About 80 years ago there began a movement of so called "Zionists" who
wanted to redefine the Jewish people and recreate us as a nation of
Hebrew speakers who live in the land of Israel. They leaders of this
movement were atheists and they wanted to detach the connection between
religious identity and nationality. They were nicknamed "Canaanites" by
their opponents as a mockery but in the end many of them embraced this
name themselves. Nowadays the continuation of the "Canaanites" is a
movement in Israel that wants to set an official "Israeli" nationality
which is disconnected from religion. There are a couple of Arabs who are
part of this campaign.
The more mainstream "Zionists" like Ben-Gurion didn't want to discard
the Jewish identity entirely but they also wanted to see the rebirth of
the Jewish people as a nation defined by borders and language first and
foremost and with a secular socialist culture.
Anyway to all those who tried to reinvent the Jewish nation of both
groups it seems like a good idea to use un-Jewish Hebrew names from the
bible. That was their point, to show they are Hebrew speakers not
Jewish.
But after several decades what happened is that Nimrod just became a
standard name and most likely anyone who was born in ~1970 or later with
that name, his parents most likely just picked it because they liked the
name and were not trying to make a political statement.
Topic: Why do secular Israelis name their sons Nimrod? (Read 7043 times)