Our family enjoyed the birth of two grandbabies–our fourth and fifth–in the last two weeks: one, by emergency c-section, on Sunday, July 27th; the other last Friday, on 08-08-08. The first is named Natalia Mae; the second, Jonadab Asaph. Both of them inherited a family name different from our own since they were born to our daughters.

With the birth of Jonadab Asaph–brother to Jadon Hessels, Isaiah Jude, and Abraham Josiah–we were confronted once again, in a rather forceful manner, with the significance of a personal–or first–name.

I think a lot of families are fairly aware of how their family names are carried down generation to generation. And some of us even think about our family names once in a while. We don’t want to bring shame on our family name. Some of us even want to make our family name somewhat famous.

But what of our personal names?

It seems, in the United States today, for many parents, that the personal names of their children need “merely” be unique and euphonious to the ears of the parents. But there was a day–and I pray it might return–when, it seems, the vast majority of parents sought to express their hopes and dreams for a baby by means of its name.

I will admit, Sarita and I were not committed to the idea that names should express hopes and aspirations for our children when they were born. Their names were all meaningful to us in one way or another. I could “explain” them. Two of them have names that commemorate people we know. But as I asked our daughter, the mother of Jonadab Asaph, what his name meant, I realized there is truth in the biblical proverbs about good names. (Proverbs 22:1, for example, says: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches”; and Ecclesiastes 7:1: “A good name is better than precious ointment.”)

Obviously, the “good name” referenced in these proverbs is a name that earned by the name-holder him- or herself. But I sense there is some truth in the idea that the name given to a child can–and ought–to encourage him or her to aspire to greatness–i.e., to the ” good name” that the parents hope he or she will one day earn.

So back to Jonadab. What does his name mean? Why did our daughter choose it? It expresses quite a bit about her aspirations for Jonadab one day to become a great father, the head of a multi-generational family that follows Jesus. Take a look at my personal blog, John’s Corner of the World, to see more of the story.

Are you still expecting children–either your own, directly, or through your own progeny? Perhaps this question of the meaning of a name might become more significant in your family’s thoughts. Your children’s names, themselves, may be a part of their legacy.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 10:38 am and is filed under heritage, inheritance, kids, legacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.