Your Name Shall Be

"No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations." Genesis 17:5

I may have written about this before, but here goes for another round. I have wondered off and on about names. It was fairly early in my teaching career that I noticed that every Brian I knew seemed to face challenges. They made trouble in school, were hard to miss because of strong personality, and were very active. Could there be something about a name that shapes a person, I wondered?

According to this website, where I looked up the name "Brian":

The meaning of this name is not known for certain but it is possibly related to the old Celtic element bre meaning "hill", or by extension "high, noble". It was borne by the semi-legendary Irish king Brian Boru, who thwarted Viking attempts to conquer Ireland in the 11th century.

That doesn't explain the Brians I know, unless you extrapolate that Brians are willing to stake out a "hill to die on," in terms of being less than malleable.

I still wondered.

And I wonder about other names. In the passage I quote at the start of this post, did it make a difference in the character of Abraham to have his name changed to mean "father of a multitude," rather than "exalted father"? What was the difference for him? Did he become different in any way because of that slight shift in meaning?

And what's up with all the people in the Bible whose names actually describe their stories? Samuel means "God has heard," and he was a child who was much prayed for. David's name means "beloved," and somewhere the Bible comments that David "was a man after God's own heart." Ruth, a character who stood loyally by her mother-in-law, bears a name that means "friend." Esther, the queen who shone for her beauty as well as her bravery, bears the Persian name that means "star." The name Moses is said to bear the meaning, "deliver." Elijah, the prophet who stood alone against Baal in the Mount Carmel story, has a name that means "my God is Yahweh." The new testament writer who began as Saul (which means "prayed for"), after his life-changing and debilitating Damascus road experience, becomes "Paul," which means "small" or "humble."

So did any of those characters get those names later, as people retold their stories? Or were those the real names? Did their characters determine their names? Or did their names shape their characters? Is it simply coincidence?

I wonder, off and on, about names.

My mom's name comes from a name that means "to speak well." And indeed, my mother was always articulate and had an excellent vocabulary up until her Alzheimers started to diminish her ability to find the right words. My dad's name means "God has heard" or "dark," both of which could describe his life when taken together. My brother's name comes from the Dutch nickname for Cornelius, which means "horn." Okay, it's a stretch, but my brother did once play the tuba in his high school band. Perhaps this whole name thing is a figment of my imagination. Perhaps not.

I was nicknamed "Ginger" by my dad, who started calling me that on the day I was born with red hair, despite the fact that my mom named me "Rena." You could trace "Rena" back to a meaning of "born again," according to the website, whereas "Ginger" refers to spicy-ness. No one ever called me "Rena" in my life.  I would theorize that my nickname, which I took on legally as an adult, shaped me. I do tend to live on the spicy side.

People have come to me over the years--just last week again--and commented on the fact that I'm a brave person, one who speaks up and people listen, one who is unafraid to call a spade, a spade. Fortunately, they tend to indicate that this is done in an admirable way, not just flinging about rude observations about the emperor having no clothes. I have to admit, I am pleased when I hear it. You may not agree with the things I say, but there is some worth, in my opinion, in standing up for what I think or believe. Because I am by nature compelled to please/appease people and seek their approval, I aspire to be a woman who can with dignity voice a personal stance or concern, and a solid rationale with my observations. I want to be courageous enough to speak up for what I see to be just or righteous (in the broadest sense of that word). Although I try to always consider other points of view and am willing even change my own point of view when it seems indicated, there are times to stand my ground, to know who I am and what I believe in face of who you are and what you believe. I have the right to that. I want to be able to calmly take the displeasure of others who may be unhappy with either the substance of what I said, or the fact that I was willing to voice it.

My hope and goal in being "ginger" about my world is that I will be kind--not destructive, not acerbic and not snarky--in voicing where I stand. I may be energetic in what I say, even dramatic in how I say it. But I hope that people on the hearing end of my words will always perceive that I am at my core respectful, personally interested in them, and value them as fellow humans of great worth in this journey, regardless of differences in opinion, belief, lifestyle, culture or ethics.

And I would hope for exactly the same courtesies in the way that others exercise their "ginger" with me.