I have a distinct memory from when I was a little girl of standing in my backyard, whining to my mom that we should change my name to Sarah. My mom told me again and again that we weren’t going to change my name, and that Rebecca was a perfectly nice name. I responded by pouting and begging some more.
Now it’s come full circle, as my Lydia begs me to change her name to Olivia. I think it’s a logical request for her, since every morning, she decides she is no longer human, but some sort of animal. “Mom, today you are the mama bear, Daddy is the daddy bear, I’m the big sister bear and Emma is the baby bear. And my name is Olivia.” See? The logic is totally impenetrable.
We sat in the doctor’s office a couple weeks ago, filling out a 4-year-old check-up survey. It told me to ask my child to tell me her full name. If she could do it, I was supposed to circle “yes.” I complied, and Lydia responded perfectly. When I went to circle the “yes,” I saw her brain click on.
“No, wait! Put Olivia. My name is Olivia,” she told me. I could tell she really believed that if I wrote Olivia, she would automatically become Olivia. That logic really is somethin’ else!
A few days later, she had a new teacher in her Sunday School class. When I dropped her off, I introduced her as Lydia, but by the time I picked her up, the poor befuddled teacher had to ask me, “It IS Lydia, right?”
Apparently, Lydia wasted no time in getting her name change crusade underway. At the beginning of class, she called herself Lydia, then immediately “corrected” her statement. “No, I mean Olivia. My name is Olivia now.” Every time the teacher called her Lydia, or every time Lydia opened her mouth (which was a lot), she reminded the teacher that her name is Olivia. Her poor teacher couldn’t remember which name was right by the end of class.
I love the name Olivia, and we actually considered that name. Lydia often is called Olivia, because it sounds similar to her real name. That’s probably why she ever got the idea to change her name in the first place.
But we named her Lydia for a reason, and I wanted her to know that reason. So we had a lesson on Lydia, the seller of purple from Acts 16 in the New Testament.
Lydia was the first European convert to Christianity. Already a believer in God, she gathered at the river to pray with other women one day. Paul came to preach of Jesus Christ to those women, and she believed what she heard. She was baptized, as was her entire household.
I love that Lydia heard truth and believed it. I love that she was likely a self-made and independent woman, this seller of purple who had influence over her household. And I love that she was a seller of purple!
While draped in a lovely purple tablecloth, our Lydia listened to us teach about the ancient Lydia. She knows the scripture about her namesake and has been able to recite it for years, so she listened intently as we unfolded the bigger story. I thought it was a lovely night.
My mom asked the next day if Lydia is calling herself Olivia anymore. Not yet, but her identity crisis remains intact — the next morning, she bounded out of bed, announcing we are a family of sharks! And she made sure we understood the detail that her pet shark breaks his leg walking down the stairs every Tuesday.
Time for a lesson on the anatomy of sharks.
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Love this, Rebecca. Knowing that purple is your favorite color makes absolute sense that you have chosen this name for our sweet Liddy-bug. And being reminded of this sweet scripture story and hearning your testimony of it, makes her name even more beautiful than it was before.
I love that her name has a story and you took time out to really share it with her. Just don’t share it with my Olivia–she may want to change her name to Lydia!
Watch out world—-her comes Lydia. Whenever I think of her name I get a big smile on my face. Such an independent thinker and I am glad you don’t stifle her. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.