[Avodah] Names and Families

[Akiva Miller]

I'm curious about the structure of the genealogy that we find in Pinchas,
perek 26. I am NOT asking about the need for the genealogy, nor about the
many incidental facts and stories that are mixed into this section.

My question is about the names of the individuals, as compared to the names
of their respective families. For example, let's take Reuven's first two
sons and their families, as named in pasuk 26:5 - "Chanoch
mishpachas haChanochi, l'Falu mishpachas haPalu'i." - "Chanoch, the
Chanochite family; Pallu, the Palluite family."

I find it odd that for every single person listed here, his name is
followed by the name of his family, yet there is really no new information
being taught to us, because in every single case, the name of the family is
essentially identical to the person's name, except for some grammatical
adjustments to convert the proper name into an adjective.

This question is even stronger if we look at how Onkelos translates these
pesukim. He does not even convert the name to an adjective, but he leaves
all those names in the original form. For example, he translates the above
sample as, "Chanoch, the family of Chanoch; for Pallu, the family of
Pallu."  Onkelos doesn't even change the vowels, except at the end of a
phrase (like Peretz/Paretz and Zerach/Zarach in 26:20).

What new information are we taught? Why does the Torah bother with such
redundancy, just to tell us that each family was named after the progenitor
of that family? Is that surprising in some way? Perhaps there was a family
that chose a different name for itself, and I missed it?

Thanks in advance!

Akiva Miller
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