Names

Something so essential to our social interaction and fecundity as a human being, and yet we do not get to select it.  Though I suppose, somewhere along the line, various peasants in response to the tawdry decorated emblems and registers of more ‘noble’ men – or at least, nobility – had a reactionary exposition by inducing their own surname upon themselves.  And what does a good cobbler trying to make a name for himself in the world call himself, and henceforth his family, except ‘Shumaker.’  Thus, his name could be forever be emblazoned on documents alongside all of the noble names, as long as a male descendant succeeded in passing on the proverbial gene.  But last names aside, since we rarely use them except for formalities and proper introductions, we now turn our consideration to our given name, which seems so commonplace to its owner that we forget how special it truly is.  The written symbols, corollary to a prescriptive phonetic pattern of intonations that itself distinguishes each individual from the next, unless, of course, that pattern happens to follow the mold of ‘John’ or ‘James,’ in which case a surname and perhaps a middle name will also be required in the formula for distinguishing purposes.  It is that sound we respond to when shouted from another room and know that the caller is adjuring us.  It is the name, that when we hear it spoken of another we know, we are immediately inundated with thoughts and emotions reminiscent of their own character.  Perhaps that’s why the Proverb says a good name is to be desired above riches (Prov. 22:1).   Though I suppose one can take legal measures to change their name, I have always found this odd.  Then again, Shakespeare was mostly right in saying that a rose would smell as sweet by any other name, yet the rose did not receive its name from its parents but from humans, who also happen to call themselves horticulturalists.  It is a person’s name that brings with it the influence and power behind it as well.  A president’s signature on a document is enough to enact Congress to begin enforcing a law or bill.  Mentioning someone’s name to another person that is a mutual friend in an awkward, or even dangerous situation, can mitigate potential threats, socially and otherwise.  Jesus’s name was delivered by the angel named Gabriel and his name was written on the sign that hung above his head on the cross, given by order of the proconsul named Pontius Pilate. Names carry so much power.  It is, after all, a person’s name that is written in the Book of Life when they pass from death to life.