Not that I have experience with this, but from what I’m told, when one is expecting a child and trying to decide upon a name, there can be a fair bit of process involved. One critical part of this (according to my mom) is testing the name with a variety of possible and hoped for professions to make sure it is a good fit. Take ‘Sebastian’ as an example. He sure sounds like a wonderful chef but if he entered the police force, “Constable Sebastian” doesn’t really have a ring to it. Or ‘Chester’. Chester sounds comfortable as a semi driver but it would be unsettling to get a ‘Chester’ for a lawyer. Although Abraham is a wonderful farmer, ‘DJ Abe’ isn’t making any hits. A person’s name doesn’t formally define what their career options are, but some names and jobs just fit together a whole lot better than others. To an extent, it seems petty. To that same extent, I am quite petty.

While I was being anticipated, my parents went through a similar exercise when they decided what my name should be. According to my mom and dad’s evaluation, Cody works as a lawyer, doctor, engineer, or pastor. (My parents were optimistic.) With the bases covered for my most likely (or at least most desired) career paths, the name was settled on. There wasn’t any reasonable way for my evangelical parents to foresee me becoming a Roman Catholic priest, so they can’t be held accountable for how awkward “Father Cody” sounds.

For my dear mother though, ‘Father Cody’ does sound quite awkward. Her suggestion was for me simply to change my name. I have a middle name (James) that would do quite well. Two of Jesus’ twelve were named James, so I would be in great company. While there isn’t a ‘St. Cody’ (yet) there are plenty of ‘St. James’ around so there is ample history to draw on. Also, I could shorten it to Jim and spend at least one Sunday morning trying to preach in a Shatner voice until I burst out laughing.

I pitched the name-change idea to the youth here at the parish and took suggestions. The laugh-out-loud champ was “Father Judas”. I’m sure they didn’t expect me to take them seriously, but I had strongly considered taking on Jude as a confirmation name and the idea has been making a comeback. I don’t know how well ‘Jude’ fits with the name I have thus far, but with how much I’ve relied on St. Jude's prayers, imitation is the high form of flattery that’s called for.

I know that I and my ministry will not be defined by what I choose to put on my driver’s license. This is very much in the territory of fun priest-things to think about, alongside where I want my first mass to be and the extent to which pet ownership softens the loneliness. I freely acknowledge that there are probably more important aspects of discernment to focus on, but in the midst of serious discernment it's relieving sometimes to take on some of the little things.