It appears to have been the custom in early Biblical times to confer a name immediately upon birth, but in later periods a name was given to a boy at circumcision (compare Luke 1:59 to 2:21). Before the Babylonian exile, it was not common practice to name children after their relatives, even in the royal family—none of the twenty-one kings of Judah was named after a predecessor, or after David, the founder of the dynasty. On the other hand, a son of Jonathan and of King Saul were each named Meribaal (II Samuel 21:7 and following). Instead of repeating the exact name of an ancestor, however, it was customary to make use of one of the elements of the family name. Thus, Ahitub has two sons, Ahijah and Ahimelech. Three of Saul's family members have the element "ba'al" (in the altered form "bosheth") in their names. As a consequence of this avoidance of repetition, a single name was as a rule sufficient to identify a person. It became traditional to identify a son by his father's name and a chosen name, like Jaazaniah ben Shaphan (Ezekiel 8:11) only in later years of Hebrew history.