Posted on 01/11/2011 9:57:46 AM PST by marshmallow
The Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.
While names such as Sienna and Scarlett have become fashionable in recent years, Pope Benedict XVI called for a return to tradition.
During Mass at the Sistine Chapel, he said: "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".
According to the Office for National Statistics, celebrity names such as Ashton – after the actor Ashton Kutcher – and Lily – after the singer Lily Allen – are among the most popular in England and Wales. The names celebrities give their own children can be even more exotic.
Sir Bob Geldof has daughters named Pixie and Peaches, while Victoria and David Beckham called their first son Brooklyn, after the district of New York. Katie Price, the glamour model, named her daughter Princess Tiaamii.
In Italy, the name of a child has particular significance. Children are often named after saints, who are considered a guiding force in their life.
The tradition, however, is increasingly under threat. Francesco Totti, the footballer, recently decided to call his daughter Chanel, while Flavio Briatore, the Formula One boss, named his newborn son Falso Nathan.
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.......
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Wow! Really? I think you just opened an economy sized can o' worms. Got your flame retardent suit on?
“If I ever have a daughter (long shot that I’d have a kid) I wanted to call her Spirit.”
Take a bath, hippie (just kidding)
He should be thankful the babies have been given a chance to live long enough to HAVE names.
I was actually trying to steer the discussion AWAY from making fun of people’s names.
Seriously, I don’t like my own first name, and it is NOT a Biblical, “Christian” name, and I actually would change it, if it made practical sense.
But the Pope is wrong. The Bible does not have a record of people changing their names from a pagan first name to a “Christian” first name.
The great evangelist “Apollo” comes to mind....
.... Not as in “Apollo Creed”, but I must say, but Apollo Creed is a very cool name, even from a Bible point of view.
He is speaking to practicing Catholics. A Catholic is supposed to have their child baptized by a priest. When the priest baptizes the child, they ALWAYS use to change those made up names, that always existed by the way, like Usmali, Ionemi, Santoralaldorso in like South America among the uneducated. I think that the Novus Ordo priests still correct those names at baptism. All the traditionalists priests baptize the children with Catholic names, correcting the parents error.
Catholics who name their children un-Catholic names, by their deed, are showing that they are not Catholics at all, but CINO’s. Pope Benedict is speaking to the CINO's, afterall, they are still under his jurisdiction. Protestants and others can do as they please, as they do with their "religion", they are not under the pope's jurisdiction. This thread should have been put into a Catholic Caucus.
Of course not. The vast majority of the Bible isn't specifically Christian (it's Jewish), and the specifically Christian part doesn't address the origin of folks' names. The specifically Jewish part does frequently address the origin of personal names. Names are significant, names are frequently of specifically Godly meaning, and on a few occasions God Himself changes someone's name, to indicate a changed status of that person.
The sort of names parents choose to give their children tells something about those parents' priorities.
And another thread on the same subject would simply have been posted, sans "Caucus" tag.
I’m with the pope on this, in a way.
In the bible, names are extremely important. God Himself changed Abram’s name to something different when He entered into a covenant relationship with him. Peter’s name also became “the rock”.
As I get older, I see people often do get some definition from their name. They look for some important meaning and internalize it. My kids often mention to me the meaning of their names, as a tie with their ancestry and the original Greek.
I can’t help but feel someone named “Tiffany” or “Chanel” is more likely to feel like “decor” rather than someone named after a biblical character or an ancestor. A child has their name their whole life, and it does define them, in certain ways.
lol.
Maybe a middle name.
There's always (Simon) Peter. And don't forget (Saul) Paul. Others?
You are going to get flamed, and so am I, because I agree with you.
A real Catholic, of course, is biblically aware. But there are so many people that just go to mass and confession and that’s it. When I was a Catholic, I don’t ever remember the priest reading the old testament. I was young, but I just don’t remember it.
Protestants have Sunday School, and Catholics Religious Instruction. RI just doesn’t emphasize Bible Study. I remember learning church sacraments and catechism. Protestants think if you can’t find every book of the bible in 2.5 seconds, there’s something wrong with your Christian walk. It’s a different emphasis.
He's talking to Catholic parents, so it's really not your business, since you aren't one. Objectively speaking, in all seriousness, that is.
Catholic parents should give kids names that reflect the faith, not names taken from popular entertainers or soap opera stars. Period. The Pope is absolutely right.
There are set readings for each day. Unless your Priest was breaking the rules, then he had to of read from the old testament.
Nonsense. All of the OT prophets are considered saints. St. Ezra's feast day is July 13.
Ooohhh, anybody that doesn’t have a Christian name is going to hell,
anybody without a Christian name is going to hell.
Anybody that doesn’t have a Christian name is going to hell,
And that’s just the way it is, bump-bump.
God changed Simon ==> Peter, much like Abram ==> Abraham. Does it actually say how Saul’s name got changed to Paul? I can’t recall ever seeing that.
Holly. I would name her Holly Spirit. That would be a nice name.
Even better since most of those names are NOT African - they’re made up. However, I’ve read articles that claim that in the African community, having an unique name is a status symbol, hence the endless variations on a certain few themes.
How about Chrysogonus? Or Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Cyrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damien? How about Melchizedek? How about Scholastica for girls? There are so many good names.
All of us that are confirmed as adults choose a saint’s name. I could have kept my given name, because it IS a saint’s name, but that would have spoiled the fun. So I chose a female name, Therese, because reading her autobiography helped convert me. Sacre Mirabile!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.