A politically divided baby boom is loving a couple very Jewish names. Illustration by Midjourney

By Benyamin Cohen, Mira FoxMarch 27, 2025

Have you ever met someone with the first name Kohen?

Well, you probably will in the next few years. Kohen (or Cohen, if you prefer the traditional spelling) is skyrocketing in popularity, according to data from Nameberry, the go-to site for people who believe their newborn’s name must be both unique and Etsy-friendly. The trend however, is only in red states. Meanwhile, in blue states, little girls named Mira are everywhere.

Names are weird. They carry history, culture, identity, and sometimes, questionable decisions made by parents. Baby girl Khaleesi, anyone?

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We’ve all seen the trends — the Twilight series gave us Bellas, and Hurricane Katrina gave us … fewer Katrinas. (Sandy? It bounced back after the 2012 hurricane.)

But this red state Cohen/blue state Mira split? That one hit home — literally. Because we, your humble Forward reporters, are both on these lists. One of us: Cohen. The other: Mira. One of us in the red state of West Virginia, and the other in the blue haven of New York. Apparently, our names mean way more than just being Jewish.

So naturally, we had to dive in. How do we feel about becoming part of a strange cultural baby-name battleground? (Spoiler: Conflicted. Flattered? Maybe slightly alarmed.)

Join us as we unpack what’s behind the surge, what it says about religion in America and how we feel about it.

Mira: I’ve never seen my name on any kind of top list — I’ve only met two other Miras in my life. But it has roots in way more cultures than just Jewish ones. Meera, or Mirabai, is the name of a famous poet who was a devotee of Krishna. Arabs and Slavs are also curious about it, because the name exists in those cultures as well. It actually might be better if I wasn’t a Jewish Mira — my Israeli friends tell me it’s old-fashioned and tease me that my name sounds like an elderly teacher.

Benyamin: I went to high school with a Mira. She was Israeli. Oh wait, never mind. Her name was Miri.

Mira: Honestly, that’s cuter.

Benyamin: So, why do we think Mira ranks so high in blue states?

Mira: My best guess is that it’s so multicultural. We know that immigrants and people of color in the U.S. often gravitate to larger urban areas and blue states where they’re less likely to face racism. (Jews tend to live in blue states as well, which may be why Moshe tops the blue boy’s name list, and Ari ranks high as well.)

Benyamin: Moshe and Ari? Who is running Nameberry? The Mad Libs department at the Rosenberg Torah Academy of Internet Lists? They also say that Gracelynn, Oakleigh and Wrenley are popular in red states. Those sound like they could be names of competing small town bakers in a Hallmark movie.

Mira: Well, names are sort of like branding. And mommy influencers, many of whom are Christian women in red states, have made a whole thing of compound names, so it has developed as its own kind of cultural signifier. Meanwhile, Mira is sort of hard to pin down, which ends up making it signify diversity. Though I imagine there are other names that also exist in multiple cultures and languages that aren’t ranking this high — maybe Mira crosses the most ethnic lines? I just hope that, as it becomes more common, people will stop mispronouncing it; I cannot tell you how many people call me, somehow, Maria.

Benyamin: Ok, so let’s talk about Cohen. Obviously, that’s a common name. It’s like the Smiths of Judaism.

Mira: Right, and it’s also connected with a job, like Smith for blacksmithing. But there’s more religious significance: The kohanim were the priests in the Temple. And today, their descendants are subject to extra religious rules, like not marrying divorcées.

Benyamin: Or marrying a convert. My wife, who is the daughter of a minister, didn’t think she could date me when we first met.

Mira: So are you actually — religiously — a Cohen? How did you end up marrying?

Benyamin: No, I’m a fake. I don’t get called to the Torah first like “real” kohanim. The family secret is that our last name is not actually Cohen. It was Kopitkin and, the story goes, got changed to the more Americanized Cohen when my ancestors arrived on Ellis Island. (To my knowledge, only one family member kept the name: a bohemian New York artist named Bodanna Kopitkin. But I digress.)

Mira: Since it carries so much meaning for Jews, it’s basically never given as a first name.

Benyamin: Right. It’s the closest thing our religion has to royalty. In ancient times, only the kohanim were allowed to enter the innermost sanctum of the Temple. In modern times, they deliver the priestly blessing to the congregation during Jewish festivals. (Or, if you’re Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek, you deliver the Vulcan salute to “live long and prosper.”) I’ve never blessed my fellow synagogue-goers or made a sacrificial offering — I can barely share a Kit Kat bar with my wife.

Mira: I guess people name their kids things that translate to king or princess — or literally name their kids King and Princess — all the time, so there’s precedent. People like giving their children grandiose symbolic names. But since Cohen carries religious weight, it feels a little bit presumptuous.

Benyamin: Exactly. I’ve never met a guy with the first name Kohen. I guess that’s likely why it’s so popular in red states, where there are fewer Jews. (Myself aside, here in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.)

Mira: So I had two hypotheses about who names their kid Kohen or Cohen. (Both spellings made Nameberry’s red state list, and both are valid transliterations of the Hebrew, but the K version ranked higher; anecdotally, K’s seem to be in right now, maybe thanks to the Kardashians.)

My first one — which I thought was more of a joke than a real guess — was that maybe people are naming their kids after the Coen brothers, the directing duo. But then I found a Reddit thread of someone saying their friend had done exactly that! I don’t think that’s the main driving force behind its popularity though.

Benyamin: I mean The Hudsucker Proxy was good, but not that good.

Mira: My second idea was that it’s connected to a trend I’ve been seeing in a lot of my reporting on religion over the past few years. There’s been a big uptick of Christian interest in Jewish practices — Christian seders, shofar-blowing, Shabbat dinners and a slew of TV shows and movies depicting Jewish life and practices that used to be pretty unknown by most Christians. It’s usually all part of an attempt to connect more closely to the time and traditions of Jesus.

Benyamin: Christians are obsessed with names like Esther – even Vashti, who was not exactly the hero of the Purim story.

Mira: Right, for a lot of the Christians picking up Jewish practices or looking more into the Hebrew bible, they’re doing it from a very different perspective. I can certainly imagine a parent flipping through Exodus or Leviticus and thinking it sounds religiously resonant to name their kid after the high priests of the ancient temple — it’s vibe-y, basically — or feeling like it connects them to some mysterious and ancient practice from Jesus’ time.

Benyamin: Leviticus. Now, that’s a strong first name.

Mira: How do you feel about the trend, as someone who carries the Cohen name?

Benyamin: I don’t have a problem with the uptick in Cohens, but it does feel like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard when Christians co-opt Jewish concepts. I recall visiting a church once where a pastor was delivering a sermon from Exodus, about Moses and the burning bush. And he was totally bastardizing the meaning of the story — or at least the way it had been taught to me in Jewish day school. It really rubbed me the wrong way. I was like, “Stay away from the Torah. Stick with the new edition.” But, the truth is, they incorporate both the Old and New Testaments into their faith.

Mira: Right, that is sort of the whole structure of Christianity. And obviously there are plenty of Christians with names from the Hebrew Bible, like David or Isaiah. Still, though, I think for me it feels part of a general trend toward co-opting Jewish traditions and then changing their meaning, or trying to tie it to Jesus. Also, as far as I can guess, Jesus was probably against the kohanim. The whole upending the tables in the Temple story in the New Testament is pretty disapproving.

Benyamin: It’s funny that we’re having this debate about Kohen, but we have no problem with the popularity of the two other major family trees of Judaism: Levi and Israel are both pretty common first names in mainstream America.

Mira: Well, Levi is also tied to a ritual Temple role, Jewishly. The Levites were the protectors of the Temple. But a lot of Jews do name their children Lev or Levi — it’s not just Christians doing it. It also means “heart” in Hebrew, though, so there’s more to draw from. And Israel is just the name of a people, the same people Christians trace their roots to, so it makes more sense. Though we’re more familiar with Christians naming their kids, well, Christian, or Christina.

Benyamin: My mother’s side of the family were Levites. So I guess I’m a mixed breed.

Mira: Does Cohen mean anything else, besides being a priest?

Benyamin: Sure, it means, “Hi, I’m a Jew.”

Mira: Right, I think that’s probably at the heart of why it’s weird when Christians name their kids Kohen. Religious law aside, it is just a name that strongly signifies Jewishness. And the idea that a Christian would basically name their kid “Jew” just feels really strange.

Benyamin: That’s true. But, maybe Christian Zionists want to name their kid something that has a strong Jewish connection.

Mira: I think they do, yeah. But it feels like they’re trying to absorb Judaism into Christianity, or blur the lines. Which is, of course, how Christianity started, but Jews still managed to maintain and develop a separate identity and traditions.

Benyamin: Benjamin is plenty popular across the board — Franklin, Disraeli, Affleck. And, honestly, I don’t mind that. But don’t get me started on Benyamin. I’ve spent decades trying unsuccessfully to get people to say my name correctly. I was once on a radio show, told them my name and they thought I had said Bin Laden. Ever since, I usually just introduce myself as Ben to customer service agents on the phone. No need for them to think I’m the mastermind behind 9/11 or, if they’re biblically literate, that I’m the biblical Jacob’s favorite son.

Mira: Years ago, I did a story on Jewish pet names, which are pretty common. I’ve met dogs named Latke and Sufganiyot and Matzo Ball — foods are obviously popular. It feels a lot less loaded, though I don’t know how I’d feel about a Christian poodle named Matzo Ball. But if they ate at Katz’s Deli a lot, I’d get it.

Benyamin: Wait…. What’s a Christian poodle?

Mira: Maybe one named Saint Agnes or something.

Benyamin: I think it’s clever to give pets human names. We have chickens and each one is named after an NPR broadcaster. We have Terry Gross, Yuki Noguchi, Nina Totenberg and so on. We’re actually on our third Melissa Block. The first two, alas, are in chicken heaven now.

Mira: And they all, of course, have your last name.

Benyamin: Yes, yes. We call them the Co-Hens. I wonder what Nameberry would think of that.

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