Ruby Shamir: Hi, my name is Ruby Shamir. My favorite story about my last name is that it is completely made up. My parents were born in Israel before it was a state and their parents, my grandparents came from eastern Europe and Russia. When my dad was 16 years old in 1948, his parents decided to change their name to something they thought sounded more Israeli, so they chose Shamir. Originally, my dad's last name was Kosowski. Shamir in Hebrew means dill like the herb you use to brine pickles. And that's how my name came to be.