Friday, March 2, 2007
Christian Names
Words and symbols carry great weight in our judeo-christian culture, specifically Catholics more so than others. From the way we worship and pray to what we say and how we name our children. And naming our children is a tremendous responsibility for those that take their faith seriously. Yes a child creates and grows into his or her identity, but to some extent the name itself helps form the child, especially if there is meaning. Meaning that has depth and history behind it.
Many parents take great care in naming their children and I believe this is based on certain motives behind the parents decision making. There is a reason for the names given to their children. Unfortunately some parents don't take their charge in naming their offspring seriously enough nor understand how the names of children do have to some degree an affect on children.
To the point, these past many years I have seen more than a few parents give generic, inanimate, gender-neutral, or gender-opposite names to their children. I grew up thinking the name 'Ashely' was a girls name. To my surprise it was originally a boys name. I've also seen creativity in the naming of children such as Jennifer being spelled Ginnafur or Susan being spelled Zusen. I agree each child should have their own identity, but the name helps form that identity not necessarily to be the identity. The originality of that name is unique, but what else is there beyond that?
What about good Christian names such as Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John? How about David, Elijah, and Moses for you Old Testament fans. Saints and angels such as Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Theresa or Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Each name is unique that carries with it a long and rich history behind it that can only lend itself to a positive reinforcement of Catholic, Protestant, and/or Jewish values to a growing child.
I'll take Robert, Esther, and Mary over Macy, Brittany, McKenzie, Apple, Moon Unit, and Summer any day of my life.
For another review on this topic by New Oxford Review click here.
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1 comments:
One thing I'm getting so sick of are these 'manufactured' names people keep coming up with.
It just seems like they're putting two random words together and decide to name their kid that...it's pathetic.