What's in a Name?

Disclaimer: Before I write this post, I want to make it very clear that Andy and I are NOT pregnant nor are we planning for babies in the near future.  This post, however, is about baby names just because names are interesting to me.

 

I have always been interested in names. I think the obsession started when I was 3 years old and my youngest brother was born.  Prior to his birth, I was dying for a sister named “Casey” after a family friend whom we had recently visited.  I got a brother instead of a sister, but to appease me, my mom agreed to the name “Casey.”  Honestly, she was probably looking for an out to my dad’s family name option which was “Hale.”  Either way, it worked – I was happy.

 

When I was a little bit older, I wanted to know everyone’s name in our family.  I bet I’m the only grandchild who can name almost every aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandparent’s first and middle names.  My Aunt Libby and my Grandma Vaughn were interested in family trees and heritage, and I remember studying the family Bible to see who was related to whom and what everyone was named.  I decided that the Vaughn family boy name I liked best was “Evan” – the other prominent choices being “William” and “John.”  My favorite Coggins’s family name was “Chloe” – the name belonging to my great-grandmother.  Ironically, for all my love of names, I didn’t get a family name.  My parents named me “Shannon” because my dad was a truck driver when I was born, he had recently driven through a town named “Shannon,” and he liked the sound of it.  My middle name is “Marie,” which my dad claims is after his mother whose name was “Mary,” but my mom says was just a name she liked.  Who knows?

 

One of my best friends, Emily, is having a boy in June.  Choosing the name of her first son was an ordeal for her and her husband.  For the second son, the task is no less simple, they both have names they like but nothing they can agree upon.  She asked our group of friends to help her brainstorm boy names and send her suggestions.  I haven’t sent her any suggestions, but the conversation about her name options did start a conversation between Andy and me about names we liked.  Over our New Year’s Eve dinner, I found out that Andy wanted to use a Biblical name if we ever had a boy.

 

His comment has led me to begin researching Biblical names for boys, and let me tell you, there are not many good choices, but they are all so much fun to examine.  So, here are my list of tips to consider when picking a Biblical name:

 

1. Consider the way the name is used in the Bible.  I have met more than one person who has proudly told me that they were named after a character in the Bible but could not tell me where the character appears or anything about the meaning of the name.  I understand these parents were probably trying to pick a unique name, pulled up an internet search of Biblical names, picked one they liked, and then told their kids the name came from the Bible.  However, wouldn’t you hate to pick the name “Cain” and 10 years later, your child finds the verse “Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him”?  Depressing.

 

2. Pick a meaningful name.  Very similar to point number 1 – there are lots of names that appear only once in the Bible.  They don’t appear in a negative light (like Cain’s), but they are simply one name in a long genealogy.  “Jared” is a nice name, but the only time it appears in the Bible is in Genesis 5, and all it says is that he lived 162 years, and he had a son named Enoch.

 

3. Consider Biblical heroes.  If you decide to pick a well-known Biblical name, you have the opportunity to give your child a role model, and hopefully a very early interest in the Bible as children enjoy hearing their name in a story.  “Daniel” is my personal favorite in this area.  Daniel is the only big Biblical character I can recall who doesn’t compromise his beliefs or values – he asked to eat only vegetables when being trained by the king of Babylon even though it was risky, he spent time in a firey furnace and a lion’s den because he refused to pray to the king instead of the Lord, and he was a prophet.  Andy likes “Paul” because of the ways he spread the gospel without fear.  Stephen was stoned for his faith, David was a king that followed the Lord (expect for that whole Bathsheba thing), Samuel heard from God, Joshua and Caleb convinced the Israelites to enter the promised land and Joshua also gave the “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” speech.  Other good names in this category?  Noah, Joseph, Peter, Isaac, and Gabriel (if you want to go with naming your boy after an angel).

 

4. Pick an obscure name with a really good verse.  I love the concept of painting Bible verses on any wall of my house but especially nursery walls.  There are some Biblical characters we don’t know much about but who show up in really awesome verses.  “Asa” is one of my favorites in this category.  Asa shows up briefly in 1 Kings 15 as a king of Judah.  The verse I’d put on the nursery wall associated with him? 1 Kings 15:14, “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.”  Another good choice in this category if you can handle going a bit outside the box is “Jabez.”  If you can get over the fact that “Jabez” means “pain” because his mother gave birth to him in pain, you might find the blurb in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 meaningful.  It highlights a prayer Jabez prayed in his life that God would bless him and the scripture says that God granted his request. Two of Jacob’s sons in Genesis 49 also have some good verses from his blessings.  Judah is a bit unusual but it is the tribe from which Jesus came and a good verse that goes with it is Genesis 49:8: “Judah, your brothers will praise you.”  Dan is mentioned in verse 16: “Dan will provide justice for his people.”  Ephraim is also a name that is mentioned in this section of scripture and is the name of Joseph’s youngest son. Jacob blesses Ephraim saying he will be greater than his older brother – even though his brother, Manasseh, would also be great.  As a result, Ephraim might be a good name for a second son.

 

5. Pick a name that won’t get your kid bullied.  There are some really great Biblical characters with some really awful names.  For example, Nimrod was known as a mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:8-9), but who wants their kid to have that name?  I also came across the name Michal and liked it because it is a traditional boy name in our culture, but in the Bible the character is Saul’s daughter!  Or Zacchaeus is a good character – wanting to do everything he could to see God, but do you want the high school youth group to sing, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he!” every time they see your child?

 

6. Make sure the good qualities of the character outweigh the bad.  The reality with Biblical characters is that most of them are not painted in a totally positive light.  I am thankful for that fact as it shows me that God can use people who are not perfect and that he can forgive even sins that I see as enormous – like David’s sin of having an affair with Bathsheba and then killing her husband.  But, if you are going to give your child a character to look to for life, someone like Judas, who betrayed Jesus, might not be the best bet.  Some names of characters that can be made positive are: Esau (who was able to forgive his brother and welcome him back to the family even after his birthright was stolen), Jacob (who became the father of the Israelites even though his name means “the deceiver”), Jonah (who eventually followed God’s direction after spending time in the belly of a giant fish), or any of the disciples who followed Jesus most of their lives even though they abandoned him when he was on the cross – Simon Peter, Philip, Thaddeus, James, Thomas, Nathanael/Bartholomew, Matthew, Andrew, John.

 

7. Don’t be afraid of the prophets.  Andy doesn’t love the mainstream names as much as I do.  I’ll fight for names like “Daniel” (who was also a prophet!) and “David” if we ever have a boy, but I’d be surprised if he agrees.  However, the Old Testament prophets sacrificed their whole lives to be God’s voice to a people who were so hard hearted they almost never listened.  I also like how clearly the prophets heard from God – a trait I’d love for our children.  Names like Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah are all good options in that category. 

 

8. Consider groups of names.  Ok, last thought, but I think this is such a cool story that it must be shared.  I had a math teacher in high school who named her sons (in this order): David, Jonathan, and Samuel.   I know you can’t predict how many children you’ll have or whether you have boys or girls, but if you get started with Biblical names, there may be ways to make the names connect.  She said she picked “David” for “King David.”  When she had a second son, she named him “Jonathan” because David and Jonathan in the Bible were best friends and loved each other greatly.  When she had her third son, she named him “Samuel” because it was the priest, Samuel, who anointed King David.  Moses, Aaron, and Mirim were all siblings – Mirim helped save Moses from death when he was a baby and Aaron joined Moses in his ministry later in life.  Peter, James, and John were three of Jesus’s inner circle.  Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy are a threesome in ministry that pastors often use to illustrate the need to have a spiritual mentor, encourager, and mentee.  Ruth and Naomi were a mother and daughter-in-law that committed to one another to protect each other and travel together after their husbands died.  Mary fled to Elizabeth for support when she found out she was pregnant with Jesus.

 

Well, that’s all for me and my brainstorm of Biblical names.  I know this wasn’t a spiritually uplifting post, but I’ve had so much fun thinking about the merits and drawbacks of Biblical names that I had to share.  Emily, this post also serves as my suggestions for Holland baby #2!  I’ll email you later with the ones I’m super attached to and would like to keep on my own list.  Happy Sunday everyone!