What's in a Name?

Pope Benedict has warned parents to stop giving their babies celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.  He called for a return to tradition. 

During Mass he stated: "Every baptised child acquires the character of the son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church." He added that a name was an "indelible seal" that set children off on a lifelong "journey of religious faith"." 

Cristina Odone, a former editor of The Catholic Herald who grew up in Italy, said: "There are so many of the church's traditions which we have come to ignore and which are actually meaningful and have a big spiritual significance. To deprive our children of that sense of having a protecting saint is to rob them of something very significant. Many of today's names are not just un-Christian but they are also crass and consumerist."

Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: "The name is not just a label but it moves us into a deeper significance of what it means to be human as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

I searched through the internet looking for some of the craziest names that celebrities have given to their children and found an abundance of unusual names.  Here are a few examples: Apple, Astrella Celeste, Audio Science, Blue Angel, Diezel Ky, Fifi Trixibell, and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.  If you are interested in seeing additional crazy names you can look here. Names such as Sienna, Scarlett, Ashton, Lily, and Chanel have become popular over recent years and in the interest of both preserving and spreading Christianity and Christian principles it is important that parents choose Christian names to send their children on a Christian journey where there Christian name can help remind them of those Christian principles which they should strive to live throughout their lives. 


I searched on the net for the Christian meaning behind my name Teresa and found this:


St Teresa of Ávila was a Spanish monastic reformer and mystic of the 16th century. She reformed the Carmelite nuns at Ávila and formed the discalced Carmelites, forming convents and monasteries throughout Spain. She is one of three female Doctors of the Church.

Another doctor of the church is St Thérèse de Lisieux. Thérèse is the French form of Teresa. She was also a Carmelite nun. She is known for her 'Little Way', and sanctity. She died aged only 24 in 1897.



From the Spanish and Portuguese name Teresa. It was first recorded as Therasia, being borne by the Spanish wife of Saint Paulinus of Nola in the 4th century. The meaning is uncertain, but it could be derived from Greek θερος (theros) "summer", from Greek θεριζω (therizo) "to harvest", or from the name of the Greek island of Therasia (the western island of Santorini).

The name was mainly confined to Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages. After the 16th century it was spread to other parts of the Christian world, due to the fame of the Spanish nun and reformer Saint Teresa of Ávila. Another famous bearer was the Austrian Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1717-1780), who inherited the domains of her father, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, beginning the War of the Austrian Succession.

Maria Theresa of Austria was the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in the 18th century.




It might be interesting to see what Christian meaning is behind each of your names.