I have always been obsessed with naming things. If I could name them, I could tame them. They could be my friends.

Throughout the ancient world, naming was a sacred act. It was the word by which a child was called into his calling. It was the voice of destiny, summoning the child into his future with all its glorious promise.

The American Naming Authority, a collective of women studying the effects of names on behavior, decrees that a name should only have one user. The nearly 1 million American users of the name Mary, for example, do not constitute a unified army who might slaughter all users of the name Nancy, as was earlier supposed, but rather a saturation of the Mary Potential Quotient. Simply stated: Too many women with the same name produces widespread mediocrity and fatigue.

Most of us have nicknames—annoying, endearing, embarrassing.But what about your true.

Elodin pointed down the street. 'What color is that boy's shirt?'Blue.'What do you mean by blue? Describe it.'I struggled for a moment, failed. 'So blue is a name?'It is a word. Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man's will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself.'My head was swimming by this point. 'I still don't understand.'He laid a hand on my shoulder. 'Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing. Frustrating.' He lifted his hands high above his head as if stretching for the sky. 'But there are other ways to understanding!' he shouted, laughing like a child. He threw both arms to the cloudless arch of sky above us, still laughing. 'Look!' he shouted tilting his head back. 'Blue! Blue! Blue!

If you can't see past my name, you can't see me.

For the Hebrews, names provided a direct link with the Creator. They understood words as being the creative fire of God, the ‘black fire on white fire’ of His Law. Every utterance and every act of creation through which He revealed Himself was not only word made flesh but fire made f.

New Rule: Don't name your kid after a ballpark. Cubs fans Paul and Teri Fields have named their newborn son Wrigley. Wrigley Fields. A child is supposed to be an independent individual, not a means of touting your own personal hobbies. At least that's what I've always taught my kids, Panama Red and Jacuzzi.

The only thing that comes close to defining me correctly is my love.

I didn’t even have a name for her, shade or human, but I didn’t need one to know her. (Eric).