What do you think of the name Jude?

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columbkille77 said:
OP here. The debate basically is whether to swap our son’s first and middle names. (He actually already arrived and is a few days old.) His current middle name is one of those more traditional ones I mentioned.

My last name is Eastern European (which my mom thinks may make it more likely that people associate the name with Judaism / the Holocaust). It’s not a traditionally Jewish last name though, at least to my knowledgeable.
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The Holocaust is pretty much #99999999 on the list of associations, I would think.
 
One of our kids has a name that a relative was concerned would be altered to “Dummy” at school. As far as I know, that has literally never happened.
 
columbkille77 said:
OP here. The debate basically is whether to swap our son’s first and middle names. (He actually already arrived and is a few days old.) His current middle name is one of those more traditional ones I mentioned.

My last name is Eastern European (which my mom thinks may make it more likely that people associate the name with Judaism / the Holocaust). It’s not a traditionally Jewish last name though, at least to my knowledgeable.
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Congratulations! Welcome to your new Baby Jude something (or is going to be Baby something_ Jude?) Whatever you decide for the name order, congratulations on your new son!
 
I love the name Jude, and don’t think of any of the negative connotations you mentioned.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
I love the name. My littlest’s middle name is Jude.

And you already have a lullaby to sing softly, the Beatles’ Hey Jude! Just sing it very softly and slower.
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How much slower can you sing “Hey Jude?” : )

It’s a great tune, though. Paul McCartney wrote it for little Julian Lennon when John left his wife for Oko.
 
Ok, so baby Jude [traditional name] [Eastern European name] it is. My wife will be pleased. 🙂

Thanks everyone!
 
columbkille77 said:
Ok, so baby Jude [traditional name] [Eastern European name] it is. My wife will be pleased. 🙂

Thanks everyone!
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Congratulations on the birth of your son! ❤️

I don’t think of anything negative with the name Jude, either. I just think of the great saint Jude, when I think of the name. 🙂
 
There was a French Canadian Hockey player named Jude; maybe it is more common with the French.
 
columbkille77 said:
My wife wants to name our son this. My parents are concerned that it has negative connotations: hopelessness, cancer (b/c of the hospital), the holocaust (Jude was what used on the yellow stars in Germany) and generally that it is frequently used in culture as a sad, negative name (e.g., Jude the Obscure by Tom Hardy). It is a name that has been fraught throughout history for various reasons – it was initially derived from Judas (Jude was introduced in English and French in the middle ages to distinguish Judas Thaddeus from Judas Iscariot).

I have a great respect for St. Jude (Judas Thaddeus) and the name has other positive secular connotations, such as the Beatles song and the actor Jude Law. But I don’t want to make our son’s more life more difficult if a certain percentage of society will have an instinctive, if unfair, negative reaction and we could easily avoid that by choosing a more traditional name (e.g., Matthew, John, Thomas).

I am particularly concerned about international travel, if our son were to go to a country with a lot of anti-semitism (which is sadly rising everywhere it seems) or somewhere where they do not distinguish between the names Jude and Judas and would mistakenly think we named our child after Judas Iscariot.

I want to do the best for our son but am wondering if I am overthinking this. We have asked various people (mostly secular) and most of the responses have been positive, but sometimes your friends just tell you what they think you want to hear to make you feel better, so I would like some objective opinions from CAFfers.
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I think it is horrible. I don’t like it at all. Though saying " hey Jude" probably will get old fast. I would not do it for many of the reasons you pointed out but also because it repulses me a little.
(That will teach you to ask about a name!)
😃

But I named my son Benedict so… I can’t really talk to much.

By the way, even though there were some strong reactions to my sons name, we love it!

But Jude? Ugh… I shudder!
 
I LOVE the name Jude. It makes me think of St. Jude, of course, Saint of Impossible Causes. I have prayed to St. Jude for the impossible in my life, and he has come through! He is “Brother” (cousin) of Jesus - what more could you want? I had ONE student name Jude in the hundreds I taught, and he had devout Christian parents, and big blue eyes, thick wavy brown hair - a very handsome child, and with his sweet and good disposition, he was very popular with the other children.

And, hmm, your wife is bearing his child for you and she loves this name. And YOUR parents are making a case that the name this dear young mother likes for the baby growing in her womb is a bad name. That’s - difficult. In this case it might be prudent to leave father and mother and cleave unto your wife, who is carrying your baby.:yup: Choosing your parent’s preferences instead will increase the likelihood of this your being pulled these same two different ways again, and sooner and stronger than if you sided with your wife. And the fact is, your parents already had their chance to name a son. Its just not their turn now.
 
columbkille77 said:
Ok, so baby Jude [traditional name] [Eastern European name] it is. My wife will be pleased. 🙂

Thanks everyone!
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Oh, I didn’t see this. I am glad you went with Jude! God bless his dear little life. And may St. Jude be his champion.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
I think it is horrible. I don’t like it at all. Though saying " hey Jude" probably will get old fast. I would not do it for many of the reasons you pointed out but also because it repulses me a little.
(That will teach you to ask about a name!)
😃

But I named my son Benedict so… I can’t really talk to much.

By the way, even though there were some strong reactions to my sons name, we love it!

But Jude? Ugh… I shudder!
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Every time I’ve seen the title of this thread, the song has popped into my head, and I’m not even a huge Beatles fan.

My only concern with the name is that it sounds very feminine, or at least like it could be. As a woman with an androgenous name, I have always been hurt, annoyed, and embarrassed when I’m misgendered. As soon as I turned 18, I started using my middle name as my first to escape it.

If you go with Jude, maybe use a standard and decidedly male name as his middle? That way, if he finds that his name causes him embarrassment, he can go by ‘Adam’ instead.
 
I really like the name, but I would consider how much it will bother you and your son to constantly have people bring up the song “Hey Jude.” I work with a guy named Adrian and it gets pretty old people calling him with “Yo Adrian” pretty much constantly.
 
I think it’s a great name 🙂 yes there are ways for people to turn it (and any other name) into a negative, but I would teach the child to love their name and to see the positives of it. For example, it’s not a common name, so that makes it more unique, and St Jude is the patron saint of impossible (or hopeless) causes. Think about how great that is 🙂 When everything seems hopeless and lost, we ask St Jude to pray for us. To me, that seems like a great honor.

2 out of 3 of my sons have unusual names, but all my boys were named after someone special, so they’ll be able to learn about their namesake and appreciate where it came from.

And lastly - you could always be thankful that people will be able to pronounce it LOL 🙂 I get the most interesting looks from people when trying to explain that the “R” in Portuguese makes an “H” sound (just like the “J” in Spanish makes an “H” sound) 🙂
 
It reminds me of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. It is a shame that this name has those connotations.
 
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