“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” Charles Spurgeon
As I sat down to write this, I thought it would be best to get the story straight from my mom…and I learned something about how I received my name that I had never heard before!
For the longest time, I hated my name. As a boy, I was constantly called ‘Dennis the Menace’ and that irked me to no end…because EVERYBODY did it! To add insult to my perceived injury, my middle name was Leon…which I equated with being a pretty lame name. Just being honest here. Whenever I was in trouble, I could count on hearing my mom or dad use my entire name, “Dennis Leon Jernigan!” Since I became an adult…and since God transformed my life forever in 1981, I have literally come to love and appreciate my name. My mom tells me she believes I have the perfect name…and I am inclined to agree with her. To this day she does not like it when someone calls me DJ. She says, “That is not your name. Your name is Dennis Leon!”
Until I talked with my mom this week, I believed I was not named after anyone in my family line. My brother Paul William was named after one of my Dad’s best friends, Paul Williams. My brother Bob (Robert Lewis) was named after my dad (Samuel Robert) and my dad’s favorite uncle, Lewis Snyder. My brother Sam (Samuel Everett) was named after our paternal grandfather, Samuel Washington Jernigan and our maternal grandfather, Herman Everett Johnson. I never knew until I called my mom today that I was named after someone specifically!
As the time of my birth drew near, my dad wanted to name me Dennis Lewis. During the years my dad was growing up, he had a close friend named Dennis Edwards who attended school and church with him. Dad wanted to name me Dennis Lewis Jernigan. My mom said, “No child of mine will ever be called Lewis!” (Sorry, brother Bob, lol!).
When they could not agree on Dennis Lewis, my dad suggested they call me Robert Wayne. My mom hated that combination, too, so they compromised and my dad chose the name Dennis and my mom chose the name Leon out of thin air just because she liked the name and how it sounded with Dennis. Dennis Leon Jernigan is a good name.
A [good] name is to be more desired than great wealth,
Favor is better than silver and gold.
Proverbs 22:1 NASB
Dennis literally means ‘follower/worshiper of Dionysius, Greek god of wine’. Because I am a follower of Christ, I asked the Lord to reveal to me the true meaning of my name as a result of who I am in Christ. He told me Dennis means ‘follower/worshiper of the one true God/Jesus’. Leon literally means ‘lion’ or ‘lion-hearted’. When I hear my name now, I hear the meaning behind it. “Worshiper of Jesus who walks with a courageous heart.” That is a good name and it means more to me than great wealth because it serves to remind me of who and Whose I am.
Dennis Leon Jernigan
Photo courtesy of https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/07/31/22/08/lion-3576045_1280.jpg