Hmm, I could be remembering the wrong blog, but I don't remember ever following a different Jewish advice blog. I think the gist of it was a nonbinary convert wanted to pick a Hebrew name but was caught up on the "son/daughter of" part of it. If that wasn't this blog, my apologies and thank you for looking!
I still can’t find the post, but I can explain that concept again!
Jewish/Hebrew surnames are in the form of “Individual name - son/daughter of - Parent’s name (usually father’s name in most cases, or can be both)”.
Say there is somebody named “Ploni” and their parent is named “Almoni”. If Ploni is Almoni’s son, then Ploni’s full name is Ploni ben Almoni (or Ploni bar Almoni, using the Aramaic version) . If Ploni is Almoni’s daughter, then the full name is Ploni bat Almoni.
However, if Ploni wants this name to be gender neutral, there is an option to use “bnei”, the plural form (literally “children of”) to stand in for the singular, gendered word. Ploni’s full name would in this case be “Ploni bnei Almoni”.
This kind of gender neutral language is a little bit newfangled sounding, but it is used in the real world today and conveys the meaning well. I’ve seen nonbinary people hold bar/bat mitzvahs called “bnei mitzvahs”, as an example of this kind of word usage. If you are concerned about misgendering on the bima, also be sure to communicate with the gabbai in advance of your aliyah to make sure that they know the correct gendered language to use for you and don’t make a wrong assumption on the spot.
