Chris McDonnell, UK
christymac733@gmail.com

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November 15, 2017

So what shall we call you?   

Names people our imagination, mostly names of people we have never met. We come to appreciate their words and images, their achievements, their fame or notoriety, their success or failure.  

It is necessary that we know someone’s name, for addressing them in a manner that both feel comfortable with, is important.

 Each of us gets a name at birth, essential if parents aren’t going to call us ‘baby’ day after day for the rest of our years. The name we get given may be a name that has been familiar in our family. So the tradition is continued.

 The popularity of names comes and goes with the years. Whenever I couldn’t remember a girl’s name at school, I called her Gertrude. The girl in question would indignantly tell me her name, quite aghast that anyone could have such a silly name…

 We usually identify gender by the name we bear although there are some names that are associated with both genders. Others find their name is abbreviated-my mother never called me ‘Chris’ but insisted on my full name. Now I know when I am in trouble if my full name is used!

 It has been a practice in the West for a woman to adopt her husband’s surname of marriage, though more and more this routine is being rejected. Her identity is preserved, her married status is not about ownership.

 One of the more familiar name changes must surely be that following the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, known to us through scripture as Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles. This adoption of a new name was continued through the practice in religious orders of conferring a saint’s name on a new member as an indication of their change of life. Following the Council, many reverted to their baptismal names and that is now common practice.

 The adoption by the Argentinean Archbishop Bergolio of the name ‘Francis’ on his election as Bishop of Rome over four years ago, immediately told us something about the direction his papacy would take. Subsequent years have proved that point in no small measure.

 It is still expected that when we are confirmed, we take a ‘confirmation name’. Although it has no legal standing in the secular world, it does say something about our aspiration at a particular stage of our lives.

 Product names immediately tell us something about the quality and cost of an item. But it goes further. Sometimes we actually pay an inflated price just for the name on the label. Bragging rights have to be paid for!

 Even within the Church, we haven’t escaped the label paranoia. Honorific titles are used for the clergy, right through to ‘Eminence’ for Cardinals. Further, we associate the title with the adoption of a clerical garb that is, to say the least, somewhat exaggerated. We seem so anxious to assume names that give an added dignity to our status.

 Yet our ‘status’ it is something we earn through being who we are, not by adoption of a fancy title or an elaborate code of dress, Cardinal Burke being a case in point.

 Names can identify us in ways that can sometimes expose us to risk, identifying our background and allegiance. No where was that more true that in Northern Ireland during the years of the Troubles. Your name would instantly tell the enquirer not only who you were, but your background story as well. The consequences are well known.

 We are familiar with the current practice of naming storms and hurricanes in order to reference them during their time of impact and to remember them in later years.

 The naming of the followers of the preacher from Nazareth as ‘Christian’ came about in early years following the ministry of Jesus. The recognition of their life style and their commitment to a belief in the Risen Lord, was neatly summed up by the phrase ‘see how these Christians love one another’.

 There is a saying that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’. I would suggest that is not altogether true, for name-calling can become a form of bullying and for some on the receiving end that can be a very painful experience. The press stories of the consequences for young people through misuse of social media are all too common.

 In using someone’s name, we are reverencing the person, respecting their dignity in a simple and direct manner. It is who they are; being a Christian is who we are attempting to become.  The significance of the Mosaic title for God- I am who I am- was not lost on the Hebrews when it was assumed by Jesus when the crowds asked who he was and where he came from.

 ‘I have called you by your name, you are mine’

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