What's in a Name?

   When we are born into this life, one of our parent's first responsibilities is what to name us. After being given time to develop our personalities, I am sure there are more than a few parents that wish it were possible to rename their children with a more descriptive name than they originally chose!  Likewise, there are more than a few of us that would choose a different name if given the chance as well.  There are others, like myself, who like our name because of what we think it represents, but are disappointed when we find out that our parent's thoughts weren't as grandiose as that.  I have always liked the name "Michael" because I thought I was named after the arch-angel!  But, alas, I have found out that it was simply because that was the most popular  male name at the time I was born.

  Michael, is from the Hebrew name  מִיכָאֵל translated into Latin (Mikha'el) meaning  "who is like God".  But in English, as it is with most languages that are Latin based, it is merely a difference in spelling/pronunciation, or in other words, a transliteration of the Latin word itself and not a translation. For example, one of the spellings of my name in France is Michel (mee-SHEL), in the Czech and Slovak Republics it is Michal (mee-KAL) and in Latin America it is Miguel (mee-GEL). But in almost every instance when I have traveled outside the USA, especially in Spanish-speaking countries where the spelling and pronunciation is more varied that that of other European countries, or am speaking with someone from another country here, I am not called by the pronunciation of that particular country but rather addressed as "Michael", and that is the name I was given by my parents and proof can be found to this day on my original birth certificate that is stored in McGreevy Hall in Bridgeport, CT.

  Unfortunately, because the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., we do not have the original record of the recorded name of our Lord and Savior but we do have many accounts of it in the record of the Bible.  Since the New Testament was written in the most widely used language of the day of our Lord, Greek, the name "Iesous", from which, through the Latin Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus.  But if the Temple records were available, this is not the name we would find.  Nowhere in the Temple record would this name be found, because it is a Greek name, not a Hebrew name.  It is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word "ישוע", which translated into English is Y'shua or Yeshua.  It is the short version of Yahushua, literally "YHWH saves (or turns) us"
  How important is this?  Well, how many of you respond when someone from another country calls you by your name in that language?  In some cases, you may not even recognize the name you are called!  Here I have provided a link that answers this, even though we don't speak Hebrew...

http://www.eliyah.com/hebname.html

As a matter of fact, I think this link covers almost everything that we need to know.  But do your own research as I have done and you'll find that this one link sums it up quite nicely.

http://www.eliyah.com/names.html

I pray that all of us will come to this understanding of how important it is for us to use the correct name for our God and Savoir.  I still find myself using "Lord" when I shouldn't (though I am not convinced it can never be used, but rather only as a title and not a name) and even more so the name "Jesus".  God help me to overcome something that has been inbred in me since birth!  How ever difficult it may be, through my God, Yahweh and through my Savior, Yeshua or more correctly Yahushua, all things are possible!