What is in a Name?

I don't know why, but lately, I've been contemplating the names that people are given.  It's probably becuase I often hear names that don't seem well thought out. When I was pregnant with my first child, I remember feeling like I had been tasked with the monumental responsibility of just naming her, and it actually increased with each child.  Names trend, and I did what a lot of moms have done in the past, by purchasing a baby name book.  I'm sure that is no longer a popular practice, but that book stayed with me during all of my pregnancies.  I love it because I could look up a name, and it would tell me where it was derived from and what it meant.  Over the years, I've looked at every name in that book at least twice.  If I liked a name, but didn't like what it meant, it didn't make my list.  

Naming a child is so important, and though I know most people put a lot of thought into it, I always wonder, and often ask people the origin of their name, especially when I hear one that is rather unusual.  I'm often surprised that many of them don't know.  A name should come with a story.  A person should be proud of the name they have, and they should know that it was given to them for a purpose.  A person should want to live up to their name.  

I am proud that my parents named me after my great-grandparents, O.L. and Annie Thomas, both of whom were still living when I was born.  I loved them both dearly and miss them both greatly.  I am happy to carry on the legacy of their names.  

My husband was named simply because his parents liked the name, but his middle name was a family name, from his grandfather, E.W. Glass.  He was a businessman and the mayor of Paris, Kentucky.  Stuart never knew him, but he can continue his legacy.  So, we are both able to carry on the names of those who came before us.  And we wanted the same for our children. 

I don't remember when or even why exactly, but when I was just a girl, I attached myself to the name Elizabeth and declared that one day, if I ever had a daughter, that would be her name.  How lucky for me, that when I married, both my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law were named Elizabeth.  I took it as a sign. So, when I was pregnant with my first daughter, I knew that it would be at least part of her name. Because my grandmother Annie was still living at the time, I also wanted to honor her.  I truly loved her.  So, my husband put the two together and we decided on Anna Elizabeth.  Anna means grace, and Elizabeth means God's promise, and of course, they are also both great women of the Bible. 

Later, when I was pregnant with our first son, we picked out both a girl's name and a boy's name, because we had chosen not to find out the sex until his birth.  What we decided we wanted for a boy was a name that started with S, because Stuart and his dad both had S names, and he wanted to continue that.  So, we began searching for S names that we both liked.  Samuel was what we landed on, and I was happy with it for two reasons.  One being that he was a great prophet in the Bible, and the other being that it means God has heard.  His middle name, Martin, is a family name as well. 

My third child was due close to my dad's birthday, two years after my dad died.  Because of that, and because I believed he had been sent to me by God to help heal my heart, I gave him the middle name George, which was my dad's given name. The meaning is farmer, or earth worker, which easily describes both my dad and grandpa (also named George).  It was also a bonus that so many great men have been given the same name.  Like Samuel, we didn't know his sex until his birth, so we had a girl's name picked out as well, but settled on Ean as his first name.   The name means God is gracious, but it is also of Scottish origin, and I later learned was a name my dad liked for a boy, which was a bonus as well.  I changed the spelling of it because I liked it, and it made more sense to me phonetically.  

Finally, while pregnant with my last child, a daughter, my husband and I settled on the name Meredith. It had been our girl's pick for our previous two pregnancies, and Stuart had been holding on to it for years. Meredith was historically a male name meaning great leader, but in modern times has been used as a female name.  I chose to give her the middle name Leah, both because the story of Leah in the Bible has always been one that I've had sympathy for and because it was so close to my name.  But the meaning of it is weary or delicate, which, on first thought, you might not think describes our girl at all if you know her.  But if you truly know her, you would realize it is her precisely.  

I remember when someone asked me the names of our children, and told me that we had chosen "old people's names" for them.  I replied that they were names that would grow old with them, and that was our wish.  

If you are tasked with naming another person, don't take it lightly.  It is a tall order.  Instead, take careful consideration of what the names mean or who they honor.  Don't worry if the name is trendy or popular.  Choose wisely, for they will carry it all their life.