"Cashmere"
"Rayon"
"Denim"
These are names of children. Some parents really do name their children after a fabric. A few years ago, Dr. Cleveland Evans revealed the results of his study of children’s names in America. He studied Social Security records for the year 2000 and discovered that Americans were selecting some interesting names for their children. Many of these names were brands or companies.
On this planet are children whose parents named them:
- Canon
- Del-Monte
- Armani
- Nautica
I don’t mean one child. At the time of this study, 298 girls were named "Armani." 164 girls were named "Nautica." Perhaps most interesting were the parents (one of whom lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area) who named their sons "ESPN." (Uh…. maybe a little too much Sports Center?)
So what is going on today? What about this weekend? Maybe you are looking at your calendar. Why not start your day by thinking about your name. As a Christ-follower, you wear the name of Christ. What does that mean? What are the implications of wearing this name? Does wearing this name have moral or ethical implications? Does this name make a difference in the way you look at the weekend?
Remember who you are! Think about the implications of your identity for your decisions, your treatment of people, your sense of right and wrong, and your character.
In the meantime, I just know in the future I will probably do another wedding. Perhaps this wedding will be a little different. At some point, I will have to ask, "Do you, ESPN, promise to take Beth to be your lawful bride?"
It is an interesting world! 🙂
I remember reading of a teenager who, with parental permission, legally changed his name to “Trout Fishing in North Dakota.”
ha ha Jim.
I know twins named Hunter and Painter (another one, Canyon). Would be intereting to see Hunter become a painter and Painter be an avid hunter. Would be even odder if they lived up to their name(?). Intelligent parents though (in all these cases), and I’m sure they had a good reason for so naming them. How and why we name children is a good question anyhow.
A different world from we’ve known. How about the basketball player I remember played for the Cavs (NBA): World B. Free?- his real name, I believe.
Thanks for the good reminder of the name we bear. And its implications for our identity.
Evangelicals are polled to be more behind wars than the rest of the U.S.A. population (don’t know what the question was). And in other matters- like attitudes towards other ethnicities moving into neighborhood. Is this really bearing the name of Jesus according to who Jesus is, as revealed in Scripture? No one needs the answer here.
But I need to go beyond matters like that and look at myself in the mirror. Does how I live in this world, and does my faith reflect the one I profess to name and follow? Too often, not well enough. I need to keep working on that.
Greg, Wow. That guy had to be an avid trout fisher. I wonder if he changed his name again down the road!