What's Your Name?

Gentlemen,

What is your name?

Is it a 3-8 letter word followed by another?

Is it a thing your parents gave you that you’ve never thought twice about?

Is it something worth fighting for?

Is there any signifigance? What does it actually mean?

Name literally translates from a word meaning reputation.

In this sense, a name was given to an individual as a representation of his reputation in his community.

In a meta sense, your name means to you precisely what meaning you have attached to it, which for many of us, might be exactly zero. For some, it might be a lot.

Regardless, your name is more than what your friends and family call you. It’s more than your Instagram handle and it’s more than a tab you populate when buying something online. Your name is more than a sequence of words.

Much more.

What is your name?

Your name is your bloodline. It’s your lineage. It’s the culmination of every single one of your ancestors’ lives and deaths.

It carries the weight of every birth, death, battle, hunt, defeat, triumph, mistake, drought, famine, achievement, risk, failure, mile trecked, ocean crossed, and sacrifice made from your entire bloodline.

Thousands upon thousands of years and more human lives than you can comprehend have led to you being a rightful stakeholder in the name of your forefathers.

If that’s not something to be proud of, I don’t know what is.

If the honor and standing of such a thing is not worth protecting, preserving, and dignifying, I surely don’t know what is.

Death of a name

Unfortunately, the true meaning and legacy of a name has been lost on the vast majority of western people. This is either a cause of or consequence of the state we find ourselves in as a society - I’m not sure which.

I am sure that when people don’t know the true meaning of their name, they have no attachment to it. They have no attachment to their lineage and their forefathers. The anchor chain of history is snapped and the ship floats aimlessly. The values, principles, and convictions of those same forefathers is often lost along with their name. The same is the case for their sacrifices and triumphs that enabled them to survive and produce another generation.

His foundation is lost, and thus, the western man floats around in the nihilistic and frivolous society that results from the death of names - from the death of his familial reputation. What used to be a source of immense honor, pride, and identity is now irrelevant to the masses leaving those masses to search for those same qualities in other, more transient places, only to come up tragically short.

If we are to take our lives seriously, is it not wise to take those of our ancestors seriously as well as those of our future generations?

I believe so.

I believe when Solomon writes in Proverbs 13:22,

“A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children…”

he is referring not only to monetary wealth, but also to reputation and to societal standing. Two things that are more important than wealth as many deceased billionaires can surely attest to.

Create Meaning

I will not speak for you, but this means something to me.

When placing my name under the microscope of the stories of my bloodline both past and future, I am invigorated. To think of and visualize the trials and tribulations my forefathers overcame for me to be here fills my spirit to the brim.

What would the men who shared my blood 800 years ago, think of me now? Would they see me and be proud? Would they be disappointed? Would the meaning of their own lives, in their own view, become more or less fulfilling? Would they see their sacrifices as worth it?

I don’t know.

But when I think of this, my resolve to live in such a way that they would be proud increasing dramatically.

I hope the same for you.

Onward & Upward,

Nolan

P.S…

What does your name actually mean?

My name - Nolan Wilson - literally translates to Noble and Resolute Protector. When I learned this, my perception of my name and myself changed in a positive way.

I encourage to research the meaning of your name, it’s as simple as searching “orgins of {your name}”.

If you’ve never done it, you may be surprised and hopefully it means something to you.

Another way to learn more about your name is to ask your parents and grand-parents to tell you stories of generations past.

I’ve found it to be both entertaining and meaningful to hear stories from my parents and grandparents.