"Another John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt?"

In Romeo and Juliet, we see Juliet tell her lover that a name is, by itself, a meaningless thing. A rose would still be a rose and smell like a rose even if it had a different name. While it is true that the essence of a thing is not defined solely by its name, I would argue a name often carries part of the identity of a particular thing.

In fact, names are so important they have been central to epic tales throughout history. In both of the Neverending Story movies, correctly naming a specific person or thing meant life or death for the entire world. Bastion, the boy who reads the story and is inevitably sucked in, must come to grips with what something is in its essence and then attach the proper name.

Madeleine L'Engle, in A Wind in the Door, makes an interesting connection between love and being. As the story progresses, Meg encounters three men claiming to be the school's principal. It is up to her to name the correct one "Mr. Jenkins" or tragedy will strike. As she struggles to decipher which of the three is the real Mr. Jenkins, she learns that in order to really name someone, you must first love them. Meg, therefore, has to put herself in Mr. Jenkins' shoes and empathize with him to correctly identify which one he is.

Later in the story, it is revealed the Echthroi are unnamers, and are trying to destroy the world by "Xing" beings. Essentially, these creatures cause you to lose your essence, your very being. As a result, you are forgotten not only cerebrally, but are removed from existence as if you had never been there in the first place.

While I would hesitate to say that names = being, I do believe names are an essential part of understanding who we are. I have heard the argument that names are just the label we wear. If you peel off the label and put a new one on, what is on the inside has not changed. I disagree with this. Our name is tied to who we are...if I pull the label off a bottle of water, residue is still left behind. People may not be able to identify what the original label said, but that does not change the fact the water bottle has been impacted by the residue left from the label.

Many people love The Princess Bride. It is famous for the clever writing and it is often quoted today in pop culture. Perhaps the most famous quote throughout the movie comes from the beloved Spaniard, Inigo Montoya: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

It is necessary at the end of the movie, when he finally takes his vengeance, that he includes his name. It is part of who he is, where he came from, and why he is in the belly of an enemy castle fighting a man with six fingers to the death. Things would not be the same if he triumphantly declared, "Hello. My name is unimportant and irrelevant to who I am. But you did kill my father, so prepare to die!"

Scripture teaches us just how important names are. Every name has meaning in the Bible. While a person's name is not always tied to who they become, we often see this being the case. Ehud, Gideon, and Cushan-Rishathaim are just a few examples from the Book of Judges; look up the names and see how the meaning ties to their lives.

The best example of this, however, is found in Exodus when God reveals to Moses who He is. He uses the expression, "I AM," to describe Himself. Here, God's name is integrally tied to who He is. By using "I AM," or Yahweh, God is saying He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the one true God, infinite, omnipotent and omnipresent. There is no other like Him. All of these descriptions and more are tied to just those two little words.

I believe the modern American mindset has lost some of the value when it comes to understanding the power of names. And yet, even the one who changes their name wants to have the perfect name. The one who goes by a childhood nickname is endeared by it. The one who plays role-playing games will spend time thinking of the perfect name for their barbarian wizard. Companies and even churches will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars finding the name providing them with the ideal image.

My hope is that we would all have a strong sense of who we are. The fight for truth is an ongoing struggle in this world. Many would have us believe that identity is what you make it. That truth is what you define it to be. This goes against the very foundation of what Scripture teaches. Words have meaning; names have significance. This means that we have significance. God planned that I am me and that you are you. What makes us unique (some would say I am special, not unique) is that we are different in our being, and our names are a part of this identity.

There may be another John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt in the world. People may always shout when both of them go out. But in private or one on one conversations, the two Johns are different people and who they are is inexorably tied to the names they go by.