When I first searched my name in high school, I saw “crown” and was quite pleased, but later I saw it meant “crown of martyrdom” I was raised in a devout Pentecostal home, and when I was born, they named me after the first Christian martyr, Stephen, who was stoned to death for preaching Christianity while Saul of Tarsus, later known as St. Paul, held the coats of those that stoned him. Perhaps being named after someone murdered by a mob is why I don’t like mobs.Anyway, I’m named after St. Stephen, whose saint day is December 26, and who inspired the song “Good King Weneceslas”. Here’s me singing it in COVID-time. Photographs cover 10+ years at my church.
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath’ring winter fuel.
“Hither, page, and stand by me, if you knowst it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”
“Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither,
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”
Page and Monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
Through the rude wind’s wild lament and the wintry weather.
“Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger,
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footstep good my page, , tread now in them boldly,
You shall find the winter’s rage freeze your blood less coldly.”
In his Master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the Saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, rank or wealth possessing
You who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.
And yes, I only know this song because of the masterpiece that was Sir Patrick Stewart’s “A Christmas Carol”. Here’s a Zoom choir from the Dark Times.
Reading Freely 
My Mum (wrongly) thought I was going to be a girl [lol] so named me – pre-birth – after a popular song of the day…. Then hurriedly had to change it to the closest male version when I arrived. My brother caused family troubles when HE was born because he – being first born – *wasn’t* named after my father (apparently a family tradition). Naming children is SO much fun… [lol]
That used to be a common tradition! A family in town has been using the same three names for its males for at least two hundred years.
Oh my! That’s a lot to live up to. I was named after a little girl my mom babysat for when my mom was a teen. I always hated having such a silly name—Debbie—and I do have Deborah, too, but that sounds too pompous. Sigh.
Ahh, the Biblical spelling! More fun than “Debra”.
Right. The “ah” ending on a name apparently refers to the “breath of God.”