The name Mary is of uncertain origin. From Hebrew, it may mean “bitterness” or “rebelliousness”. However, it could instead have been borrowed into Hebrew from an Egyptian root such as mry, “beloved”, or mr, “love”. Regardless, in the Bible it appears first in the form of Miryam, sister of Moses; and considering Moses’s career, perhaps the Hebrew meanings were not so inappropriate.

In Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, the name was Maryam, and of course this is real the name of Jesus’s mother. (Jesus’s Aramaic name was Jeshua.) In Greek the name was translated as Maria or Mariam, in Latin Maria, and in English Mary.

Energetically, Mary is a name of power — specifically, powerful manifestation, balanced and evenly modulated. It’s no accident that the name is so similar in sound to marriage, more, and mirror. In many languages, the m-r combination is found in words for the sea.

Hats off to Slade for inspiring this word!

While John McCain’s name is not as exotic as Barak Obama’s, it still has some fascinating features. McCain shares a name with his father and grandfather — to what extent are their fortunes parallel? And what is the relationship, if any, between McCain and the famous Cain of the Bible?

But first, the historical background. The name John is ultimately from Hebrew Yohanan, meaning “Yahweh has favored”, and as it was the name of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, it became a popular Christian name all across Europe. In Greek it became Ioannes, in Latin Joannes, and in Medieval Latin Johannes. Energetically, the name John indicates a difficult decision that gives rise to narrowed, targeted Source energy. People named John are ones whose own personal, hard-fought decisions have a particularly salient effect on the spiritual energies around them.

Sidney is probably derived from the Norman name Saint-Denis, and therefore was brought to England during the invasion of William the Conqueror. It is a sinuous name, one of light, tense energy that slides through a decision and results in stamina and longevity. Intuitively, it suggests a warrior’s energy — compare the word sword – mixed with endurance through hardship. McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, which defines so much of his character and life, jumps to mind in this connection.

McCain itself is an Irish variant of the Scots name McKean, which comes from Gaelic Mac Ian, which means — you guessed it — “son of John”. But the Gaelic Ian has a very different spiritual energy than the English John; there is no implication of decision or difficulty, but instead a strong, enduring energy that is channeled.

The Cain syllable, which sounds like cane, has that same narrowing, channeling quality, but the energy is elastic and wide, and the source is some kind of containment. The sense one gets is of controlled, coiled power, like that in a taut spring. In the story of Cain, of course, one sees personal energy channeled and directed against another, but there is nothing inherently evil or misdirected within the sounds of the name Cain itself.

The first, unaccented syllable, Mc, indicates forces of manifestation, encircled and gathered up. The overall thrust of the name is of tightly controlled, narrowly focused energy, which is nevertheless flexible and far-reaching.

My sense of the name John Sidney McCain is of a life of difficult decisions, directed yet malleable energy, and controlled power. Here is a man who is both focused enough to work towards a single goal for many years, and yet flexible enough to be adaptive and creative in the way he seeks that goal.

The other John Sidney McCains. Since McCain’s father and grandfather shared his name — and his son does, as well — it’s tempting to think about whether their lives paralleled his in any significant ways. While the similarities on the surface are striking — his father and grandfather were both US Admirals, and McCain’s son is currently attending the US Naval Academy — the differences are more interesting. McCain’s father (who actually preferred to be called “Jack”) was a submarine man, not an aviator; and his postwar career was spent deep in the Pentagon, commanding the Pacific fleet, — a very different environment from the US Senate. McCain’s grandfather served in WWI and WWII, and, like his grandson, was a naval aviator. He commanded an aircraft carrier and was a vice Admiral in the latter war; but apparently the stress of his wartime service wasted him away, and he died just four days after the peace treaty with Japan was signed.

Finally, it appears that in fact John McCain’s grandfather’s father was also named John Sidney McCain; so I wonder why our presidential candidate is not John S. McCain IV? This earliest McCain was not a military man, but owned a plantation in Mississippi.

Barack Hussein Obama is easily the most fascinating name of the 2008 US presidential election — and that’s saying something, when the field included the likes of Huckabee and Gravel (pronounced grah-VELL).

Barack’s father — also named Barack Obama — was from Kenya, and his name was Swahili, meaning “blessed”. The Swahili name is ultimately borrowed from Arabic b-r-k, a triconsonental root that is at the basis of many words dealing with blessings and good fortune. It is cognate with Hebrew baruch, also meaning “blessed”. Swahili has a large number of loan words from Arabic, so Barack’s first name has nothing to do with his father’s Muslim upbringing. Spiritually, Barack is a burst of powerful Source energy that is gathered up and contained — i.e. a blessing bestowed on someone.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Through most of his childhood, Barack went by the nickname Bar – which indicates the same explosive, powerful source energy, but lacks the direction and containment of Barack. When he grew older, he went by the name of Barry, which has a completely different energy — while it is still explosive and strong, it lacks a source connection; instead it is connective and social. Only when Barack went to college and began to seek out a deeper understanding of his roots did he decide to go by his original name. Choosing one’s name is a very important spiritual act, and marks quite a turning point in Barack’s understanding of himself.

Hussein, meanwhile, is an Arabic name of proud Muslim heritage, a diminutive of the name Hasan, meaning “good” or “handsome”. The original Hussein was a grandson of Mohammad, and Shiite Muslims regard him and his elder brother Hasan as the true successors of the Prophet. Energetically, the h-s-n root indicates a strongly directed, sinuous energy that arises from a place of safety and is grounded towards some goal or target. The u-ei vowels of the name show that the energy is well-rounded and fast-moving as it arises, and becomes elastic and far-reaching as it nears its goal. Interestingly, the English word that’s closest in meaning to Hussein is “cutie”, and the sounds of the words are not all that different — they have similar vowels (u-ei vs. u-ie), and energetically, “h” is similar to “c” and “s” is similar to “t”. Generally, the name Hussein indicates more challenges and growth than cutie does.

Lastly, Obama is a not-uncommon surname of the Luo people of east Africa. As best I can determine, it is of uncertain origin, but might be related to the root obam, meaning “bending” or “leaning”. The Obama family is tightly wound up in the politics of Kenya at present. Obama is a name of earth-source-energy, bursting out into spiritual manifestation.

Overall, it’s remarkable how much earth/source energy abounds in Obama’s names, while the repeating “b”’s indicate sudden growth. This name is an unexpected upswelling of grounded power, manifesting blessings. Hussein breaks the pattern: it modulates the growing source energy with direction, decision, and firm targets. Barack Hussein Obama is the name of a man who rises suddenly from the earth, and moves with decision and determination toward his goals.