The Name

from the mom

I've had an email and a phone call from long-time friends this week who both remembered that I loved the name "Kyrie" and had hoped to name my daughter that YEARS ago. I started getting curious about how many years ago it was that I first heard "Kyrie."

It was 1985 when Mr. Mister released the song Kyrie. Richard Page was a Christian in a mainstream band and he wrote the song to the Lord. Those in the liturgical Christian world knew what he was talking about; the secular world was clueless unless they chose to investigate. I loved the song and the prayer that it comes from: The Kyrie. Kyrie Elieson is Greek for "Lord, have mercy" and is prayed in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox services. Next to the Lord's Prayer, it is probably the most prayed prayer in Christendom.

A few years later I realized I loved the beauty of the name as a girl's name. Directly translated, it means "Lord" which may seem a little sacrilegious to some. However, Christina means "little Christ" and "Jesus" is consistently the most popular boy's name in Mexico. It stuck in my head as a beautiful name for a girl.

Enter M. He didn't like it so well. So I gave it up. We were working on another name when he came home and said that after writing it out, he decided he liked Kyrie. But we both felt that if we named our daughter "Lord," that her middle name should be a continuance of the first name for a complete meaning.

My other desire was to give my daughter an Irish name. She has a few drops of Irish blood in her but I take a lot of my cultural identity from my significantly Irish heritage. I had gone through lists of Irish names when we were originally looking for a girl's name and we couldn't find anything we agreed upon. But I went back to the lists and found "Aislinn" which means "vision." It was such a perfect combination: "Lord" and "Vision." We assumed the articles so we could have "The Lord is my vision."

Now our girl has a name that is a prayer for mercy, and her complete name will hopefully be a guide for her life.

And there is this somewhat melancholy song that she can refer to from the '80's.


Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison, kyrie

The wind blows hard against this mountain side,
across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide,
setting my feet upon the road

My heart is old, it holds my memories,
my body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine,
is where I find myself again

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

When I was young I thought of growing old,
of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road,
or only wished what I could be

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

(repeat chorus)