A Rose by Another Name

Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Yet, in Hebrew thought we find that a name is said to convey someone's essence and God is in the name change business with Abram/Abraham, Sarai/Sarah, Jacob/Israel, Simon/Peter, and Saul/Paul.

Just to keep this blog from taking itself too seriously, take a peak at Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing: A Primer on Parent Cruelty. The site is a humurous catalog of naming questions and suggestions posted on several different baby naming bulletin boards going back as far as early 2001. For example there is this true story,

The Archbishop of Manila is Jaime Lachica Sin. He was made an archbishop in 1972, but was elevated four years later, making him: Cardinal Sin!

A recent addition to the archives was the January 1 sermon on the name of our Lord called What's so special about "Jesus"?