Something About That Name

"Good Men must die, but death can not kill their names"--Proverb

In life you have two things that are considered very important, the first thing is your name, the second is your credit score. While your credit score is very important it is your name that holds the most weight. People identify you with your name, and the name that you have made for yourself. I am a firm believer that what we name our children depicts their personality and character. As a child I used to ask my mother why she named me Antione, her response was always, that she named me after the French Chemist Antoine Lavoisier. For years that seemed like a great and satisfying response to me, yet as I begin to get older I knew there had to be a deeper meaning to my name.

I begin to research my first, middle and last name so that I could have a better understanding of who I was. I found out that Antione was from a French origin meaning a flourishing flower and highly praiseworthy. DeCarlo was from a Spanish and English origin meaning strong and courageous. Mercer my surname was from an old English origin meaning merchant or trader. When Combined you have Antione DeCarlo Mercer - a flourishing flower who is highly praiseworthy, strong, courageous and a Merchant. All of these meanings are characteristics that make up my personality and overall existence.

God has so many characteristics that he has many different names. Jehovah Jireh - The Lord who provides Genesis 22:12-14, Jehovah Rapha - The Lord who heals Exodus 15:22-26, Jehovah Nissi - The Lord our banner Exodus 17:8-15, and many others. The common theme is that each of his names endorse his characteristic, which is why our names our so important. Even God when he sent his son through the virgin Mary gave him a name that would describe his character. Jesus deriving from Hebrew origin means The Lord is salvation. The result being Jesus became our saviour, who redeemed us through his blood, HE became our salvation. We must learn to name our children names that declare their purpose and gives them a sense of character. Every time someone calls my name, I can stand proud, with my chest out, because I know my identity and what my name means, do you?