Parshas Vaera begins with Hashem instructing Moshe to tell the Jewish people that He will take them out and redeem them from their suffering in Egypt. The Medrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 13:19) teaches that one of the merits in which the Jewish people were saved was that they did not change their names, and instead of adopting Egyptian names, they preserved their uniquely Jewish names.
However, Rav Yisroel Reisman points out that when we examine the names of the Jews who emerged from Egypt, none of them are named after their illustrious ancestors. We do not find anyone in that generation named Avraham, Yitzchak, or Yaakov, or Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, or Yissachar. Since we are accustomed to defining Jewish names as those that are given to commemorate our righteous forbearers, how can Chazal say that they did not change their Jewish names when we do not find a single person in that generation named after any of the Avos?
Josephus records that when Alexander the Great came to Eretz Yisrael in the times of the second Beis HaMikdash, he met Shimon HaTzaddik and was greatly impressed by him. When Alexander requested that a statue of him be erected in the Beis HaMikdash, Shimon HaTzaddik demurred on religious grounds, explaining that there are no statues in Jewish holy places.
Instead, Shimon suggested that all male babies born to Kohanim in that year would be named Alexander in his honor, and this is how the non-Jewish name Alexander became a Jewish name. If the selection of a name is so significant and influential, how could Shimon HaTzaddik agree to give a non-Jewish name to so many Jewish children, especially to those who would grow up to serve in the Beis HaMikdash?
Rav Reisman recounts that at the end of his life, Rav Avraham Yaakov Pam remarked that people often approached him for advice about choosing a name for their newborn baby. Unfortunately, the discussions often revolved around the friction that was generated when grandparents had expectations that the baby be named for a dear relative, while the baby’s parents did not care for the name or the person after whom they were being asked to name.
Rav Pam said that in his experience, any time a name was given to promote shalom bayis [peace in the family], the parents always had nachas from the child, as the key is not the actual name that is given, but rather the motivation behind it.
Similarly, a man was hesitant to name his child after his father because he died at a relatively young age, so he asked Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv for guidance. Rav Elyashiv responded that honoring one’s parents brings long life, and he should have no qualms about naming his child after his father.
For the same reason, although the name Alexander was originally a non-Jewish name, because it was given to protect the Beis HaMikdash and to fulfill the instructions of Shimon HaTzaddik, it became a Jewish name, as the rationale behind the name is far more important than the name itself. Similarly, the Jewish people in Egypt did not have the custom to name their children after the Avos, but the names they selected were chosen for Jewish reasons.
For example, the father of the leader of the shevet of Gad was named Deuel (Bamidbar 1:14). Although this may not sound like a Jewish name, the Ramban writes (Bamidbar 2:14) that it is a contraction of two words that connote the hope that he would be יודע ק-ל - a knower of Hashem, which is certainly a Jewish value. Just as Leah chose the name Reuven to express that Hashem had seen her affliction (Bereishis 29:32), so too the Jewish people in Egypt also chose names that expressed Yiddishe ideals. When the Medrash praises them for not changing their names in Egypt, it is not referring to the names themselves, but to the underlying motivations behind them, because that is what is truly important.
