18 The Eternal God said, “It is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper for him.” 19 And the Lord God formed out of the earth all the wild beasts and all the birds of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that would be its name. 20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found.

Rabbi Aha said: when the Holy One, Blessed be He, came to create the world, he consulted the angels of the heavenly court. He said to them: "Let us make Adam" (Genesis 1:26). They said to him: this Adam, what is his nature? He said to them: his wisdom exceeds yours. He brought before them the domesticated beasts, the wild beasts, and the birds. He said to them: what are their names? They did not know. He brought them before Adam. He said to him: what are their names? Adam said: this is a ox, this is a donkey, this is a horse, this is a camel. And you, what is your name? Adam said to him: it is fitting that I should be called 'Adam' as I was created from the earth [adamah]. And Me, what is My name? Adam said to Him: it is fitting to call You Adonai, as You are the master [adon] of all your creations. Rabbi Hiyyah said: "I am God, that is my name" (Isaiah 42:8). "That is my name" - that Adam, the first person, called me.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812)

​Rather, the Activating Force of the Creator must continuously be in the thing createdto give it life and existence. [These Forces] are the "letters of speech" of the Ten Utterances by which [beings] were created. And that is the meaning of the verse: ואתה מחיה את כולם. Read not המחי, give life, but מהוה bring into being, i.e.,ex nihilo. The word אתה, You, indicates all the letters from Aleph to Tav,and the letter He, the five organs of verbal articulation, the sources of the letters:

25 Please, my lord, pay no attention to that wretched fellow Nabal. For he is just what his name says: His name means ‘boor’ and he is a boor. “Your handmaid did not see
the young men whom my lord sent.

15 And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. 16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.” 17 Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live by Your favor!” 19 God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come.

9 They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he replied, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son!” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah had stopped having the periods of women. 12 And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment—with my husband so old?” 13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?’ 14 Is anything too wondrous for the Lord? I will return to you at the time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was frightened. But He replied, “You did laugh.”

26 Then his brother emerged, holding on to the heel of Esau; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

"Ruth" — what means "Ruth"? R. Johanan said: Because she was worthy that David should issue from her, who delighted the Holy One, blessed be He, with songs and praises. Whence do we learn that the name of a person affects his life? R. Eleazar said:Because the Scriptures declare, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who hath made shammot ['desolations'] in the earth" (Ps. xlvi. 9). Read not shammot but shemot "names."

Also, R. Meir and R. Judah and R. Jose were on a journey together. (R. Meir always paid close attention to people's names, whereas R. Judah and R. Jose paid no such attention to them). Once as they came to a certain place. they looked for a lodging, and as they were given it, they said to him [the innkeeper]: What is your name? — He replied: Kidor. Then he [R. Meir] said: Therefrom it is evident that he is a wicked man, for it is said: For a generation [ki-dor] very forward are they. (Deuteronomy 32:20) R. Judah and R. Jose entrusted their purses to him; R. Meir did not entrust his purse to him, but went and placed it on the grave of that man's father.

(10) These are the names of the men (Numbers 13:16): What were their names? Sethur the son of Michael; Nahbi the son of Vophsi; Geuel the son of Machi. There are people whose names are nice and whose actions are ugly, people whose names are ugly and actions are nice, people whose names and actions are nice, and people whose names and actions are ugly. Whose names are nice and whose actions are ugly - this is Ishmael and Esau: Ishmael means "listens to God" ("Shomea El"). Esau means "does the will of his Maker" ("Oseh Retzon Osav"). But their actions are bad. Whose names are ugly and whose actions are nice - these are those who ascended from exile: the children of Barak, the children of Sisera, and the children of Tamach. Whose names and actions are ugly - these are the spies. What is written about them? Sethur - that he closed him off ("setharo") from the world.

(18) Someone whose name was changed due to illness, even though people always address him with his original name, despite this the changed name is the primary name... Rama: even if it [the changed name] is in the vernacular and the original name is in Hebrew (in Seder Gittin) Mechaber: ...and we write it [the changed name] first, and afterward, "who is called so-and-so," using the original name. This is true only where they sometimes address him by the second (new) name, but if they never call him by the second name, he writes only the first (original) name.

16 O Eternal, I am Your servant, Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;

You have undone the cords that bound me.

For it was taught, R. Nathan said: I once visited the Sea-towns, and a woman came before me who had circumcised her first son and he had died and her second son and he had died; the third she brought before me. Seeing that he was [too] red I said to her, Wait until his blood is absorbed. So she waited until his blood was absorbed and [then] circumcised him and he lived; and they called him Nathan the Babylonian after my name. On another occasion I visited the Province of Cappadocia, and a woman came before me who had circumcised her first son and he had died and her second son and he had died; the third she brought before me. Seeing that he was green, I examined him and saw no covenant blood in him. I said to her, Wait until he is full-blooded; she waited and [then] circumcised him and he lived, and they called him Nathan the Babylonian, after my name.

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. 2 I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.”

3 Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, 4 “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations . . . 12 And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days, the homeborn slave and the one bought from an outsider who is not of your offspring.

We have further learnt: “The reason why the name Abraham occurs for the first time in connection with the circumcision is that when he was circumcised he became associated with the letter He, and the Shekinah rested on him.” ‘Said R. Abba further: ‘When a man takes up his son to initiate him in this covenant, God calls to the ministering angels and says, “See what a creature I have made in the world.” At that moment Elijah traverses the world in four sweeps and presents himself there; and for this reason we have been taught that it behoves the father to prepare an extra chair for his honour, and to say “this is the chair of Elijah”; and if he neglects to do so, Elijah does not visit him nor go up and testify before the Almighty that the circumcision has taken place. Why has Elijah to testify? For this reason. When God said to him “What dost thou here, Elijah?” (I Kings XIX, 9), he answered, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant.” Said God to him: “As thou livest, wherever my sons imprint this sign upon their flesh, thou shalt be there, and the mouth which charged Israel with forsaking the covenant shall testify that they are observing it.” Our teachers have also taught that the reason why Elijah was punished was because he brought false charges against God's children.’