Favorite Names

While I was still in the business world, I had contact with numerous companies. This contact could come in the way of a sales order, a shipment, a correspondence or any number of ways. Whenever reading a company's letter, I would notice their address. Some of the locations were interesting. Some of my favorites were:

Ten Mile, TN – Five miles up the road from Five Mile, Tennessee. No kidding

Loafers Paradise, NC – A small town in the mountains near the TN/NC state line

Old Convict Camp Road – How old was the convict?

1/2 mile west of Lion County Safari – Guess you had to be there

Big Ugly, WV – Enough said

Romeoville and Joliet, IL – Two southwest suburbs of Chicago very near one another

Some of the sources for the names are obvious, others . . . well. Who was big and ugly? Ten miles from what? (Actually it was ten miles from Athens, TN.) How many loafers called it paradise? You get the point.

Have you ever wondered about the origin of your name? If your name is Smith, your ancestors could have been a blacksmith or a coppersmith or any number of options. Miller could have been just that. Some names have foreign origin and meanings. My name is Mann. My pride will let me guess what it may have meant.

This season is Lent. It extends from Ash Wednesday to Easter. This is the most holy time in the Christian calendar. It is a time when we focus on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The name we call ourselves Christian comes from “Christ.” Interestingly enough the early believers were not originally called Christians. They were called followers of The Way. The name Christian originated in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Also, interestingly enough, it was not meant to be complimentary. It was a name of derision. The people of Antioch were notorious for coming up with derogatory names.

Today, the name does not carry the same stigma it once did. For the most part we can hold the name with pride. I wonder how many of us do just that however? Some of us are ashamed to be associated with Christ. Well, maybe not with Christ, but certainly with some of his followers.

This holiday season let’s ask ourselves: Does our life make the name Christian something to be embraced or something to be shunned? Are we a follower of The Way that makes Jesus and other Christians proud? I will leave the answer to you as I seek to answer it for myself.