What’s In a Name? Why Do Names Matter?

'A rose by any other name...'

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” You probably recognize that famous quote from William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet,” about two ill-fated lovers. Juliet was right for the most part. When we hear the word “rose,” certain images and fragrances come to mind. But what if that beautiful flower instead had been called, let’s say, a ‘bumschnozel’?

Names are amazing things, actually. When I was growing up, names like Robert, Leonard, Karen, Elizabeth, Edward, Nancy, Charles and Eileen were popular. Today, not so much. Now kids have names like Sloan, Avery, Maclane, Ryan, Peyton and Ellis – all of which are interchangeable for boys or girls. We also have monikers like River, North, Bear, and Jett. But what is in a name?

 

In the Bible, names are a central part of practically everything that transpires. In the creation account, when God formed the first human, He named him Adam, which means “son of red earth” from the Hebrew word “adamah.” This ties in with Genesis 2:7, which tells us “The Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

 

There was great significance to this first human name, hardly a flippant decision like “Let’s call him Butch, or Bubba.” 

 

The saga of biblical naming was just starting. Next, God assigned Adam the responsibility for naming all the animals. “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name…” (Genesis 2:19-20).

 

Can you imagine that scene? Adam looks and decides, “Let’s call that one a platypus.” He sees a hulking, horned beast and says, “How about, rhinoceros?” He reaches out to pet an animal and quickly jumps back: “Ouch, uh, that’s a porcupine!” Aardvark, hyena, hippopotamus, eagle, elephant. Seems Adam was the first name-caller.

 

The most important first name was yet to come. After God determined none of the animals was a suitable helper and companion for Adam, He fashioned the first woman from one of the first man’s ribs. Adam responds with the biblical equivalent of “Shazam!,” declaring, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Genesis 2:23). In the Hebrew it’s “ish” and “isha.”

 

Next we read about Adam giving her a proper name. ”Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).

 

This “name game” was just gaining momentum. Genesis 17:5 tells about a prominent fellow named Abram receiving a new name, Abraham, which means “the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:5). His wife, Sarai, also is given a new name, Sarah, meaning “princess,” also signifying “[God] will bless her and will surely give you a son by her…she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her” (Genesis 17:15).

 

Together they beget Isaac, who becomes the father of two sons. One of them, Jacob, is renamed Israel, “because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” (Genesis 32:28), following a curious all-night wrestling match with a “man” near a stream called Jabbok.

 

The list of individuals given new names by God in the Scriptures goes on and on. In the New Testament, one of the disciples, Simon, is given the name Peter, which means “rock.” After his dramatic encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, Saul appropriately receives the new name, Paul, reflecting his spiritual transformation.

 

What’s most significant about this ongoing renaming process, pastor and author Tony Evans observes, is “Each name change was a symbol of God’s reality and identity…a spoken expression of who these individuals were and how God was using them.”

 

In the Bible, however, no name compares to “the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:9) – which is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the long-promised Messiah. How important and powerful is that name? The next verses, Philippians 2:10-11, give the answer: “that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 

When I read this, I envision Christ making His long-awaited return and, as the passage states, every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that He is Lord. Both believers and non-believers will do this; believers out of joy and reverence, and non-believers out of deep remorse, overwhelming awe, and perhaps great fear for having rejected Him and His offer of salvation and redemption.

In the words of the old hymn, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus – there’s just something about that name.” Today, some people use His name as a profanity, but when He returns the Scriptures assure us that everyone will worship and acknowledge He is indeed Lord, to the glory of God the Father.