Imagine the innumerable spirits that abound in all nine choirs. We are talking about billions and that would be guardian angels alone. One angel differs from another not as a rose differs from a sparrow but as a rose differs from a lily. They share a common essence in that they are all finite and composite spiritual substances hence they are “persons,” but their properties are unique to each. Saint Thomas teaches that each angel is its own species. The name of angels, on the other hand, may be a different story. If men were named for what they are, we would all be carrying the name “rational animal,” rather than Peter, John, or Barbara. Christians, beginning in the early Church, named their children, if not after the father in the case of a boy, then after a martyr, or later, a particular saint, to whom they dedicated their child and whom they wished the child to emulate - but proper names of men, per se, have nothing to do with the attributes of the bearer and certainly nothing to do with the child’s nature or essence. The American Indians are a perfect example of this. Some cultures named their children after a particular virtue or spectacle of nature that was related to the time or occasion of the birth. For men and women they do indeed have meanings. Yes, in the languages of the world, when it comes to the names of creatures, excluding angels, the names are arbitrary, which is not to say that they do not have a meaning. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet). Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy (Psalm 98:3).
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