The Commonality of Humanity; The things that make us one (6) – Naming!
Intro! When God created man, He gave the first man
the task of naming the animals and the living creatures around him. When a
mother gives birth to a child, the next most important event she looks forward
to is naming the baby. Often times, the mother and the father of that child
spend months or weeks deciding on what name to give to that child. Loving
parents seek the best name with a good meaning. When an adventurer or
researcher or inventor makes a new discovery, he/she gives it a new name. When
a family gets a pet, they pick a name for it. Pets and trained animals in a zoo
respond to their names. I once watched a video on MSNBC’s ‘Caught on Camera’ of
an elephant in a zoo attacking one of his handlers. When the other handlers
rushed to the scene, they kept calling the name of that elephant and that
helped stop the elephant from causing more harm to the injured handler. Names
are important and they hold a special significance for God, for man and even
for lower animals!
The commonality! The focus of this ‘Commonality of Humanity’
series is to highlight the common things that makes every human being on earth
one. The things that tie us together in a common humanity! I’ve mentioned some
things in the part 1 to 5 of this series. The idea is not to sound
philosophical or highfalutin but to bring out commonsense points about the
commonalities of the human race. For part 6, I’m focusing on naming. I know we
all bear different names depending on our language or place of origin.
Nonetheless, the fact is that we all have names. Every human being has a name;
a proper name given to him by his parents, guardian or anyone entrusted with
his or her care. Consequently, as humans, we name animals, plants and any other
animate or inanimate object we see, hear or come across in one way or the
other. Any precious thing we own, we give them names: from pets to home-made
objects; from jewelries to items we inherited from our loved ones or parents.
The names we give are different and they bear our varied interests and
backgrounds. But what I find so common is the act of giving names. The process
of giving a specific and proper name to our valued possessions is one of the
things that make us one. Naming is a commonality.
Names! What is a name? Wikipedia.org defines a name
as a ‘word or term used for identification.’ It also defines a personal name as
that which ‘identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person’
and a proper name is ‘the name of a specific entity’ and it’s ‘a proper noun.’
While we may have common names like man, woman, etc., I’m more interested in
proper names like James, Jane, Janet, etc. We all have proper names. Even
people who live in remote places of the world far from modern civilization have
proper names in their spoken language. We cherish naming the things that are
valuable to us. I have a pot that I’ve been cooking with for years and have
outlived other pots that came before and after it. Hence I named it ‘Loyalty.’
It’s an inanimate object. It can’t respond if I call it Loyalty. Nevertheless,
I’m delighted to have given it a name that reflects its servitude and
usefulness to me. I’m delighted at naming an inanimate object. Now, think of
the joy of naming a baby, pet and other animate entities! How pleased we are of
having the privilege of naming them! How excited we must be when they respond
to that name!
Meaning of Names and Change of Names! More importantly, every name has a meaning.
The meaning of a name is so very important, if not even more important than the
process of naming. We often pick names of items that reflect our thoughts,
feelings, impressions, and opinions about those items. The name we pick, good
or bad, can be a reflection of the reputation of that item we are naming. Good
names often for a good reputation; bad names for a bad image. Sometimes, names
are picked randomly without much thought to the meaning of such names. That
shouldn’t be the case. From early times, the meaning of names bore special
significance. Personal names were changed in Bible times to reflect change in
social status or position. Abram and his wife Sarai, both have their names
changed to Abraham and Sarah respectively. There were characters in the Bible
that had names with bad meaning and they lived up to their bad names. Take
Nabal the first husband of Abigail. He acted foolishly. This was what the wife
said of him in 1 Samuel 25:25 (New International Version): “He is just like his
name – his name means Fool, and folly goes with him.” On the other hand, there
were good names and the owners of those names lived up to them. Take Samuel,
the son of Hannah. She named her son Samuel meaning ‘God has heard’ and Samuel
later heard God’s voice and led a worthy life. Don’t get me wrong; having a
good birth name does not guarantee a lifetime of goodness. There are those who
are named ‘Innocent’ but they are everything but innocent. Nevertheless, every
venture deserves a good start. We can’t tell the end from the beginning but a
good beginning carries the promise of a good ending. Therefore, every child
deserves a good start and every loved possession deserves a good name. Let us
find out the meaning of the names we give before we give them. It’s not
everything but it’s surely a good start.
Animals too name their kind in their own way! Wikipedia.org (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name)
states, ‘The use of personal names is not unique to humans. Dolphins also use
symbolic names, as has been shown by recent research. Individual dolphins have
distinctive whistles, to which they will respond even when there is no other
information to clarify which dolphin is being referred to.’ It then referenced
the link to a study on National Geographic News online
(news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060508_dolphins.html). The site made
mention of Vincent Janik of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of
St. Andrews in Scotland, who was the lead author of the study. The report
published in 2006 studied wild bottlenose dolphins in a Florida Bay. It was
shown that the dolphins have names. These names were in form of unique
signature whistles developed by the dolphins from infancy. Recordings of the
whistles were made and with the aid of computers and underwater loudspeakers,
the whistling sounds were played to the hearing of the dolphins and the result:
‘The team found that the listening dolphins responded strongly to
recordings of the names of
their relatives and close group members but largely ignored those of other
dolphins.’ Janik also stated that it’s possible that some birds also use names
to communicate with each other. He said: “Parrots have a very similar social
structure to dolphins, and it seems they may have a similar [naming] system.”
In conclusion! Sometimes a name is everything. Sometimes a
good name is something. A good name is a good start. Now, why do we love giving
lovely and meaningful names to the things we own? We have the innate desire to
name everything. Why do we change names to reflect a new status or meaning? In
some cultures, it’s acceptable for a married woman to change her surname to
that of her husband’s and I know a lot of women who do it with delight, ‘I’m
Mrs. so and so…’ They are deservedly delighted! Even those who don’t change
their names for cultural or religious reasons are delighted and proud of
bearing their family name. Some even combine their own surname with that of
their husband’s. The reason we all delight in names is simple. We were all
created by the one God who has a personal name, Jehovah, and Jehovah God
delights in naming his creations. Hence, he tasked the first man, Adam, to name
his living creatures. The spontaneity we feel in naming things is not a
by-product of some evolutionary mischief. It’s a telling sign of the
commonality of all humans: we were created by one God whose name is Jehovah.
The online version of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
published by Jehovah’s Witnesses (www.jw.org/en/publications/bible)
states in Isaiah 40:26: “Raise your eyes high up and see. Who has created these
things? It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them by number, all of
whom he calls even by name.” It also states in Psalm 147:4: “He [Jehovah God]
is counting the number of the stars; all of them he calls by [their] names.”In
Exodus 33:12, God says of Moses: “I do know you by name.” God knows us by name.
He delights in us having a good name. A good name with God means much more than
a mere name. But, having a well-meaning name is a good start with God. He made
us and so we are named!
©Dr Eugene’s Column (http://dreugeneojirigho.blogspot.com/)
©Dr Eugene’s Blogs (http://dreugeneoji.blogspot.com/)
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