After months of pregnancy, my mom determined my name. Ayanna (pronounced Uh-yah-nuh). She loved the meaning and the significance. Unfortunately, as she began to share with family and friends, they were concerned. ‘What if people can’t pronounce her name?’ ‘Kids are cruel, they may tease her.’ Based on their responses, my mom began to reconsider. Maybe Ayanna wasn’t the right name, maybe they were right. So, one night at 9 months pregnant, she went back to the drawing board.
Well let’s just say, I surprised her and that very night she went into labor.
Now fast forward a few years, just as family and friends predicted, people had trouble pronouncing my name. I got called everything from Iyanna to Adrianna. Overtime, I began responding to whatever rendition I was called because in my mind it wasn’t worth explaining over and over again.
For years, I responded to a name that wasn’t mine in more ways than one. As I began to mature, every now and then the Holy Spirit would convict me and tell me to correct those around me. He would say, “Tell them your name.” It was awkward.
Recently, the issue came up again spurring a discussion among my friends at church. As they were speaking among themselves one night, the pronunciation of my name came up and they genuinely wanted to know my name. This conversation got back to me and I was convicted yet again to tell them my name.
I was reminded that God values our names. From His perspective, our names are connected to our identities.
In the Bible, when God was ready to change the trajectory of someone’s life, He would often change their name.Think Paul or Abraham and Sarah. For decades, Abraham and Sarah were plagued with barrenness. Abram was 99 years old and Sarai was not far behind when God decided to change their names. This is ironic because God renames Abram, Abraham which means father of many nations when he only has one son outside of his marriage. God renames Sarai, Sarah which means mother of nations, when she has no children of her own.
If God is concerned with proper identity, why would He give two names that did not fit Abraham and Sarah’s current situation? I would argue that God saw and understood more than what was manifesting in the natural. God knew that from Abraham and Sarah’s marriage would come His chosen people, Israel. From their line, He would send His only Son, Jesus, the Savior of the world. Abraham and Sarah would no longer be known for their barrenness, they would be known by their fruitfulness. Therefore, He commanded that they be called by their new names.God gave them names that gave correct identity and indicated their future reality.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of people will come from her.
Genesis 17:5; 15-16 NIV
Have you been responding to the wrong name? A name that God has not given you.
Maybe you have been responding to your birth name, but you have allowed people to call you by other names. You know the names, the ones that make you feel less than. The ones you have adopted as a part of your identity.
The good news is that God has a track record of changing people’s names.
Just as God had new names for Abraham and Sarah. He has a new name for you. The name He has given you is not tied to your past. It is tied to your future. All you have to do is receive it and walk in it.
So, the next time someone calls you outside of your name, confidently tell them your new name.
But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 NLT
