Chapter 8: What’s in a Name?
The Church Almanac is a compilation of a boatload of interesting but not necessarily useful information. For example, I never thought about what the most common first name in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is. Have you?
Quoting the 2013, Almanac: “A careful analysis of the top, say, 10 million first names in the Church, revealed a not-too-surprising result among avid first-name watchers. The top first name in the Church is … Maria!
“Maria, the identification word for nearly 400,000 individuals, is the most frequent name by a 200,000-name margin over the next top name in the Church.
“The second top name is the most frequent male name, Jose. About 100,000 names below that is the next most frequent name, David, that is followed more closely by other male names of Juan, Michael, and Luis. Male, because their contemporary frequency on the female side of things, are by now still named Maria.
“Finally we come to the second most popular female name. No. 7 on the chart of most popular LDS names: Ana. The roughly 85,000 Ana’s of the Church are followed by another spate of male names—Carlos, John, Robert, James, Daniel, William, and Jorge—before coming to the third female name, Rosa, followed immediately by Mary and Patricia” (Deseret News, The Church Almanac 2013).
My sister, Rochelle, is married to Mark and four of her five daughter’s husbands are named Mark. Oh, and her only son is also named Mark. I had two friends, a brother and a sister, in high school whose last name was Shore. Her name is Sandy. His name is Wade A. I heard of another child whose name is JKMN, pronounced Noel. (That might take a minute to figure out.)
Getting back to the Almanac, the writer concludes: “The listing of names also illustrated the international nature of Church membership. The listing of first names is a reminder that the demographics of ages of representative countries in the Church included in the section is a demographic of real people whose names and age frequencies are suggested below. Whether their names are among the most popular or the least known, they are people with real lives of challenges and commitment, real people with unique personalities and talents.”
It’s a fact of life that almost no one chooses his/her name, excepting authors who choose pennames and movie stars their stage names. So, it is good that most parents take naming a baby seriously; many pass on family names. Most of us accept the label our parents gave us and claim it as our most personal form of I.D. Most try to bring honor to the name they received at birth.
Saying a person’s name gets his or her attention in a crowded room. Governments, employers, schools, churches, families, and friends identify us by name. The more people who know your name, the more famous or infamous you are. Your name used with love is the most affirming of any word in any language as in, “Emily, will you marry me?”
The fact that names no matter how common or uncommon represent a real person is an important conclusion. However, the most significant point of 400,000 Marias and another 55,000 Marys is that it evidences the omniscience of God. When someone prays, “Please bless Maria” Heavenly Father knows which Maria. When the name Mark is mentioned in a prayer in my friend’s family, a last name always follows. Not so with Heavenly Father. He knows to whom you are referring without a last name.
Names carry power as shown in three scriptural examples with the name Joseph. We can only imagine the shock and tenderness of the moment when Joseph who was sold into Egypt said to his brothers, “I am Joseph” (Genesis 45:3). When Joseph who was to become the husband of Mary was visited by an angel, the angel greeted him with the words, “Joseph, thou son of David” (Matthew 1:20). What a moment of truth came to fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith when the first word spoken to him by God the Eternal Father was Joseph. (See Joseph Smith-History 1:17). God knew his name!
Yet of all the names of all the billions of people who have lived on earth, one name surpasses all.
There is only one “name given under heaven whereby man can be saved,” (2 Nephi 31:21); that name is Jesus Christ. Jesus himself explained: “Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 27:7).
Simply, we are commanded to do everything in His name. We pray in His name. ”We Sing All Hail to Jesus Name” (Hymns, 182), His Church is called by His name. In time and throughout eternity the name of Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Salvation, resurrection, and eternal life come only through the name of Jesus Christ. That’s what’s in a name.
(c) Marilynne Todd Linford, 2018
Quoting the 2013, Almanac: “A careful analysis of the top, say, 10 million first names in the Church, revealed a not-too-surprising result among avid first-name watchers. The top first name in the Church is … Maria!
“Maria, the identification word for nearly 400,000 individuals, is the most frequent name by a 200,000-name margin over the next top name in the Church.
“The second top name is the most frequent male name, Jose. About 100,000 names below that is the next most frequent name, David, that is followed more closely by other male names of Juan, Michael, and Luis. Male, because their contemporary frequency on the female side of things, are by now still named Maria.
“Finally we come to the second most popular female name. No. 7 on the chart of most popular LDS names: Ana. The roughly 85,000 Ana’s of the Church are followed by another spate of male names—Carlos, John, Robert, James, Daniel, William, and Jorge—before coming to the third female name, Rosa, followed immediately by Mary and Patricia” (Deseret News, The Church Almanac 2013).
My sister, Rochelle, is married to Mark and four of her five daughter’s husbands are named Mark. Oh, and her only son is also named Mark. I had two friends, a brother and a sister, in high school whose last name was Shore. Her name is Sandy. His name is Wade A. I heard of another child whose name is JKMN, pronounced Noel. (That might take a minute to figure out.)
Getting back to the Almanac, the writer concludes: “The listing of names also illustrated the international nature of Church membership. The listing of first names is a reminder that the demographics of ages of representative countries in the Church included in the section is a demographic of real people whose names and age frequencies are suggested below. Whether their names are among the most popular or the least known, they are people with real lives of challenges and commitment, real people with unique personalities and talents.”
It’s a fact of life that almost no one chooses his/her name, excepting authors who choose pennames and movie stars their stage names. So, it is good that most parents take naming a baby seriously; many pass on family names. Most of us accept the label our parents gave us and claim it as our most personal form of I.D. Most try to bring honor to the name they received at birth.
Saying a person’s name gets his or her attention in a crowded room. Governments, employers, schools, churches, families, and friends identify us by name. The more people who know your name, the more famous or infamous you are. Your name used with love is the most affirming of any word in any language as in, “Emily, will you marry me?”
The fact that names no matter how common or uncommon represent a real person is an important conclusion. However, the most significant point of 400,000 Marias and another 55,000 Marys is that it evidences the omniscience of God. When someone prays, “Please bless Maria” Heavenly Father knows which Maria. When the name Mark is mentioned in a prayer in my friend’s family, a last name always follows. Not so with Heavenly Father. He knows to whom you are referring without a last name.
Names carry power as shown in three scriptural examples with the name Joseph. We can only imagine the shock and tenderness of the moment when Joseph who was sold into Egypt said to his brothers, “I am Joseph” (Genesis 45:3). When Joseph who was to become the husband of Mary was visited by an angel, the angel greeted him with the words, “Joseph, thou son of David” (Matthew 1:20). What a moment of truth came to fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith when the first word spoken to him by God the Eternal Father was Joseph. (See Joseph Smith-History 1:17). God knew his name!
Yet of all the names of all the billions of people who have lived on earth, one name surpasses all.
There is only one “name given under heaven whereby man can be saved,” (2 Nephi 31:21); that name is Jesus Christ. Jesus himself explained: “Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 27:7).
Simply, we are commanded to do everything in His name. We pray in His name. ”We Sing All Hail to Jesus Name” (Hymns, 182), His Church is called by His name. In time and throughout eternity the name of Jesus Christ is first and foremost. Salvation, resurrection, and eternal life come only through the name of Jesus Christ. That’s what’s in a name.
(c) Marilynne Todd Linford, 2018
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