Sixty years ago, I was given a name that, so far, I have never known another person to have — Lawn. For years, I resented it because it was so peculiar. Kids were cruel, calling me Lawn Boy, Lawn Mower, Grass Griffiths, etc. But as the newspaper bylines started coming more than 40 years ago, I reconciled to it. People said the name had distinction and character.My dad took a distant relative’s name of “Lon and meshed it with my mother’s maiden name of Bawn. He thought he was original, and he apparently was. In the tourist souvenir shops, I have never found a key chain, ballpoint pen or trinket with my name. And many confuse it with a last name of “Loren” or “Lawrence.
Comes a book, Classical Biblical Baby Names: Timeless Names for Modern Parents by Judith Tropea (Bantam Books, $12). It is billed as the essential guide to choosing a name that is rich in meaning and tradition.” She says the perfect name is one of the first and most important gifts that parents can give their children. She says its also one of their most challenging decisions. Some parents insist on names out of history or out of scriptures.
Tropea says the Bible has 3,300 names. For the book, she selected 500 with the consideration that they should appeal to contemporary tastes. Not chosen were names like Judas and Jezebel, names really loaded with evil contexts. A name like Jehosphaphat, she says, is too impractical. Some of us know large families where every offspring was given a solid Bible name.
Tropea invites parents to survey the names that can be both classic and unique. In our multicultural society, unusual names are no longer the exception, and the Bible is a rich resource waiting to be mined, she said. So from “Aaron” to Zorah, she has provided ample background of names, including their pronunciation, language and cultural origin, spiritual connotation, related names, alternate names and famous people who had the name or something close to it. It is divided into sections of boys’ and girls’ names.
Take Edom, which means red, with the spiritual connotation of spirited. It is also a name sometimes given to the Bibles Esau who came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle. Or Seth, meaning appointed and a connotation of placed by God. Seth is said to be Adam and Eves third son. He came after Abel was slain. Eve says in Genesis 4:25, God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him. Seths significance is that he lived 912 years, was an ancestor of Noah and connected the two biblical fathers of mankind (1 Chronicles 1:1).
And so it goes. Jesus is included. Its meaning is “savior” and its spiritual connotation is “son of God. Related nicknames include Isa, Issa, Johooshua, Jeshua, Jesusa, Josh, Joshawa, Josu, Josue, Jozsua and Jozua. Of course, the background of the name reads like a concise paraphrasing of the Gospels.
Country-western singer and actress Reba McEntire can learn that her name means stoops down and is a shortened version of Rebekah. Miriam means rebellious. Exodus tells that Miriam was Moses’ and Aarons sister, who, from a distance, watched over the infant Moses, until he was discovered in bulrushes by Pharaohs daughter. She later joined Moses and Aaron as they crossed the Red Sea.
What stands out in the book by the New Jersey children’s author is the rhythm of the names, their sweet sounds — even if they don’t conjure what one wound want to call their kids. But say these names aloud: Talmai, Kezia, Athalia, Nicodemus, Jamin, Azariah and Uriah. The vowels come as calls, even echoing through time with a richness.
Is there a spiritual connotation for the name Amanda, and is there a scripture for the Amanda? Please let me know. Thank you.