What’s in a name? Our parents may have named us after beloved ancestors, movie stars, heroic leaders, or even favorite songs. Our daughter Aubrey, for example, shares the name of the title character in a 1970s pop hit. Popular names in one generation may fade as trendy new names emerge, only to return later. Others seem timeless, like James and Mary, which have remained the most popular U.S. baby names for a century.

It’s hard to know what on earth celebrity parents are thinking when they christen their kids “Moon Unit” or “Pilot Inspektor.” But even lyricist Shel Silverstein revealed a motive behind the dad who named his son “Sue”: 

But ya ought to thank me, before I die
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye 

Biblical names seem a bit more purposeful. God names the first human Adam, which generally denotes “human being” or “mankind” and links to the Hebrew adama to indicate the earth from which he is formed. Pharaoh’s daughter names her adopted baby Moses, based on a Hebrew term that means “to draw out [of the water].” 

The LORD commands Hosea to name his sons Jezreel and Lo-ammi, and his daughter Lo-ruhamah, all of which signify pending judgment on Israel. Elizabeth and Zechariah insist on naming their child John, resisting all pressure to name him after his father, because that’s what the angel Gabriel has instructed them to do.

And then, of course, there are nicknames and descriptive titles. The son of Elizabeth and Zechariah comes to be known as John the Baptizer. God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, who receive a portion of the divine name, Yahweh, as a sign of God’s covenant with them. 

Disciples James and John are the sons of thunder. The apostle Thomas is called Didymus, which means “the twin.” And Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul, who gives himself a scathing nickname, “the worst of them [sinners].”

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