What is in a Name?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, so can a name evoke a thousand images. Your name is a microcosmic representation of who YOU are, your inner constitution, and how you present yourself to the world.

Your name also joins with characteristics from others who have shared your name from culture, history, folklore, and faith. What comes to mind when you hear the name David? Hilary? Jennifer? Obama? Horatio? Jezebel?

As in ancient times, parents these days often choose the names of their children based on the inherent meaning of the name. It is a prophetic act of setting in motion the parental hopes of the kind of character a child could mature into.

Names are important to God, who calls himself a variety of names, such as “Provider,” “Healer,” “Deliverer,” “Father,” and many more. He gave symbolic names to people in scriptures, setting in motion their ultimate spiritual destiny with just one word.

I keep close at hand a variety of name dictionaries to help with names in dream interpretation. Resources can be in book form, online dictionary, iPhone app—or my friend Sonja, who amazingly recalls names and their meanings from memory.

What is in a name? Next time you dream of someone by name, remember that dreams are symbolic, and people in them may personify something beyond the literal. Their names are often most significant. You may find the key to unlocking the message of a dream by discovering the meaning someone’s name.