what's in a name?

shakespeare asked it first.  what's in a name?

and as it turns out, quite a bit.

think of all the labels we carry daily.  father.  mother.  worker.  musician.  friend.  lover.  child of the one true king (yup, love that song).  caregiver.  cook.  yada yada, you get it.

i think of the old testament practice to assign names with deeper meaning.  caleb = dog.  (who names their kid dog?)  so many cultures have done that.  and while we make fun of starmoonchild from the 70s, its not a shameful practice.  in fact, its kinda cool to hear name stories.  where did your name come from?  were you named after a famous person?  were you named after great-grandmother?  do you have a bible name?  do you and all your siblings start with the same letter?

here's the story of our boys' names.

our current youngest, Emmaus:  Emmaus is the name of a town mentioned in the bible only in one story.  but it's a post-resurrection story!  and there is one translation that begins, "there were two on a journey to Emmaus..."  that's us!  our entire lives have been journeying toward Emmaus.  we certainly haven't stopped there, but our life lines aligned and we are blessed.
and his birth mom's name is Emma...which is the first four letters of his name.
our oldest son, Israel:  also a bible name, but this time, a person.  and there is so much more good stuff about the life of (biblical) Israel than we admire and desire to see characteristically in our son (and some things to avoid, let's be honest).
and his birth mom's name is Lisa...four letters in his name as well.

so now that we consider another adoption, names are floating through our head.  we're screwed if we get a birthmother named Sheneequa!  but no matter how it all works out, she'll have our surname because she will be a part of family.