I am fascinated by names; the fact that we give things and individuals a certain moniker that defines who they are, that they are known by, that makes them distinct from those around them. Yet does our name truly reflect who we are? After all, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Each and every one of our names has a definition, a meaning. Whether that meaning accurately reflects our personality is not something that is known when our names are chosen for us when we are babies.

Of course, we can always change our names. And this is something that is seen more than once in the Bible. I am going to focus on three individuals - two from the Old Testament, and one from the New Testament; two whose name changes were not recognised by the God-breathed Scripture, and one whose name change was.

The first of these, is Naomi - Ruth's mother-in-law in the book of Ruth. Naomi is a rather tragic character: at the start of the book of Ruth, she loses her husband and her two sons. After this, she goes back to her people, the Israelites, with her daughter-in-law Ruth in tow. When she gets back, she asks everyone to call her Marah instead of Naomi.

This personal choice of a name change is very significant to her character: Naomi means "pleasant"; it is a positive name. Marah means "bitter", and shows how she has changed in light of the deaths of all her close male relatives. However, this name change is not recognised; in the narrative of the Book of Ruth, she is still known as Naomi. Despite feeling bitter and not pleasant, she is still - in the eye of God - blessed, and indeed by the end of the book everything works out for both her and her daughter-in-law.

The second person whose name is changed is Daniel. When Daniel is chosen to be trained as an adviser in the Babylonian court, Daniel's name is changed to Belteshazzar. In this way again, we see the meanings of the names bearing great significance. Daniel means "God is my Judge", while Belteshazzar means "protect the king". In changing his name from Daniel to Belteshazzar, the Bablyonian authorities have taken away his Israelite-ness, that he worships Jehovah as his God and no other - particularly the Babylonian king.

Yet in the same way as Naomi's personal choice is not recognised by the Scripture writers, so Daniel's coerced name change is not recognised. As Daniel refuses to worship the King of Babylon over Jehovah - even up to and including being thrown into the lion's den - his story is told while being referred to as Daniel, as still under the Sovereignty of Yahweh.

The final person is Saul, who changes his name to Paul. Unlike Naomi and Daniel, his name change is recognised by Scripture and is continued. Saul, prior to conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, was a Pharisee who prided himself on knowledge of the Scripture. The Pharisees were the group of people whom Jesus criticised for getting it all wrong. When Saul is converted, he changes his name to Paul: a Roman name. This change shows the change in his personality, one that truly reflects his conversion. While before he had a Jewish name that showed his life before Christ, in changing his name to a Roman name he reflects the mission he was called to do: preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and show that through Jesus Christ anyone - regardless of background - can come to the One and true God.

Because all Scripture is God-breathed, the names that people are known as in Scripture are the names that truly show their relationship with God. We are more defined by God than by our names, as the rejection of Naomi's Marah shows. Soul Survivor's Ali Martin even suggested that we have spiritual names that we may be unaware of, because God knows us by the name that He chose to give us - one that truly reflects who we are better than the name we are given before our personality is apparent to the ones who give us that name.

We are ultimately defined by that one and true name given to us by God. So can we let God define our lives today?