What's in a Name?

What we call something can have a significant impact on the way we perceive it. This is why marketing works. This is why we couch what we say in euphemisms. Words really do matter, because they shape and carry our meaning to others.

Historically, the naming of a child was a joyful and serious matter. It was an opportunity to set the direction for the child, to declare the parents' love and affection for it - and often to declare many other things, such as allegiances, ties, fealties and oaths. Simply naming a child after a favorite uncle could have significant repercussions through the life of that child. The uncle might dote on the child, and the child may be given to paying a little more attention to that uncle and his behavior.

But if the child is told that they were named after that uncle and he turns out to be a criminal, what will the child think? An impressionable child might take that as an indication of his or her own nature, and believe that they too are destined to lean towards a life of crime. We don't name our children after Charles Manson, John Wilkes Boothe, Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin because we don't want our children identifying with those men. We name our children after the best and finest that we know, people that we admire. That is why so many freed slaves took the names of famous presidents. How many Lincolns and Washingtons are there among the African American population?

Christians traditionally choose names that come from the Bible, or that are the names of saints. When a child learns that they were named after someone who was known for their virtue, they have a lifelong opportunity to identify with that virtue. A child may also be named directly after a virtue, to provide a constant reminder of that virtue. Children have also been named after towns and cities from the Bible where miracles happened, or where famous events of virtuous people took place. All of these offer that lifelong bond to virtue and goodness.

Given this backdrop, it has dismayed me to see so many children being named in rather vain and meaningless ways. Naming of children has become like naming family pets; we pick names that sound good to us. Or we just plain make up a sound and slap it on a child. Worse still are cases where a parent names a child by their favorite store, or a sports hero, or a car. The child will forever carry a reminder that their parent assigned them a name - that most intimate means of identification - that conveys a message of frivolity or simplemindedness. That is the legacy of an ill-chosen name.

When you are blessed with children, consider the name that you give to each one of them. The saints are great examples of virtue, and telling a child that they are named after someone who exemplifies goodness can be a wonderful gift. Or name a child after a famous man or woman from history who did great things so that your child can have some notion of who to emulate. In any case, choose your names wisely because your child will have a lifetime to consider who they are, and their name is a natural starting point.