What is in a name?

Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet. And Anne of Green Gables once told Dianna Barry she didn't think a rose would still be sweet if it were called skunk cabbage. How did we get our names? What does a name really mean? ? Why should we care?

The first person to have a name was Adam. Adam's name is related to the Hebrew* word for red clay, or red earth, adom, or adama sometimes spelled edom. It is suggested that the name Adam is a derivative of the word which describes where he came from since the Bible claims he was created from the earth. Throughout the Bible people are named by the promise God made to the parents, the life goal of the child or the parent's hopes for the child, or as in the case of Isaac, because of something that happened at or prior to birth. Sarah laughed at the thought that she could become pregnant so when she gave birth the child was named Isaac. It is a derivative of the Hebrew word .
Eventually, as the populations grew, it became necessary to have a surname, to distinguish one Adam from another. In Hebrew bar, ben, ba are common conjunctives linking the child's name to the father's name. Shimson ben Dovid would then be Sampson, son of David to separate him from Shimson ben Ari. Place names or geographic descriptors, vocations or, less commonly, character traits are the roots of our surnames. Some of those surnames have been around for ages and others die within generations.
This day and age, we are less likely to think on the importance of our names, first or last. It is perhaps one of the things we most take for granted, thinking little about the meaning beyond a fourth grade exercise. Yet names are very important. Look at yourself in the mirror and call yourself by another name. Then call out your own name. Now look at a family member. Could you call then by any other name and really feel that name should stick? Okay, for you Welshes that change names like Nascar changes sponsors this is perhaps unfair. But you'll at least know why your cousins still call you by the names they knew as kids. Any other name is not likely to feel right in our Western ears. Yet, it is a very Hebrew thing to change names with changes in ones life such as marriage, career change, self perception and surviving a serious illness. Beyond that there is power in the spoken word. And this is why a name is important.

Words are powerful. Words create and they destroy. The entire Universe was spoken into existance with just a few words. For this reason Jews do not pronounce YHVH lest God should think that a human was attempting to usurp His powers or to control the forces of Creation. It is thought among occultists that to know a demon's name is to leash its powers. In the spy business knowing a secret agent's real name is to have power over the agent. Knowing your name and where it comes from or why it was chosen for you can have a powerful effect in your life. Your name is charged with meaning that you can tap into, that can empower you to make changes or inspire you to find new direction. It can fill in something that was missing. Or, hopefully, you find that your name's meaning is completed in you.
Further, knowing what your name means and where it came from can link you to people that you may never meet, but can learn much from. To that end, I have been researching the origins of Gerbstadt and Lauenstein. I will also incorporate a list of family first names and their meanings into the blog with a column to the right. **

*As frequently as possible, I will throw Jewish/Hewbrew bits of imformation into the blog as it is a part of the family heritage. I find it absolutely fascinating that we have this connection to a culture that I have been studying for years, not to mention that the oldest naming traditions started within the Fertile Cresent region.
** The transliteration into Hebrew with the possible meanings for these names will be included in each name study. Those meanings will be more intuitive than academic as each letter has several possible meanings attached to them and the addition of each letter leads to a more expansive description.