Behind the Name

Names have always held much significance to me.  Whether it’s the names parents give to their children, the names of pets, or the names of stuffed animals, names tell you something unique about the giver of the name and the recipient of the name.  In Chinese culture, the name parents give to their child represents their hopes and dreams for the child, and in turn, reveals their values, beliefs, and perhaps even their own ambitions. In the Bible, names were always of great significance.  Names reflected God’s spoken will or His working through amazing circumstances (for example, Samuel, Isaac, John the Baptist).  Name changes indicated God-led life changes or promises (for example, Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter). Names were important – they were your identity, they spoke something about your life and who you were, and they revealed your relationship to God. That’s why we see so many times people asking God what His name was in  the Bible – it is like asking ‘who are you’. 

Hence I’ve always looked forward to naming my children as I believe that their names should hold significance and reflect what God was doing not just in Vinayak and my life, but in our children’s lives. So it is not surprising that within a few days of finding out about the genetic condition of our firstborn son, God gave us a name for our son – Mirari Eden Agarwal.  Mirari is the Latin root word for miracle and Eden is a symbol of God’s restoration of all things in heaven and on earth in the book of Revelation. 

We felt led to give our son a name that reflected the fact that he is a miracle, despite what the doctors may think, and so God placed the name Mirari in Vinayak’s heart and it is a reflection of our belief that our son and his life would be a testament of God’s miracles in this broken world.  Eden was a name that God placed on my heart early on in the pregnancy, and we had for awhile even called our baby ‘Baby Eden’ as a nickname.  I’d forgotten about it until a few days after we found out the diagnosis. I was continuing my Bible reading plan, and was reading Revelation 22 that day. The title of the section was ‘Eden restored’.  It struck my heart and in that instant I realized that was exactly what I was praying for – that our son would be restored and would be a witness of God’s restorative work. 

Mirari Eden – a name that reflected our hope and prayer that he would be God’s miracle and a testament of how God does and will restore all things – whether in heaven or on earth! And God has answered and Mirari Eden has lived up to his name and will continue to live out his name.

Mirari – he was in every sense of the word a miracle – he beat so many  of the medical odds stacked against him: most trisomy 18 babies pass away in utero (especially boys), he did not; most trisomy 18 babies start delaying even more in growth throughout the pregnancy, he did not, he consistently grew at the same delayed rate of 2 weeks and came out with the most adorable chubby cheeks – a physical confirmation of how happy he always was when meal times came around when he was still inside the womb; most trisomy 18 babies are smaller due to delayed growth and growth restriction in utero – Mirari was 18.25inches in length (typical newborns are 18-22 inches) and a whopping 4lb 14.8oz (doctors in the beginning had thought he’d only be 3-4lbs and typical newborns range from 5.5lb to 10lb); 50% of trisomy 18 babies who make it to full term pass away during labor, Mirari did not, he was born alive with a heartbeat and held on just enough to hear us and feel us!

Eden – he was restored both on heaven and on earth. The cysts the doctors found in his brain had disappeared towards the end of the pregnancy and what doctors had previously diagnosed to be a severe diaphragmatic hernia was eventually reduced to a much less severe diaphragmatic eventration. Though he was still not able to live long with us here on earth, we believe and know he is now fully restored in heaven. 

We also gave Mirari a Chinese name – 宣勝 – xuan1 sheng4. Xuan1 means to ‘proclaim’ and it is the same word used for missionaries – this character was picked by my mom. Sheng4 means ‘victory’ or ‘to overcome’ and was picked by me.  Together, his Chinese names means ‘to proclaim victory’, or ‘to overcome’ and our belief and prayer is that his life is a proclamation of Christ’s victory over death and how in Christ, we can overcome anything, even death. Again, Mirari lived up to his name – he overcame so many medical odds against him, and not only that, we know that through Christ’s death, Mirari has overcome death and is alive now for all eternity and we will meet him one day again. 

Our baby’s name held not only significance for us but for those we met who had walked in this journey before.  With each couple we met who had gone through an infant loss, whether through a life-limiting diagnosis or not, all would ask us if we had named our son yet because names meant life and it meant hope.  Before Mirari’s birth, we only shared his name with these families who had walked the unique journey of infant loss before as it was a shared bond and meaning.  I loved how families would refer to their children who were no longer on earth by name and I loved when families referred to our son by name.  It brings beauty, individuality, and humanity into an otherwise seemingly bleak situation – it meant that the children, no matter how long or short their lives were, mattered, were remembered, and were so dearly loved.  It makes so much sense how much humanity a name brings in when we realize the inhumanity of stripping a person of their name – like the Nazis did by assigning numbers to their concentration camp prisoners.   

We are so thankful for the gift of our son, Mirari Eden, and for all that he has taught us about faith, hope, and love.  That faith that exists only when things are going well is not faith at all. That hope alone lies in God and if our beliefs were but a house of cards, then that hope is nothing. That love – the kind of inexplicable love a parent can have for a child – is but a glimpse of the kind of love God has for us and our son.  Our son’s name, Mirari Eden, is a constant reminder to us of the nearness of God to us and how even in pain and darkness and endless ‘whys’, a God-given name can bring a much needed reminder of God’s light, assurance, and hope to our own hearts.