Names

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Origin and significance of names in general, and "Christian" specifically.

The origin of names is, at least to some, fascinating business.  It is theorized that names, last ones especially, were derived from various sources.  For instance....

Some names supposedly came from Occupations, like:
    Baker > bakers of bread and pastries,
    Carpenter > workers of and builders with wood,
    Smith > blacksmiths, or workers of steel,
    Taylor > perhaps from clothing manufacture or textiles, or
   Skinner > those whose jobs it was to "skin" carcasses of animals; or drivers of mules.

Perhaps some names came from Characteristics, such as:
    Cotton > fair skinned or white-haired, and
    Strong > exceptional strength.

Likewise, maybe some names came from Nature or even Locations, like:
     Rainwater or Hill. 

But some names are fascinating not because of from where they come, but where they go.  Some names become everyday words- famously or infamously.  They are called Eponyms (Greek, "upon a name").  About 35,000 have made in into the English language.  For instance:

• In the late 1940's there was a very picky Air Force officer- an aircraft engineer,  who complained of the incompetence of one technician on his team, "If there is any way to  do it wrong, he will."    His name?  Captain Ed Murphy of Murphy's Law fame.
• An English estate manager refused to lower rent rates for poor Irish tenant farmers inspiring the first rent strike and embargo of labor.  His name?  Charles Cunningham Boycott.
• Did you know that the creator of the flying trapeze is also is immortalized by name?  Jules Leotard.
• Likewise and related, in the 1800's a feminists championed new undergarments for women.  Her name?  Amelia Bloomer.
• Long before the golf club, the German military in WWI used a giant howitzer made by a firm owned by Bertha Krupp.  Hence the term for the gun, "Big Bertha". 

But the Bible also speaks to the importance of names:

There is no doubt from whence this name was derived, "by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene... by this name.... And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."  Acts 4:10-12

Think again however, of Eponyms.  Let's imagine the process of names becoming everyday words and descriptions being reversed so that we were named for our spiritual characteristics- either good or bad. 

Would we be named Faith, Hope, Charity and the like or instead would monikers such as Liar, Cheat, Thief, Coward, Faithless, Hopeless, Loveless, and  Godless be more apt to occur?

Yes, names can be important.  We sometimes name our children after biblical characters of faith and fidelity.  But you really don't hear much of boys named Judas or girls named Jezebel.  This is because names mean something to us.  The name "Christian" should mean more to you than anything else.  If you're not wearing it, or not wearing it as you should, please consider 1Peter 4:16; and 2Thessalonians 1:11-12.                       (Source for Eponyms: Reader's Digest, December 2001 issue; "People Who Become Words", pp.131-133)

Comments (0) | December 31, 2004

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