“She named him Ben-oni”
And with her last breath, for she was dying, she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin. (Genesis 35:18 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A confusing double-naming of the newborn.
The cultural key
The two names are a study in grief and hope. As Rachel dies giving birth, she names her son with her last breath Ben-oni, which means 'son of my sorrow' or 'son of my trouble', a name stamped with her pain and death. Jacob will not let the boy be defined by that; he renames him Benjamin, Ben-yamin, 'son of the right hand.' The right hand was the side of strength, honor, favor, and good fortune (to be at someone's right hand was the place of privilege), so Jacob turns 'son of sorrow' into 'son of my strength and blessing.' It is a father overwriting a dying mother's grief with a name of hope and honor for the last son of his beloved Rachel. A modern reader sees a puzzling double name; the first hearers heard a tragedy and a defiant blessing pressed into the same child.
Recovered meaning
Dying, Rachel names the boy Ben-oni, 'son of my sorrow'; Jacob renames him Benjamin, 'son of the right hand', son of strength and favor. The father overwrites the mother's grief with a name of blessing.