{"id":3323,"date":"2024-01-22T08:05:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T13:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3323"},"modified":"2024-01-22T08:06:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T13:06:03","slug":"the-name-of-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/22\/the-name-of-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Name of the Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,<\/em> <\/a>click here<\/a>

The world of TV sports provides a window into a fascinating sociological phenomenon.

The parents of younger American generations are going out of their way to give their kids distinctive names.  We\u2019re talking about Millennials (children born 1980-1994), Gen Z (1995-2012), and the newly dubbed Polars (2013-2029), who won\u2019t be taking the field for a few more years.  

If you turn on an average football game, examples abound. 

There\u2019s Kool-Aid McKinstry, the All-American defensive back from Alabama; General Booty, a quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners; Storm Duck of North Carolina; Pig Cage of LSU; and Bumper Pool, who suits up for Arkansas.  Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (whose full name is Ha\u2019Sean \u201cHa Ha\u201d Treshon Clinton-Dix) recently played in the defensive backfield of the Green Bay Packers.

Female names have taken some interesting turns as well.  There\u2019s Olympic sprinter English Gardner, UCLA softball star Bubba Nickles, and gold medalist Alpine skier Picabo Street.

What do all these names have in common?

They\u2019re different.  Memorable.  Even radically unique. 

As sociologist Jean Twenge points out in her recent book Generations<\/em>, that mirrors a major turn in American cultural history.  She writes, \u201cWhen parents want their children to fit in, as they do in a collectivistic culture [the kind that existed in our country prior to World War II], they are more likely to give them common names that many other people also have.  When parents instead want their children to stand out, as they do in an individualistic culture, they are less likely to bestow common names because individualism values uniqueness.\u201d 

If we go back to the 1880s, more than half of American boys were given one of just ten names.  If you turned around you were likely to bump into someone named James, John, Robert, or William.

Likewise, a quarter of American girls received one of the ten most popular female names.  It wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if there\u2019s a Mary, Eliabeth, Margaret, or Ruth somewhere in your genealogy. 

For contemporary families, names are no longer an expression of conformity.  They\u2019re increasingly a strategy to stand out in a global population of nine billion.  Twenge notes that parents used to worry about bestowing a name that was too strange.  Now they worry about settling for a name that is too ordinary. 

During the 1990s, amateur bodybuilder John Brown (an ordinary name if there ever was one) decided to go public with his love of Egyptian mythology by naming his kids Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep St. Brown (currently a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears), Osiris (the god of fertility), and Amon-Ra Julian Heru J. St. Brown (the star receiver who yesterday delivered what turned out to be the winning touchdown in the Detroit Lions playoff game). 

If names in our current culture reflect the need to stand out, names in the ancient world were thought to reveal something of the character, identity, and even the destiny of those who bore them.

A change in name might signify a whole new direction in life.  Abram (\u201cfather\u201d) became Abraham (\u201cfather of nations\u201d).  Simon (a variant of Simeon, the second son of the patriarch Jacob) became Peter (\u201cthe Rock\u201d) the one upon whose faith and faithfulness Jesus would build his church.

What about your own name?

You can go with the one you received at birth.  Most people do, even if they sometimes wonder about Mom and Dad\u2019s intentions. 

Or you can change it.  Reginald Dwight became Elton John.  Joaquin Bottom morphed into Joaquin Phoenix \u2013 no doubt a wise marketing move.  Jennifer Anastassakis opted for Jennifer Anniston \u2013 easier for her friends to remember.  Maurice Micklewhite chose Michael Caine \u2013 primarily because he had grown up loving the movie The Caine Mutiny.  <\/em>And Marion Morrison became John Wayne.  \u201cThe Duke\u201d should definitely not be named Marion. 

On the other hand, you might identify yourself with some kind of hidden personal descriptor \u2013 a dark name you would never actually speak aloud.  Perhaps you secretly know yourself as Hopeless, I\u2019ll-Prove-All-You-Jerks-Wrong, or Worthless.

Or you can go with one of the names that someone else \u2013 perhaps a parent or an ex or a boss or a bully \u2013 hung on you somewhere along the way: Failure, Slacker, Second Place, Not-As-Pretty-As-Your-Sister.

There\u2019s one other option.  You can claim as your own the names that God has bestowed on every Christian in Ephesians 1:3-14.  There are seven of them \u2013 one for every day of the week.  If you\u2019ve enrolled as a follower of Jesus, here is a seven-fold expression of your true identity:

Blessed<\/strong>
Redeemed<\/strong>
Forgiven<\/strong>
Included<\/strong>
Sealed<\/strong> (by the Holy Spirit)
Predestined<\/strong> (for adoption into God\u2019s family)
Chosen<\/strong> (before the creation of the world)

You can name yourself.  Or go with what others call you.

Or you can conclude that God alone knows who you really are, and has the right to declare your identity, character, and destiny.

Whatever name you choose to answer to will almost certainly determine the shape of your life.

As for me, in the hopes of becoming a more refreshing pastor, I just might have to go with Rev. Kool-Aid McDonald. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here The world of TV sports provides a window into a fascinating sociological phenomenon. The parents of younger American generations are going out of their way to give their kids distinctive names.  We\u2019re talking about Millennials (children born 1980-1994), Gen Z (1995-2012), and the newly dubbed Polars (2013-2029), who won\u2019t be… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[502,679,85],"class_list":["post-3323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-identity","tag-individualism","tag-names"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3326,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3323\/revisions\/3326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}