What’s In A Name?

In American Indian culture it was considered important to instill a sense of destiny in the young male Indian as he entered teen-age. An Indian youth would be dispatched alone into the mountains or the desert, there to meditate on life and to seek inspiration for the direction his own life would take. A majestic waterfall might deliver the message that he was destined to become a strong and powerful leader. As he reflected on this, the youth would choose a name for himself in keeping with the source of his inspiration-like “Mighty Waters.” Or, the message might come to him in the distant chant of the “medicine man ministering to a sick child. If this inspired him to dedicate his life to the alleviation of human suffering, he would choose a name like “Good Medicine.” Although in old joke books we find evidence of the sad fact that Indian names were commonly invoked to be laughed at by non-Indians, nevertheless it is true that…