Also Cohen
“Cohen” is one of the hottest new first names for baby boys, according to baby-naming expert Pamela Redmond Satran, who runs the nameberry.com Web site.
Writing at The Daily Beast, Redmond Satran says the name rose from number 650 in 2004 on Social Security’s most popular names list to number 393 last year, when 761 baby boys received the name.
Redmond Satran writes that the inspiration was Seth Cohen, Adam Brody’s character on television’s The O.C., who was typically called just plain “Cohen.”
Some Jewish contributors to her site were put off by the name, which they felt should be reserved only as a last name of Jews descended from the priestly caste of ancient Israel.
“All these hillbillies are sitting around drinking their Mountain Dew and eating their Ho Hos and naming their babies Cohen,” [complains Anne, a New York teacher who is Jewish.] “They’re ignorant that they’re stealing a sacred name from a religion to which they don’t belong, and even if they find out, they don’t care who it offends.”
But one Jewish Cohen gives his blessing to the trend.
“I don’t find it offensive at all,” said writer Benyamin Cohen, the son and brother of Orthodox rabbis and the author of My Jesus Year, [a book about his Christian neighbors]. “If you’re not Jewish, I have no reason to expect you to follow my laws. I’d rather if people name their kid Cohen than if they name it Britney. At least Cohen means something.”
Follow a discussion thread about the name here.
JustASC is written by Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the 