Second Temple precedents

J-WIRE: ASK THE RABBI. Rabbi Raymond Apple answers readers' questions. In one answer he cites two Second Temple-era Jewish sources as precedents for modern practice:

FATHER & SON SHARING A NAME

Q. Is it wrong for a father and son to have the same first name?

A. It was certainly done in ancient times. The Apocrypha records that Tobit called his son Tobias: “When I came of age I took a wife from our kindred, and had a son by her whom I named Tobias” (Tobit 1:9).

Josephus had a brother whose name was Matityahu ben Matityahu: “I was born to Matityahu… I was brought up with my brother, whose name was Matityahu” (Life of Flavius Josephus 1, 2). Elsewhere Josephus refers to Chananiah ben Chananiah and Yochanan ben Yochanan (Antiquities 20:9:2, 10:1:2). Talmudic literature refers to Chanina ben Chanina, Bonias ben Bonias, Leizer ben Leizer, Yosef ben Yosef, Chiyya ben Chiyya, Ba bar Ba, etc.

Cross-file under Old Testament Apocrypha Watch.