A few weeks before giving birth to a baby girl, my daughter calls for a consult on the protocol of baby naming, Jewish-style.

The Jewish tradition is to name a child for someone no longer living. My daughter does not tell me any of the names she and her husband are contemplating. All she wants to know is how literal they have to be when naming their daughter after someone.

I tease her, suggesting this is a question worthy of Talmud scholars.

It’s only after the baby is born that I have a fuller sense of her question. Judaism is a mixed bag of observance in terms of how strictly rituals are followed. That applies to everything from life events (the birth of a child, bar and bat mitzvah celebrations, weddings) to holiday practices.

Rituals may get diluted as generations pass, but when it comes to baby naming, we honor the dead by giving the baby a Hebrew name and an English one. Case in point: My daughter was named after my grandmother, Ida, an English name that just didn’t resonate. Once I learned her Hebrew name, Chaya Sara, my daughter’s was a no brainer: she would be Sara.

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