“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare writes in the play Romeo & Juliet. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Translation: the naming of things is irrelevant. Juliet won’t love Romeo any better if he had a different family name.
Maybe a radical thought for the 16th c.
Rabbi Andrew Davids notes in his article, The Power of a Name: God gave human beings the ability and power to name. Just as God separates light from darkness and dry land from water, the opening chapters of the Bible affirm that humans–created in the image of God–may seek to bring order to our chaotic and dynamic world through the process of naming. The power to name can be experienced in our everyday lives; for example, nothing grabs the attention of a misbehaving child more effectively than a parent–the bestower of the child’s names–calling him by his first, middle, and last names.
Many Jews still have a Hebrew name given to them at birth, even if they use an English name in daily life. That Hebrew name connects a Jewish person to some key moment in life– a time, holiday, memory, prayer and so on. But most of all, it connects a person to his/her family and to generations of Jews. ADAM, for example, can mean “man” or adamah “earth” or “dirt,” signifying the first man’s origins.
Biblical names were often used to communicate God’s message. Biblical names were also used to establish an affiliation with God. If you named someone in the biblical text, there was a relationship and responsibility with that person. Biblical names are given to establish authority over another, or to indicate a new beginning or new direction in a person’s life.
Adam named each animal. Adam named Eve.
God told Hagar to name her son Ishmael. (Gen. 16:11)•Hagar then named God, “You are the God who sees me.” (Gen. 16:13 Isaac and Rebekah named their firstborn son Esau. (Gen.25:25) Pharaoh’s daughter named the rescued baby Moses.(Exod. 2:10), which literally means to “draw out of water.” Super creative. 🙂 Another example is Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. When Jacob, whose name came from the root word meaning “heel” – which so perfectly suited someone whose approach to the problems of life was always flight – suddenly realized he had to fight rather than flee, the angel informed him: “Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:29). Israel means “El (God) persists/rules”. A traumatic lifestyle change brings with it a new personal descriptive.
Samson’s mother, though nameless in the Bible, named Samson. (Judg. 13:24) Hannah named her son Samuel because God answered her prayer. (1 Sam. 1:20). Samuel is a masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning “God has heard” or “name of God.” This traditional biblical name is derived from the Hebrew name Shemu’el.
In these verses and others, we see fathers, mothers, and God all naming people, so this part of the Genesis account seems to be about the relationship and responsibility between the namer and the one named.
How Baby Naming Has Changed
Parents used to give different sorts of consideration to naming a child. From 1880-1961, for all but 6 years, the most popular girls’ name was Mary. If your name was Mary, you’d probably have 3 other Marys in your class or in your neighborhood. And parents were cool with that.
Joe Pinsker (the Atlantic, Feb 2022) notes that in the past 60 yrs or so, American parents’ have shifted in how they name their kids. Now, many deliberately try to land on less popular names to help their child stand out. But in the past, parents typically picked common names—so their kids would fit in.
Laura Wattenberg, who founded the baby name website, Namerology, says that in 1880, around 32% of babies got a top-10 most popular name, but by 1950 that had dropped to 28%. By 2020, it was at an all time low of 7%. We’ve shifted to an era of naming individuality. Parents give their children a name that’s distinct and unique.
For most of history, we named kids after someone in the family, especially baby boys (they’re more likely to inherit a family name). In the NC colony, about half the boys were named John, William or Thomas. Those 3 names stayed near the top 10 thru the 1960s.
You get some exceptions with Puritan names like Temperance, Patience, Standfast. We had some regional diversity in the US….southern Appalachia names often sound more like nicknames than actual names on a birth certificate (Bent, Wild, Whetstone, Anvil).
Here’s the real change in stats tho: in 1955 half of all American babies had one of just 78 names. In 2019, that number was 520. In the 40s and 50s, we were coming out of the Great Depression and WW2…we had a sense of solidarity and unity as a whole culture. Going forward seemed like something we had to do as a nation, communally, so being like other people was seen as a positive.
By the 1960s family size was shrinking. Life had more modern conveniences & kids weren’t just working in factories/fields. We focused more on them and their uniqueness. Sociologist Philip Cohen says individuality started emerging as a project—starting with naming—of creating an identity. AND society was becoming more casual…we were less likely to address each other as Mr. Jones or Miss Reed…so making your first name stand out was more important.
By the 60s (which is when we started having social security data & SSA started posting popular names on its website), we started getting access to data on baby name trends. We had books that told us which names were overused. So parents had more social pressure to not pick the same name as everyone else.
FF to 2024. Today you excel by standing out. Parents think about naming their kids more like companies think about naming a product…a competitive marketplace model. Do we think about a name’s Google-ability or how it might come across on social media?
The irony of this of course is that we have all kinds of varied names (and God bless the kids learning to spell some of these!). As always, this is its own sort of conformity…trying not to be like everyone else turns out to make you be like everyone else.
What did we consider when naming our children?
When we found out we were expecting our daughter in1997, David and I promptly drove to Barnes and Noble to buy a baby name book. The responsibility of naming another human washed over us like a wave day after day. I was giddy with the anticipation and privilege of it all. Considering the name Emma Jane, Emma because we liked it and Jane after my mom, a friend from Nigeria told me that in his country the name Emma meant “the one who is loved.” From that point forward, we were hooked. “Emma” would reflect our love for this child and “Jane Sproles” would reflect our family relationships. Names matter.
For Houston, we didn’t want to do a “junior” but we wanted to use David’s name. My grandfather was someone we loved and admired, and his middle name was Houston (after Sam Houston, a former governor of Texas 1859-1861, when his own parents were naming him). Who names their kid after a politician anymore???
Top 10 Girls’ Names right now: Emma, Olivia, Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Mia, Charlotte, Amelia, Evelyn, Abigail
Top 10 Boys’ Names are: Liam, Noah, William, James, Logan, Benjamin, Mason, Elijah, Oliver and Jacob
Namerology has a Name of the Year vote every year. Past NOTY’s have reached all corners of our culture, from comedy to conflict. They’ve reflected their moments in technology, like Siri; politics, like Barack; pop culture, like Barbie; religion, like Francis.
Can’t name a kid Alexa anymore… how could you call for them? I bet it’s so confusing–Alexa, play Baby Shark!
YIKES
Currently on Watterberg’s baby name site, there are new names showing up that are a little chilling.
Like the dark spirit, Abaddon the Destroyer or Asmodeus King of Demons.
Here’s a sampling of some others:
Death gods: Anubis, Hades, Morrigan, Osiris
Threats and Portents: Omen, Jinx, Nemesis, Grim
Demons and Angels of Death: Lucifer, Azrael, Leviathan, Samael
The Dead and Undead: Ghost, Wraith, Lestat, Alucard
Darkness Itself: Nox, Nyx, Noctis, Noir
Many of the parents who choose names like these are getting inspiration from games, comics or other media. For instance, Deimos (dee moes), the ancient Greek personification of fear, is a character name in games like God of War and Rainbow Six. The comics-based tv series Lucifer introduced Mazikeen, formerly just a type of demon, as the name of a popular character. (Mazikeen in Jewish mythology are invisible demons that can create minor annoyances or greater dangers. This Aramaic term, which is found in the Talmud, means “damagers” or “those who harm”.)
If they’re thinking these names just sound fresh and interesting and that darkness is incidental, they might want to rethink that! Over 1000 American babies received these names last year, compared to zero in most years of the 20th century.
Parents are also choosing more names of biblical villains like Jezebel and Goliath and fantasy villains like Thanos and Bellatrix. Those sorts of monikers used to be off limits and something no parent would inflict on their child. We’re seeing eerie place names like Arkham and Salem and threatening word names like Rage and Havoc. (This is also true with pet names.)
As a society, we used to draw a clear line between what we considered fresh and what we considered suitable names for children. For example, the name Alucard (Dracula backwards) wasn’t seen as a baby name option before the 21st century. Apparently now it is.
A name that stands out is a name that defies expectations. As our expectations adjust to a wider range of “normal”, some parents are pushing the boundaries further for the same impact. For years we’ve been pushing as far as we can in the direction of light, with names like Angel, Heaven, Apollo and Messiah. Now we see the turn to these uncharted areas of darkness.
Do Names Matter?
Aside from making sure the initials don’t spell something inappropriate, that it can’t be shortened to a cringy nickname, or that you’re not naming your child after someone your spouse can’t stand, does your child’s name really matter?
In our worldview, we see naming as one of the FIRST acts in Genesis after creation. We know words have (carry) power, and that would include names. We can invoke the power of Jesus’ name in prayer.
There is power in a name, and it can be beautiful and significant whether it’s “ordinary” like Mary or William or more unique like Mabel or Frankfurt. As a parent, why wouldn’t you want to grace your child with a name that holds strength and connection? Aside from giving them LIFE, their name is the first gift you’re giving your child.
Jewish teaching: In life, you discover that people are called by three names: One is the name the person is called by his father and mother; one is the name people call him; and one is the name he acquires for himself. The best one is the one he acquires for himself. (Tanchuma, Vayak’heil 1)
Each of us has a name given by God and given by our parents.
Each of us has a name given by our stature and our smile and given by what we wear.
Each of us has a name given by the mountains and given by our walls.
Each of us has a name given by the stars and given by our neighbors.
Each of us has a name given by our sins and given by our longing.
Each of us has a name given by our enemies and given by our love.
Each of us has a name given by our celebrations and given by our work.
Each of us has a name given by the seasons and given by our blindness.
Each of us has a name given by the sea and given by our death.
(Zelda, “Each Man Has a Name,” as adapted by Marcia Falk in The Book of Blessings, New York: Harper Collins, 1996, p. 106ff.)
When Genesis says, “God created,” it doesn’t suggest that He worked with what He fashioned by labor, but merely that He spoke – and the very words describing the object came into being. God said, “Let there be light and there was light.” The Almighty merely gave it a name, and the very letters defined its atomic structure.
Names are not just convenient ways for us to differentiate between objects. Names are responsible for the differences between all things on this earth.
Names came before the existence of those things with which they would subsequently be identified. Names are not the offspring, but rather the parents of everything in the universe. Things really are what they are called. Or to put it more bluntly, they are what they are because of what they are named
God cautions us to use the power of our voices and our words wisely. We must make certain that we use the divine gift of naming in a moral, appropriate, and thoughtful manner. We must also reject the feeling that we are destined to live with and exemplify only the names given to us by others. Jewish tradition teaches that through our own choices and actions, each of us can name and rename ourselves. By doing so, each of us can bring honor to God, to the bestowers of our names, and to ourselves.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-power-of-a-name-the-power-of-naming