Naming a child is a significant decision for most families. Parents may choose a ‘family’ name to honour a loved one or may choose a name with special significance or appeal to them. Names often have meanings which they hope will reflect the character of the child. In Beth Lincoln’s wonderfully quirky novel ‘The Swifts’, members of the Swift family are brought before the Family Dictionary and named, with the assumption that they will grow up to match this definition. Perhaps that’s a good thing if you’re named ‘Felicity’ or ‘Phenomena’, but not quite so reassuring if you’re named ‘Schadenfreude’ or ‘Shenanigan’! The novel explores the question of identity, foreknowledge and free will.
Names matter hugely in the Bible, with God often giving people a new name to reflect His work in their lives (Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah, Jacob becomes Israel, Simon becomes Peter.) The names given to Jesus reflect His identity as our Saviour and God (‘Jesus’ means ‘God Is Salvation’; ‘Immanuel’ means ‘God with us.’)
One part of the Bible people dislike are the genealogies, those lists of unfamiliar and (to us) unpronounceable names which are scattered throughout. Our eyes tend to glaze over when we reach these; skim reading is the only way we cope with these lists!
Yet the Bible affirms the importance of individuals by naming them, and although there are plenty of unnamed individuals who feature prominently, it’s worth considering just how many people are, in fact, named. Numbers 1:17 tells us that when carrying out the first census of Israel, Moses and Aaron took men ‘whose names had been specified’ to do the job.
God knows us by name (Is 45:4). We are given a personal name that identifies us and gives us wortth. Names matter.