Hillel? Need opinions from Jews and Christians.

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I'm an evangelical Christian and DH is Jewish. To put it mildly, neither church nor synagogue have been particularly chuffed with us.

We'd like to call our (still unborn) DS Hillel. He was a rabbi around the time of Jesus, and his teaching underlies much of what Jesus says when he pisses off the religious authorities in the New Testament. In other words, perfect

To Jews - is this name OK for a child who won't be officially Jewish himself*? Or is it offensive?

To Christians - if I hadn't explained the origins of the name, would you have understood why we'd chosen this name?

To everyone - is the name Hillel Cohen* asking for antisemitism?

• ie because I'm not ** Our surname isn't Cohen, but it's similarly recognisably Jewish

It sounds German to me and I have no idea how to pronounce it. Other than that, your baby, your choice.:)

My Biblical knowledge is pretty good, and I've never heard of Hillel. I think most Christians will assume it's a Jewish name, particularly with an obviously Jewish surname, and therefore assume you are practising/religious Jews (and absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course - just might not be what you intended).

I think it's a good name - the only thing is, what will it be shortened to? Hill? Hilly?

I am an atheist but had a Christian upbringing and never heard the name Hillel before, so wouldn't know why you had chosen it. Tbh though I don't know why most people have chosen the names they have picked; my working assumption is that they just liked them unless they tell me there's more to it!

If heard it on its own (without surname)I think I would assume it was Jewish.

Don't know about anti-semitism. I live in quite a Jewish area and noone would bat an eyelid here.

i think you will be in for a lot of 'how to you spell it? ' what does it mean? questioning, i would recognise it as Jewish name, but it is an unusual choice

i think giving your child a name that reflects your own very strong religious beliefs might not always be the wisest course of action.

but at the end of the day, you can call him whatever you want.

i also think that most people would presume it was a reflection of the jewish heritage, would that make you feel diferently as you have strong reasons within your religious beliefs for having chosen i=t?

I have heard of Rabbi Hillel being around in Jesus' time, but I wouldn't have thought automatically of Jesus (I am Christian). I would have assumed you were Jewish - but I think its a crying shame that having a Jewish name means you are asking for antisemitism :(

Thank you

Lurcher Hillel isn't in the Bible, which is why the name may be contentious.

LOL at Hillel Cohen - my name is Anna and my DP has a similarly instantly recognisable Jewish name to Cohen and I will never, ever change my surname to his because I will sound like a wizened old Jewish lady!

Don't you think Hillel Cohen conjures up images of a wizened old rabbi?

No, that's why we would choose it!

I'm a Christian, have a pretty good Bible knowledge and am employed by a church. But I haven't heard of the name, so I'm guessing most Christians wouldn't get it.

Thinking ahead, I think he will get jokes about hills and hell, which he might find a bit wearing. And you need to have a more positive way of explaining the name to him when he's older (i.e. not just "to annoy the rabbi" )

In your position, I'd be inclined to go for a good solid Old Testament name that represents the uniting of your two traditions. But it depends how much you want to stir things up!

When I think of Hillel I think of the body/organisation that supports Jewish student in universities so to me it is odd to name your child that. A bit like name them "synagogue."

It is not a particularly common name amongst Jewish people but I don't know why that is.

I could be totally wrong about this though!

Well, we could give him Christianunion as a middle name Good point, though. Thanks.

yes, hillel house is the only time i've ever heard it used

what are your other names, if you have any?

Umm

I am a Christian and I have never ever heard of the name. So I would understand nothing about it except that you had chosen something very unusual.

If his name was Hillel Cohen or Hillel Rothstein or similar I would assume you were Jewish. Which is fine of course.

Cannot imagine you would come across a lot of antisemitism in this day and age but I could well be being hopelessly naive, in which case apols.

My DH and I are both Christians (he is an RE teacher too) and neither of us have heard of Hillel so wouldn't immediately understand why you'd chosen that name. That said, I don't think that matters. DD2 is Miriam, chosen because one of its meanings is 'wished for child' and although people we know through church usually know that Miriam was the sister of Moses, few people would guess the reason we'd chosen it.

I live in London, albeit SE rather than one of the areas better known for being 'Jewish', so few names raise eyebrows or would be a cause for concern... of the children I've taught it has only been boys with names pronounced anus and nipple (yes, really) whose names have made people laugh.

Although the inspiration for the name Hillel make sense I think I'd be cautious about telling a 5-year-old Hillel that you've named him after someone who pissed off the authorities!

I am a Catholic (so Christian or not depending on your POV as an evangelical Christian ). To me Hillel sounds Jewish. I would have no idea of the subtext. If I thought about what I expected from someone with the name Hillel Cohen, I would probably think of an observant Jew rather than an iconoclast of Jewish/Christian extraction, but I probably wouldn't think too deeply about it at all.

More interesting responses, thanks.

Madonna, of course I'll consider you a Christian

I don't think it is offensive but I think it does sound very Jewish so depends if you want your child to be identified as Jewish by their name 9I am keen that no one makes assumptions about my child's religion by their name).

You could always use David - very important Jewish king but also Jesus was of the house of David.

I'm an atheist from a Christian background but I have heard of Hillel: I think that he came up with the rule that one shouldn't do to anyone else anything which one wouldn't want done to oneself.

Good rule; and one which Jews and Christians share, so seems ideal to me.

You could just sidestep the whole controversy by using an OT name?

From a Christian background.

Never heard of the name. Sure there are much nicer cross-faith names, to be honest.

Why are you worried about having a Jewish surname? You are marrying a Jewish man.

TBH, I have heard of Rabbi Hillel the elder (half my degree was divinities) but I don't think that most folk have. The idea that you are trying to convey won't be obvious although I completely understand why you would choose it. I also think that there have been a few Rabbi Hillels down through the years, so perhaps the Elder one is a bit lost in time, unless you are Jewish, then his teachings are still significant, I believe.

I think that most people will just assume that you are a Jewish family, which you kind of are. If your surname is very Jewish and you don't want a kind of conformist first name, you could pick an overtly Christian one like Paul or Stephen. Or you could use a significant OT name like Yeshua (perhaps that would be pushing it a bit, though?)

I'm trying to think of suitably iconoclastic names and am failing at the moment. Sorry. You could always try John! (I am a CoS type, so John Knox is a fine example of rebellious difference.) I don't think that you should worry about anti-semitism, it would be really sad if that were to be the case.

I only know it from Hillel Slovak who was drummer (?) in the Red Hot Chili Peppers before he died. Song 'My Lovely Man' was written about him. Didn't know it was Jewish, assumed it was Slovakian.

I'm also Christian and have never heard of Hillel being anything other than a Jewish name. I automatically associate it with the Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hillel Slovak - who died of a heroin overdose. Sorry.

I have heard of Hillel (comparative religion) but my association would mainly be the Hillel Jewish student organisation, very active in US college campuses; it's a Jewish student organisation as Chaya says.

Your child has both Christian and Jewish heritage, and it's your child, so up to you how you want to acknowledge or honour either side or both. You don't really owe anyone an explanation.