What's in a name?

I woke up this morning swimming in thoughts...usually that is the case on Sunday, because I am getting ready for Sunday School. I am not teaching this Sunday, but nonetheless...thoughts dancing around. I was thinking about "grace" which led down a bunch of other roads...one was peoples' names. I always find it interesting how and why people name their kids what they do.

My name is quite unusual which meant growing up no one could pronounce it, teachers stumbled over it, getting called over intercoms was confusing, and forget finding it printed on anything! I asked my parents about it and the only thing they agree on is that it is indian (as in American indian). My dad says it means morning star, mom says it means running water...I am going with morning star! LOL

Anyway...when it came time for me to name my own children, my own experiences definitely weighed that decision. I wanted names which could easily be pronounced and spelled, names which were definitely boy or girl (didn't want any one looking at a roll and not knowing), and which carried a specific meaning...out came the baby name book!

I have three children. The oldest has a name which means "God is judge," the middle one "illustrious one," and the youngest "pure." Do we grow into our names? It seems that people do for the most part, at least I hope so, in most cases! Then I wonder about parents who name their children things like: Hope, Faith, Charity, Prudence, Grace, Christian....significant Christian names with powerful meanings...Does a child with a name like "Grace" grow into the definition thereof: According to Strong's Concordance comes from a root word which means "to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior, to favor, to bestow." In John 1:17 it means graciousness of manner or act especially the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life." Hmmm....

Consider Charity- God's divine love, agape love, unconditional love...or Faith-comes from a word which means credence and in Matthew 9:22 means "moral conviction of the truthfulness of God, especially reliance upon Christ for salvation."

Will these children come to understand their names and live it? Will mine? Will mine grow into an understanding of theirs, God is the judge, a righteous judge, illustrious-lighting up the world with truth, and purity of heart and life? Well if mine means "morning star," I haven't grown into yet, because I am certainly not shining bright early in the morning!