What’s in a Name?
by Oliver Carlos
My friends notice that I am using a nom de plume. Actually, that is not a pen name, that is my real name. I just don’t use it often, and so most people are unaware of it. Everybody in this planet call me by my nickname, Jet. Also, most of my written works circulating in the internet carry my nickname. These are online learning materials for my students.
I want to have a separate name and identity for my non-academic writings. The great National Artist Nicomedes M. Joaquin did the same. He used “Nick Joaquin” for his short stories, plays, and poems, while he penned “Quijano de Manila” his works as an investigative journalist.
Names can be very amusing and intriguing, especially after hearing the stories on how people got them. Sports names of athletes are reflections of themselves or what they can do or usually do. When you hear such monickers as The Skywalker, The Triggerman, The Tower of Power, and The Black Mamba, you would have an idea how these hoop heroes play their game.
Names are also a reflection of the times. Whoever was famous at the time of a baby’s birth, the parents would name their child after that celebrity. In the 1980s, several boys were named Michael. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson was reigning at that time. In the 1990s, many babies were named Jordan. Recently, many kids are named Kobe. I know this, because I see these names all the time in the class lists I had in my long 27-year teaching career.
When I taught for Kyungnam University, my Korean students were required to use an English name. For the males, many wanted to be called David, because of David Beckham, who was the world’s top football player at that time. For the ladies, many chose the name Paris, a Hollywood star that they admired. The amusing thing is that many also picked up the names Tom and Jerry, after their favorite cartoon characters when they were kids.
In a way, names are also wishful thinking of parents on how they want their children to be known for, or what character trait they would develop. That’s why kids are named after handsome and pretty movie stars, or strong and successful athletes.
I asked my parents where they got my name. My Dad was the one who named me Oliver. He said there was a hit historical movie he watched in 1970 about an English statesman, Oliver Cromwell. Meanwhile, my Mom wanted to christen me Charlie or Charles, but settled for its Spanish equivalent because she thought that Spaniards were very handsome, and I had long eyelashes similar to the Iberians. So that’s the story how I got those names on my birth certificate. My parents probably wanted me to grow up to be a handsome noble man.
In the Book of John, Jesus also had many names and nicknames, some were given to him by other people, while some were self-proclaimed. The others-given nicknames of Jesus are “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist, “Messiah” by the Samaritan woman, “Rabbi” by Nicodemus, and “King of the Jews” by Pontius Pilate. Meanwhile, his self-proclaimed nicknames are: The Vine, The Good Shepherd, The Door, The Light of the World, The Bread of Life, and The Resurrection. The cue for us to know if it’s self-proclaimed is when Jesus would begin his statement with “I am _____.” Let’s take this as an example:
Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6, NLT).
I believe self-proclaimed names of Jesus are very important for us to understand. When Jesus introduced himself with a self-proclaimed name, it’s like saying he wanted us to know a character trait of his that we don’t know or haven’t experienced yet. Names are a reflection of one’s character and identity. When Jesus said “I am the Vine”, he’s saying he can make us fruitful. When he said “I am the Good Shepherd”, he’s says I will take care of you. When he said he is the Light, he’s saying he’s the one who will prevent us from stumbling. When he said that he is the Resurrection, that means he will raise us up on the last day. When he said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, he is saying he is the only way to heaven, he’s telling the truth, and he is the only one who can give us eternal life.
When you are reading the Bible and you come across a self-proclaimed name of Jesus, it means he is inviting you to come and discover for yourself, experience for yourself, the meaning of that name of his, that he is introducing to you.
