Names are Kind of a Big Deal

Naming children, names in the Bible, & the significance of God having a name

One of the many things I’ve loved most about having children is choosing their names. My husband and I have approached the naming of our children with prayerful discernment, since “[t]he name one receives is a name for eternity.”¹ We have chosen to name our children after Saints that inspire us. These Saints serve as patron saints that will pray for them continuously throughout their life. This brings me peace, knowing that I am not a perfect parent. Even when I forget to pray for my children’s souls, I know there are Saints praying for them every day.

Though it is a popular practice, it is not a requirement to name your child after a saint. The Code of Canon Law says that “Parents, sponsors, and the pastor are to take care that a name foreign to Christian sensibility is not given.”² This general statement gives flexibility, while indicating that some names will not be acceptable, like Satan or Lucifer.³ If one would want to raise their child in the faith, these names wouldn’t be chosen, anyway. A Priest would have every right to question a couple if they asked to have their child Baptized with the name “Satan”.

St. John Chrysostom has strong thoughts regarding how one should name their child":

“Let us afford our children from the first an incentive to goodness from the name that we give them. Let none of us hasten to call his child after his forebears, his father and mother and grandsire and great-grandsire, but rather after the righteous — martyrs, bishops, apostles. Let this be an incentive to the children. Let one be called Peter, another John, another bear the name of one of the saints.”⁴

He continues later:

“So let the name of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children, to train not only the child but the father, when he reflects that he is the father of John or Elijah or James; for, if the name be given with forethought to pay honor to those that have departed, and we grasp at our kinship with the righteous rather than with our forebears, this too will greatly help us and our children.“⁵

Typically, a child is Baptized with the name that they are given at birth. If someone is Baptized later in life, they have the option to choose a Saint’s name as an addition to their name. There is evidence that members of the early Church chose names of admirable Christians for themselves. St. Dionysius of Alexandria said, “Many, I imagine, have had the same name as John the apostle, men who because they loved, admired, and esteemed him so greatly, and wished to be loved as he was by the Lord, were more than glad to be called after him, just as Paul and Peter are favorite names for the children of believers.”⁶

“In Baptism…the Christian receives his name in the Church. This can be the name of a saint, that is, of a disciple who has lived a life of exemplary fidelity to the Lord. The patron saint provides a model of charity; we are assured of his intercession. The ‘baptismal name’ can also express a Christian mystery or Christian virtue.” - Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2156

Names in the Bible

There are many examples of individuals receiving a new name in the Bible:

Abram → Abraham (Genesis 17:5)

• This occurs after God makes his Covenant with him

Sarai → Sarah (Genesis 17:5)

• This occurs after God says she will bear a son in her old age

Jacob → Israel (Genesis 32:28-29 & Genesis 35:10)

• In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with an unknown figure. “Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel, he is given a new name as a sign of a new identity.” He was “the bearer of a new name…’conquered’ by God and marked forever.”⁷

Simon → Peter (John 1:42)

• This happens to show Peter’s role in the early church as the first Pope*

These name changes happened after a significant event in each of these individual’s lives. “[K]nowing someone’s name implies a kind of power over that person because in the biblical mentality the name contains the most profound reality of the individual, it reveals the person’s secret and destiny. Knowing one’s name therefore means knowing the truth about the other person and this allows one to dominate him.”⁸

After Jesus’ Resurrection, Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus after he said her name:

“But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’ She thought it was the gardener and said to him, ‘Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni,’ which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, ‘Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’’ Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.” - John 20:11-18, emphasis added

There was something personal about the way Jesus said Mary's name that led her to realize who she was talking to. God calls us each by name. (Isaiah 43:1 & John 10:3)

God Became Man

St. Gabriel the Archangel came to the virgin Mary and told her she would bear a son and name him “Jesus”.⁹ This is the name above ever other name.¹⁰ We can see the power that this name has in Acts 3:1-10, where Peter uses the name of Jesus to heal a crippled man. Later, in Acts 4:12, Peter says that there is not “any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” In Acts 9:27, Paul speaks “out boldly in the name of Jesus”. In Romans 10:13, Paul says that “[E]very one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved”. This is just a handful of examples in the New Testament where it is a name that is significant.

When we look back at the Old Testament, we see that God did not reveal His name. “[W]hen asked by Moses for his name, God simply responds, ‘I am who I am’ (Exod. 3:14). Unlike the pagan gods, the one true God was not at the beck and call of men. He was in total control. Yet with the Incarnation, we see God humbling himself to take on a name. Now, in a sense, he is at our beck and call. Christ tells us, ‘If you ask anything in my name, I will do it’ (John 14:14, emphasis added). God didn’t become a generic ‘man,’ but a specific man: Jesus of Nazareth. By doing so, he infused the name Jesus with divine power.¹¹

“The name of Jesus is light, and food, and medicine. It is light, when it is preached to us; it is food, when we think upon it; it is the medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke it… For when I pronounce this name, I bring before my mind the man, who, by excellence, is meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful, and filled with everything that is good and holy, nay, who is the very God almighty—whose example heals me, and whose assistance strengthens me. I say all this, when I say Jesus.” - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Concluding Thoughts

Today, names may not seem very significant, but names are how we are identified. “God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it.”¹² To be stripped of one’s name would be to strip away one’s dignity — like prisoners at Auschwitz being given a number in place of their names.

Hearing our name helps us to feel known and seen, which is why we should ask a homeless individual for their name and say it back to them. Many of the homeless go long periods of time without hearing their name.

Our names can be a physical sign of a spiritual reality. Being named after a Saint reminds us of their prayers. Some individuals who choose religious life as their vocation will change their name, which is an outward sign of the change in their state in life.

Calling on the name of Jesus gives us strength. Our God has a name, giving us the opportunity to have an intimate relationship with him.

At the very least, I hope that the topics brought up in this article helps show that names are more than proper nouns. My research as I’ve put this together has given me more to ponder, and I hope it does the same for you.

Thanks for reading!

*If you are eager to learn more about the Papacy, Pope Peter by Joe Heschmeyer is a great book. Other than Joe Heschmeyer, Suan Sonna has a lot of great stuff out there on the Papacy.

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2159

2. Code of Canon Law no. 855

3. Do Catholic Children Have to be Given Saints' Names? - Canon Law Made Easy

4. Address on Vainglory and How to Bring Up Children, 47

5. Address on Vainglory and How to Bring Up Children, 50

6. Eusebius, The History of the Church, 7.25

7. General Audience of 25 May 2011: Man in Prayer (4) | BENEDICT XVI

8. ibid

9. Luke 1:31

10. Phillipians 2:9

11. The Power of Jesus' Name | Catholic Answers Magazine

12. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2158