5.17.2007

What's in a name

Naming is not easy. It's a hard thing to name another human being. Lesley and I put in a lot of consideration into both Thomas' and Karis' names.

For those who don't know, 'Karis' is Greek for grace and her middle name, 'Sophia', is Greek for wisdom. Two virtues that we wish upon her.

'Thomas Zane' was decided upon after much deliberation. In fact, Lesley and I employ 'bracketology' to help come up with a name. We had a March Madness tournament of 64 male names.

'Thomas' means twin, so it was not chosen for its meaning, but rather for other great Thomases that have come before (particularly philosopher/theologians):
Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, Thomas Reid, etc.

'Zane' was chosen in part for its meaning. It means God's gracious gift. It was also chosen since we like names that start with letters not typically used.

In addition to the merits of each name on its own, we also like the combination both in full names and in the abbreviated 'T.Z.'.

3 comments:

Heather Goertzen said...

I love the name. Currently reading Thomas Keating, a beautiful contemplative psych-type, much of what I aspire to, so if I might be so presumptuous as to add him to the list... Also, a year ago I was pulling hard for our friends/directors/fellow missionaries to consider Zane for their son. They went with Luke instead, but I still LOVE the name. Good job, Jon. & Lesley. :)

Unknown said...

Jon,
I know what you mean about the naming thing. My nephew is named Braedon Aaron Hemphill. Braedon means 'dark valley' Aaron means 'light of God'. So my sister and brother in law named their son Light of God in a dark valley. Which is very fitting they are planning to go into bible translation.
Dave

jon said...

Heather, consider him added to the list.

Dave, I like that name a lot as well.