Surname

The "sur" in surname comes from French loanwords and means "upon, over, on top of, or beyond." For example, a surcharge is an additional fee upon, over, on top of, or beyond the standard charge. So, a surname is a name that we take upon, over, on top of, or beyond our original name. Originally, surnames might have been chosen based on personal characteristics, occupations, or places of origin. They said something about who a person was, what they did, or where they were from. Today, surnames mainly help us identify what family we belong to. But the point I want to stress is that, literally, a surname is an "upon name", or, a name we take upon ourselves. Every week when we partake of the Sacrament, we covenant to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. Or, to put it another way, we agree to adopt for ourselves the surname of Christ. It is no small thing to take upon us the surname of Christ. To do so is to accept the responsibility of living up to that surname, of working as hard as we can to ensure that who we are, what we do and where we come from is a true reflection of that surname. It will be a struggle and we will inevitably fail over and over again, but I know that the more we strive to take upon us the name of Christ in thought and in word and in deed, the more and more we will feel that the surname of Christ belongs to us, and we belong to it. We will truly be a part of the family, just as we are a part of the same family of all of those with whom we currently share a surname.