My first child I'd like to name after my great-grandfather, who was Gregory Israel, so I suppose that would be it. It would have to be something evocative of that if my first child was a daughter (Grace, perhaps), but I don't have a particularly strong opinion. Name preferences after that depend on which, God forbid, of my family members or close friends have died, since family tradition (and Ashkenazi tradition generally) is to name children after recently dead relatives.
Come GUYS, you're acting like you'll have any say in what your offspring are called. If you're lucky you might get to veto a name or two.
This is definitely true as well.
I thought Jewish naming custom simply stated that you are not supposed to name your child after someone who is still alive.Yes, if you do that then the person you have named your child after will soon die (according to superstition). That's a more iron rule (though only among Ashkenazi Jews; Sephardic Jews commonly name children after people who are still alive) than the custom of naming children after recently dead relatives, which is very common but merely optional. Naming your child after people who are alive is Not Done in Ashkenazi culture.
(This is verboten in Arab culture as well, but the logic behind it may differ.) I've also heard that if you want to make reference to a relative or a loved one in your child's name, you're supposed to give them a name that starts with the same letter, rather than giving them the exact same name.
That is an alternative to giving the exact same name, if the name has fallen out of style, if it's associated with some celebrity or politician who the parents dislike, or if there is already someone close to the family with that name. For instance, if my first child were to be a girl and I wanted to name her after my great-grandfather, I could name her Grace (which starts with the same first two letters), but I probably wouldn't name her Gail or Gabriella since I already have relatives with those names. (Names that begin with a G, you might notice, are preposterously common in my extended family). If he was a boy and I decided I didn't like the name Gregory but still wanted to honor my great-grandfather, I could go with Grayson or something.
