreted as a lack of respect. In addition, the seriousness of names in Jewish thought is clearly evident in the sober ceremony that surrounds an officially warranted name change, in response to life-threatening illness. The very fact that Jewish tradition views the addition of a name as a prayer to Hashem for the transformation of an individuals fate indicates the depth of our association with our given Jewish names. Clearly, we are connected to those names, and those names are connected to us, in ways that we can scarcely understand. I would, therefore, differentiate between varying circumstances when it comes to the issue of changing a given Jewish name. If an individual simply wants to transform a name without changing its meaning  switching, for example, a Yiddish name with a Hebrew equivalent  I would adopt a more lenient approach. I would be less sanguine, however, with a full change of name, absent an exceptional, valid, and compelling reason for such an action.  Rabbi Goldin, author of Unlocking the Torah Text series and past president of the RCA. * * * * *  Halacha provides for rare occasions when a person is allowed to change his/her name. Most commonly, we add a name to a person who is seriously ill in an attempt to change the decree. This accords with the Gemaras statement (Rosh Hashana 16b) that a name change is one of four acts a person can perform to have a decree overturned. Rambam included this procedure as one of the ways of repentance, that penitents change their names to indicate that they are no longer the same person they were when they sinned. This is not done routinely  the paperwork alone would be too onerous if we did it annually  but it is common for baalei teshuvah to shift from use of their secular names to their given or acquired Hebrew names. This is the most prevalent type of name change. The Tzitz Eliezer (20:38) also records a case in which a man was named after two aunts  his non-observant parents assumed it would not matter  and was urged to change his name to something more masculine. Some people change their names because a kabbalist informs them that their given names are somehow inappropriate (even if they are ordinary Hebrew words and have positive connotations). Ain li esek bnistarot; this type of esoterica is way above my pay grade. Nonetheless, I would suggest extreme caution before following that path. We should recall that a more effective means of changing ones mazal is shinui maaseh, changing our deeds, the essence of repentance. Assuming that a name change without repentance will accomplish anything is to assume that we can fool G-d and activate these shortcuts that bypass the normal modes of reward and punishment. It is far better to change our deeds than our names.  Rav Steven Pruzansky is rav emeritus of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun of Teaneck, NJ, and the Israel Region Vice-President for the Coalition for Jewish Values. * * * * *  The Hebrew name given to a child by parents is sacred. The Arizal teaches that a persons name is the channel through which the souls energy reaches the body. Parents receive a glimmer of divine inspiration when they give their child a Jewish name (Sefer Hagilgulim, Introduction 23, quoted in Taamei Haminhagim 929. See also commentary of Ohr Hachaim on Deuteronomy 29:17). For this reason, we do not change or add a Hebrew name unless there is a strong reason to do so. For example, if a person becomes deathly ill, G-d forbid, some suggest adding a name that refers to life or health (like Chaim or Refoel), in order to draw down new divine energy to help bring healing and life to the individual.  Rabbi Simon Jacobson, renowned Lubavitch author and lecturer  * * * * *  There is the story told of a couple that came to the Gerer Rebbe, ztl (I believe it was the Imrei Emes, Horav Avraham Mordechai Alter), and asked him to give a name to their newly born (third) child. The mother named the first, the father named the second, now its the Rebbes turn to name this child. Other than those names changed by Hashem  Avram to Avraham, Yaakov to Yisrael seemingly is no precedent to make a change. Yet we find (Bamidbar 13:16) Vayikra Moshe lHoshea bin Nun Yehoshua  And Moshe called Hoshea son of Nun Yehoshua. Thus Moshe not only sanctioned changing a given name, but it was he himself who made that change. There was quite a stir a number of years ago when a gadol bYisrael came out with a statement that a certain girls name was not really a name, and many people followed suit and changed their names or their daughters names. One day my granddaughters came home from school and told us that their friend was no longer such and such: they made a Kiddush in shul and renamed her Rivka. There are names that, due to the passing of time and changing geography, were once seen as appropriate [many Yiddish-only names] but today many children will find them difficult to bear. There is, for example, the name Yenta, which has its obvious connotation. Yet I have done a bit of research and found it to be a corruption of the French name Gentille  which basically translates as pleasant, the equivalent of the Hebrew Naomi. Thus it is actually a beautiful name. Yet there are Hebrew names as well that might not be appropriate and many an Israeli baal teshuva might wish to change, such as Nimrod or Nebuchadnezzar. The gaon Rav Moshe Sternbuch (Teshuvot VeHanhagot Vol. I, Even Haezer 731) cites a source where if a young man or woman about to be married have the same name as the spouses parent, that one should add a name. Indeed, I know of such cases.  Rabbi Yaakov Klass, Torah Editor, The Jewish Press; Rav, Khal Bnei Matisyahu, Flatbush, Brooklyn: Presidium Chairman, Rabbinical Alliance of America/Igud HaRabbonim.