(by Lorie Codispoti)
What’s in a name?
I thoroughly enjoy everything that goes with the art of naming (onomastics).
I remember sitting at my desk in grade school, doodling my name in multiple styles. Being named after both of my grandmothers was a gift, & there remains a sense of connection & belonging associated each time I hear my name. I feel the same way about my maiden & married names.
While I may not be able to recall every critter, flower, or tree I’ve named over the years, I have a vivid memory of when the hobby of naming things began. I was in the second grade, writing my first & only fiction story. I needed a name for the protagonist, & while I remember little about the story, his name remains in my memory because it was a portmanteau (my favorite technique of blending parts of two or more words).
Have you ever heard of name-signaling - what names say about ethnicity, religion, social sphere, and socioeconomic background? The thought is that names signal a lasting impression based on the information that has been purposefully conveyed.
Today’s parents would be wise to consider carefully the long-term effects of naming their children. (Proverbs 22:1) Names label & identify us. For a child their name is linked to who they are & their sense of belonging. While names represent the experiences & values of the parents, & are influenced by multiple factors, they also have the power to shape (positively & negatively) how a child views themselves. Culturally speaking, names create a bond between you & your people group.
Naming children in Scripture was about more than identity though. There was significant spiritual intent attached to naming a child. It was a time for celebration, as the new little life was welcomed into the covenant community of Israel. The act of naming was also a prophetic signal that spoke of a projected character & destiny for that child. Typically there was a ceremony, & for boys it was connected to circumcision at the age of 8 weeks. (Can you imagine not naming your child for 8 weeks?)
I find it interesting that in the Bible it was mostly the women who named the children. The first example that comes to my mind is the sad story of Jacob & Rachel (Gen.35). She died giving birth to Benjamin & her last recorded words are of her giving him the name Ben-Oni (son of my sorrow/pain). Perhaps Jacob renamed him Benjamin (son of my right hand/good fortune) because he did not want his son’s name to be a regular reminder of his wife’s painful death, and didn't want that stigma to follow his son. Symbolically, maybe Jacob wants to shift his son’s path from sorrow to future hope & good fortune.
One of the things I’ve learned about this story, however, is that while Ben-Oni reflects Rachel’s pain, “Oni” also means “strength.” One name with intertwined meanings. Ben-Oni was the son of her struggle AND her strength. Rachel’s entire life was filled with struggles, but what if what she was saying on her deathbed was that those very struggles are what gave her the strength to press on? What if that is what she wanted to communicate to her son & it was meant to be an encouragement, not a curse? Perhaps both of Benjamin’s parents wanted the very best for him. Personally, I like the idea of combining those ideas & calling him Ben-Oni-Jamin. (Portmanteau anyone?)
I am likely one of the few people who reads through biblical geneologies slowly - in order to try & pronounce them correctly (which I’m sure I get wrong), but also because they challenge me to see how each one fits into the story within the main story (meta narrative) of Scripture. The more I learn the more I realize that everything points to Christ.
By the way, if you’ve ever read Pilgrim’s Progress you may recall that the main character, Christian, started out with another name (Graceless). Like us, his identity changed when he left the City of Destruction & assumed a new name.
In his book about heaven, Randy Alcorn points out that while believers will be known by the names we used here on Earth, God is going to give us new names, known only to us & God, on the New Earth (Isa.65:15, Rev.2:17). Does that imply that God not only gave us a new identity when we came to Christ (“christians”), but that He will continue to add identifying marks to our personhood for all eternity? I love it! (And I will now no longer be jealous of the Catholics who get to pick a new name when confirmed. 
)
)I close with the question I opened with: What’s in a name?
Answer: Everything!
“What can be more a man’s own than this new name which even in eternity remains a secret between God and him? And what shall we take this secrecy to mean? Surely, that each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the divine beauty better than any other creature can.” (C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain)
