Congratulations! It’s baby time!
Bringing a new life into the world is a blessing to family and friends. Your precious child will be known in many ways: By their actions, through their personality, their recognizable smile… and what do you call this newborn soul? A name!
The name you give to your child is a blessing: Whether you’re naming your baby after a loved one living or deceased, or by a name with special meaning to you, you chose that name for a very good reason, and your child will both fulfill the promise of the wish behind your choice and make a name for themselves in the process.
Further, you might want to give them a second name in Hebrew or Yiddish, so that you can offer your baby even more blessings.
I work with families in preparing a meaningful and engaging ceremony around granting a child a new name. I can help you select a name—especially if you need help with the Hebrew or Yiddish (spelling counts!)—and involve family and friends on the day of the naming.
I’m happy to work with all kinds of families: Single parents; Same or opposite sex parents; Jewish or mixed faith parents; Secular but culturally Jewish parents; Multi-racial parents; Or other configurations to boot.
So let’s get started! Fill out the form below and we can start a conversation.
Boys, Circumcision, and Brisses
If we are naming a boy and you already have a mohel/moyel, usually they perform the naming along with the ceremony and operation. Conversely, if you are working with a urologist on the medical procedure, Cantor Contzius can perform the rites alongside the doctor as the operation is performed. And if your son was already circumcised at the hospital without a ceremony, Cantor Contzius will perform the naming ceremony without all the cutting!
Don’t want your son curcumcised? No worries—we can still have a celebratory naming ceremony.
Twins, Siblings, and Such
Do you have an older child without a Hebrew/Yiddish name and a newborn? We can get all your children involved and named at the same time! Having twins, triplets or more? We’ll cover them all!
Adopted children
Are you adopting a child? Want to welcome them into your family with a new name as your gift to them in addition to their own? Or perhaps you’re able to give them a brand new name? Even if your adopted child is no longer a baby, we can still create a meaningful naming ceremony.
Fees
2019 Fees: For my services of preparing and performing the rituals of a baby naming, I charge $500, plus transportation to and from your venue/home ($0.54/mile). I will customize a booklet for you that I will provide ahead of time to you as a .pdf to print for the day so your family and friends can follow along and participate in the action.