What’s In a Name?

I am enrolled in an eight months long workshop to help me refocus my purpose. Our first assignment was to learn our identity by examining the origins and meanings of our names.

I never really liked my name. I always knew that Linda meant beautiful in Spanish, and since I never felt very pretty for most of my life, I sort of disowned my name from my identity. But digging deeper, I learned that in some other languages, Linda also means soft and tender.

I absolutely resonate with these meanings because I have always been more tender-hearted than most people that I know. I can’t watch scary movies, and even most action-filled movies these days are simply too much for me. I find myself stressing in an activity that is supposed to be entertaining.  I chalked it up to just a quirk, but now I see it is because I am so tender, that I cannot help but feel the angst of the characters in the movies.

My middle name is Sue. I have found that this is a derivative of Susan or Susanna, which means lily. A lily stands for purity. Of course, I haven’t truly been pure, but when I step outside of those boundaries, I have always felt enormous guilt and anguish. It makes sense to me now, since being pure is part of my identity. When I am outside of purity, I am out of integrity with who I am.  I always wondered why others could cross the line so easily when I could not. I am beginning to understand.

In the Jewish culture, it is typical for families to also give a Hebrew name to their children in honor of family who have passed away. My Hebrew name is Hannah, meaning favor.

I think I like this name most of all. I have always felt Papa’s favor on my life. I have known for many years that He loves to pour His favor into my life. I also know the enemy hates it when He does, and thus I have been caught in the midst of many battles on this front.  It is here where I have learned my most valuable spiritual lessons—God’s favor vs. the enemy’s desire to steal it from me.

I am loving this new learning about my identity, and I am so grateful that I now adore my names because they were chosen as part of my journey and my destiny. As I grow more into my purpose, I see that it was no accident that I am Linda Sue, (and Hannah), tender and pure, graced with favor. And that really is beautiful.