so 1/1/11 came and went and the name of baby girl friedman norman was determined... or rather, her 4 names were announced!
**(just for a little background, jews traditionally name children after loved ones who have passed away. additionally, us jewbies typically have jewish (hebrew or yiddish) names in addition to our "english" names...)**
so our baby is: Olive Betula / Zayit Shaindel
and now for the reasoning and symbolism behind these names:
(fyi my sister has been a crunchy tree-hugger since she was just about little Olive's size.)
Olive is meant to be representative of the olive branch carried by the dove. this image of the dove holding the olive branch has been a symbol of peace for centuries.
Betula means birch tree in latin. the birch is a rather elegant, delicate, and sleek tree - so by combining olive and betula - your result is an elegant, delicate, peaceful soul... which is already evident in our little, delicious, strong, growing Oli-lolly!
now, Zach, my brother in law, recently lost his grandfather whose hebrew name was Zev. Zach was very close with his "Opa"and chose a "Z" name for little Ol as a way to name the baby after his grandfather. Zayit also means olive in hebrew so this first name was a winner all around!
Shaindel was my grandma janet's hebrew (well, yiddish) name. In yiddish "shaina maidel" means pretty little girl and shaindel is simply a conjunction of those two names.
I am so in love with our bitty Olive Betula, Zayit Shaindel and could not be more thrilled with her names... any of them!
**(shira and olive after the naming sitting in grandma janet's [the original shaindel's]rocking chair!)**
2011 kicked off with quite a bang! xxa
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