What’s in a Name?

DO YOU know why your parents gave you your name? In Bible times people’s names often reflected faith in God and his promises. For example, the name Abraham, which God gave him, means “Father of a Crowd (Multitude).” Ishmael means “God Hears (Listens).” And Jesus means “Jehovah Is Salvation.”

In African lands today, the giving of names often reflects religious beliefs and values. This is certainly so among many African Witnesses of Jehovah.

In Nigeria one young woman relates: “My father learned the truth of the Bible from Jehovah’s Witnesses a year before I was born. In that same year, the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life was released in English. Later, about the time of my birth, the Truth book came out in our Yoruba language. Because of that, my father thought it fitting to give me the name Truth.”

Another witness of Jehovah, a man, states: “My dad became a Witness the year before I was born. He worked at a place managed by staunch Catholics, and because of his beliefs, he lost his job. When I was born, he had no job and very little money. But he was not discouraged. ‘I’m suffering unemployment because of my allegiance to God’s Kingdom,’ he said. So he named me Kingdom.”

“My parents named me Ifeanyichukwu, an Igbo name,” said another young man. “That’s a mouthful for those who don’t speak Igbo, so I wanted a name that was easier. I also wanted to serve at Bethel [the local branch office of the Watch Tower Society], and I had a friend whose name was Bethel. So I asked my parents if I could take ‘Bethel’ as my name. They agreed.”

“My parents were pioneers [full-​time ministers],” relates another Nigerian man. “My father wanted to name one of their children after their vocation. That’s how I got the name Pioneer. They hoped that I too would experience the rich blessings of full-​time service.”

When one member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses was in Côte d’Ivoire in December 1978, he met a sister with a baby called Victorious Faith because she was born while the mother was attending the “Victorious Faith” Convention.

Truth, Kingdom, Bethel, and Pioneer all work at the Watch Tower Society’s branch office in Nigeria. Also serving there are Witnesses with such names as Bible, Wisdom, Christian, Love, Innocent, Genesis, and Blessing. All these Christian ministers are working hard to maintain a good reputation, or name, with Jehovah God, to whom every family in heaven and on earth owes its name.​—Compare Ephesians 3:14, 15.