The Curious Case of Benjamin Becker
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It is likely that every family tree has more than one person of the same name. The practice of naming a son after the father results in many Johns, John Jr.s, John IIIs and so on. It wasn’t as often that daughters got named after their mothers but I grew up next door to a family whose parents were William and Mary and their two children were also William and Mary. My family tree consists of 100% Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry on both, my side and my wife, Arlene’s side. The tradition among these eastern European Jewish families was to name children after a respected ancestor who had passed away. I was named after Simon Muckler, my grandfather’s uncle and Arlene was named after her uncle Arthur Cohen/Carlton, her father’s brother. No duplicates there. Looking at my tree I found several duplicate names. There are five Reuben Kaganovich’s, four Moishe Kaganovich’s, and 4 named Chaim with the same last name. I have two Rose Boxinbaums one of them being my mother’s s