What’s in a Name?
What’s in a name? Capulets and Montagues notwithstanding, we say that there is (or should be) quite a lot in a name. In many cultures, a name either describes a person’s character or gives voice to what the parents hope and pray (or what God promises) regarding the future character of the one named. Biblically, names are very important.
Abram the childless may have been (ironically?) called “father” but Abraham was the “exalted father” of many nations, and through his “seed” (namely, Jesus) all nations have been and are being blessed. Sarai was certainly “contentious” but Sarah was a “princess” from whom descended many kings. Jacob the “heel grasper” was a sneaky liar and a cheat, but “Israel” struggled with both men and God and overcame. Hosea prophetically named a son “Lo-Ammi” and a daughter “Lo-Ruhamah” because God was declaring in judgment that Israel was “not my people” and that he would therefore have “no pity” on her. (This was, of course, later redemptively reversed.)
Most importantly of all, God’s name reveals to us his character and the very name of Jesus (“the LORD saves” or “the LORD is salvation”) proclaims the foundation of the good news.
So when we prayerfully named each of our children, we were paying close attention to the meanings of their names. With one exception, we have chosen Hebrew names.
Alitzah Charis
Alitzah means “joyous delight.” It comes from a Hebrew verb that frequently occurs in the Psalms: “rejoice” or “exult.” “Charis” is the New Testament Greek word for “grace.” Our prayer is that she will be full of the joy of the Lord’s salvation, that her delight will ever be in the Lord, that she will come to be as full of grace as our Lord, that the grace of God will work not only in her but also through her, and that our Lord will delight in her.
(Note: Alitzah rhymes with “pizza”, and is not hard to say. Charis is pronounced as “Car-reese.”)
Hannah Gail Shirah
Hannah means “gracious” or “graciousness” and Gail means “joy.” Shirah means “song” or “lyric melody” and is descriptive of many of the biblical psalms. (For example, the word for the “songs of ascents”, Psalms 120-134, is shirim, the masculine plural form.) Our prayer is that her life will be full of grace and truth, that the joy of the LORD will ever be her strength, that she will find and keep the joy of salvation in Christ, and that she will be a song of joyous praise to our God and Savior.
Eliana Tzipiya
Eliana means “my God answers” or “my God has answered.” Tzipiya is one of the Hebrew words for “hope.” So her name is a sentence: My God answers: ‘Hope!’ Alternatively, because our God answers, we are able to hope. Our prayer is that God will ever hear and answer her, that her life may be a testament to God’s faithfulness, that she may ever seek God and be found by God, and that she may ever cling to our hope which “does not disappoint us.”
Zerachiah Joshua
Zerachiah (note: NOT Zechariah) means “the dawning light of the LORD” or “the LORD is a dawning light.” (In Maa, this translates as “Oloyeku to Laitoriani.”) Joshua, of course, has the same meaning as the name Jesus (see above). We pray that he will bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus, whose name he shares, that he will ever keep watch for the dawning of the Lord, for the coming of the One who saves us, and that he will awake from his “sleep” that Christ may shine on him, in him, and from him.
(Note: Zerahiah is listed in 1 Chronicles and Ezra as one of the returning exiles from the priestly families. In Hebrew, this name is “Zerachiah” with the “ch” as in the German name “Bach” and not a simple “h.”)
