Genealogical research is a way to explore one’s identity, heritage, and history, making it a personal and enlightening journey. This is your journey through life filled with a deep sense of wonder and mindful reflection. It is a guide that will help you become aware of your own "State of Being". The memories created will help define your human experience with a sense of purpose in understanding of who we are. Genealogy research impacts many different aspects of our lives:
- Understanding Identity: Knowing who our ancestors were can reveal to us who we are. It can help us understand our roots and give us a sense of belonging.
- Medical History: As you research your family tree, you can also reveal medical conditions that may impact our lives. This can be crucial for understanding and managing hereditary diseases.
- Connecting with relatives: Conducting research about your family’s history can help you to know more about your relatives that may have lost touch over the years. You can trace back to long-lost ancestors and family members you may not have ever known existed.
- Family activity: Researching genealogy can make a great family activity, involving siblings, children, and grandchildren. It can bring family members together around a shared interest and also inspire intergenerational storytelling and sharing.
- Historical Insight: Genealogical research can provide a personal connection to historical events. By understanding the lives of our ancestors, we can gain a deeper understanding of history.
- Cultural understanding: Genealogy can help us understand the cultures and societies our ancestors lived in, giving us a broader understanding of the world.
How to understand given and family names
Biblical Surnames are not a common concept. However, personal names in the Bible can provide insight into the historicity of the Bible. The characters in the Bible did not have last names in the traditional sense. Instead, people were typically referred to by their given names, followed by their father’s name.
If you are interested in tracing your ancestral lineage, you may find it interesting to know that Christian last names often carry profound meanings rooted in religious history. For example, surnames like “Cross” signify faith, while “Bishop” and “Priest” may reflect ancestral roles. “Angel” conveys divine connections, and “Grace” suggests spiritual favor. In the Bible, names often carry significant meaning and are deeply important.8 They can express the essence of a person’s character and nature. Here are some key points about the significance of names in the Bible:
- Expression of Essence: The biblical concept of naming was rooted in the ancient world’s understanding that a name expressed essence. To know the name of a person was to know that person’s total character and nature.
- Revealing Character and Destiny: Personal names might express hopes for the child’s future. Changing of a name could occur at divine or human initiative, revealing a transformation in character or destiny.
- Divine Affiliation: Biblical names could be used to establish an affiliation with God.
- Authority and Power: The act of naming implied the power of the name over the named, evidenced in the naming of the animals in Genesis 2:19-20 or Pharaoh’s renaming Joseph.
- Divine Naming: Naming could be attributed to God originating through a divine birth announcement.
- Meaningful Names: Many names in the Bible have enriched meanings. For example, ‘Adam’ is derived from the Hebrew word ‘Adamah’ meaning ‘ground’. ‘Abraham’ means ‘father of many’. ‘Isaac’ means ‘laughter’. ‘Esau’ means ‘hairy’, and ‘Jacob’ means 'he deceives’.
- Names and Prophecies: Names in the Bible can represent human hopes, divine revelations, or are used to illustrate prophecies.
Influence of Judeo-Christian texts in the creation of modern names
The Talmud and other Jewish texts place significant importance on the concept of a name. Here are some key points:
- Divine Energy: The Hebrew name of every object is seen as the conduit for its divine energy. This is also true for every person’s name, which is considered the channel through which the soul’s energy reaches the body. These teachings underscore the belief in the profound spiritual significance and power of a name in Jewish tradition.
- Divine inspiration: It is said that parents receive a glimmer of divine inspiration when they give their child a Jewish name.
- Identity and redemption: The Midrash relates that the Jews were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of four virtues, one of which is that they didn’t change their names. This is considered significant because all their names alluded to their ultimate redemption.
- Separation from idolatry: By maintaining their own language and keeping their Jewish names, the Jews effectively separated themselves from the Egyptians, which decreased their involvement in idolatry.
- Naming ceremony: A Jewish boy’s name is given at his circumcision, and a girl’s name is traditionally conferred at the Torah reading shortly after her birth.
The Torah
The Torah also places significant importance on the concept of a name. These teachings underscore the belief in the profound spiritual significance and power of a name in the Torah. Here are some key points:
- Divine Connection: The giving of names has been a significant part of the biblical narrative. After creating the wild animals and birds, God “brought the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man called it, that became the creature’s name” (Genesis 2:19).
- Identity and Destiny: In the story of Joseph, he was given a new name by Pharaoh: Zaphenath-paneah, which is “Egyptian for ‘God speaks; He lives’ or ‘Creator of life.’” This name signifies not only that Joseph is now fully part of Egyptian society, but also that his special gift that has allowed him to succeed is the ability to speak for God.
- Reflection of Life’s Journey: The names that Joseph chooses for his sons reflect Joseph’s attitude toward his past adversity and his present good fortunes.
- Naming ceremony: A Jewish boy’s name is given at his circumcision, and a girl’s name is traditionally conferred at the Torah reading shortly after her birth.
The Christian scriptures
The Christian Greek scriptures, also known as the New Testament, place significant importance on the concept of a name. These teachings underscore the belief in the profound spiritual significance and power of a name in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Here are some key points
- Divine Name: The Divine Name, represented by the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), appears almost 7,000 times in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures uses the name Jehovah a total of 237 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures.
- Jesus and God’s Name: The Christian Greek Scriptures report that Jesus often referred to God’s name and made it known to others. Jesus stated: “I have come in the name of my Father” and stressed that his works were done in his “Father’s name”.
- Names and Identity: Names can tie us to our origins and traditions. They can also allude to our circumstances or stand for something that mattered to our parents in choosing what others would call us.
- Biblical Names: Biblical names could record some aspects of a person’s birth, express the parents’ reaction to the birth of their child, secure the solidarity of family ties, and communicate God’s message.
- Proverbs and Ecclesiastes: Proverbs 22:1 states, “A name is to be chosen rather than abundant riches; favor is better than even silver and gold.” Similarly, Ecclesiastes 7:1 says, "A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born".
Additional websites highly recommended for Genealogical research
- MyHeritage: MyHeritage offers a robust platform for building your family tree and searching through historical records. Resources include: MyHeritage Blog, MyHeritage Knowledge Base, Geni, Legacy Family Tree Webinars, and MyHeritage Wiki, a community-led, comprehensive resource on family history research and DNA. Powered by MyHeritage, the wiki seeks to provide genealogists and family history enthusiasts of every level and background with the information they need to grow their family trees and make new discoveries about their heritage. As a collaborative platform, the wiki is constantly growing and evolving. Our active community of contributors includes experts in genealogy and DNA, editors, proofreaders, and moderators working together to create and improve the content so the wiki can best serve the needs and interests of people across the globe who wish to learn about their family history.
- Godfrey Memorial Library: is a non-profit research library that has been serving genealogists and family historians worldwide since 1947. The Godfrey Center is an independent, non-profit library specializing in genealogy, family history, and local history. It’s a great resource for anyone interested in genealogical research. Here are some key features of the Godfrey Center:
- Research Services: The center offers research services to those who need help finding or interpreting genealogical information.
- Collection: Their print and digitized collections include rare, unpublished, and one-of-a-kind resource materials. You can search their catalog for resources.
- Membership: They offer three levels of library membership plus a limited content Guest membership. The membership level you choose depends on your research needs.
- Location: The Godfrey Memorial Library is located at 134 Newfield St, Middletown, CT, 06457.
- Operating Hours: The library is open from Tuesday to Friday, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, and on Saturday from 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
Contact Information: You can reach them at (860) 346-4375.
- USGenWeb Project: This project provides a comprehensive range of records for all 50 states, including census records, military records, obituaries, newspapers, and maps.
- Allen County Public Library: Their Genealogy Center provides free ancestry resources for the US as a whole, including databases on African American genealogy, Native American genealogy, and military history.
- Biblical Archaeology Society: an organization dedicated to the dissemination of information about archaeology in the Bible lands .
- WikiTree: a free online community for genealogists and family historians. Here are some key features of WikiTree: WikiTree is a great resource, however it is always a good idea to cross-reference information with other sources to ensure accuracy.
- Collaborative: WikiTree is a global community of genealogists who collaborate on a single-family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.
- Accurate & Trusted: WikiTree is known for its accuracy and trustworthiness because the community works together, carefully evaluates sources, and incorporates DNA.
- Privacy: Modern family history is kept private on WikiTree. WikiTreers who sign the Honor Code don’t even see advertisements.
- Search: WikiTree provides a search feature that allows you to search for a person or a surname.
- Community: The community is strong with over 1,069,047 members and the shared tree has 36,734,554 profiles.
- Learning Resources: WikiTree provides resources to learn how to use the platform, explore profiles of famous and notable people, and discover your family history with DNA testing and sources.
Explore more about names in genealogical research
References
Contributors
Additional contributor:
Maor Malul