Avery Is Not in the Bible — but Scripture Is Full of Renaming

Names and Their Biblical MeaningsSee all 223 articles in this series

Avery is not in the Bible. It is also not, any more, the name it was a generation ago — and that turns out to be the interesting part.

Avery is a Norman French form of an older Germanic name — either Alfred (“elf counsel”) or Alberich (“elf ruler”). It came into England with the Normans, settled into a surname, and stayed there for several hundred years.

It began as a man’s name. It is now given overwhelmingly to girls in the United States, and the change happened within living memory.

No. It is medieval, European and originally Germanic.

What Scripture does have is a good deal to say about names changing — which is what this one has been doing.

Abram becomes Abraham at ninety-nine, when the promise is repeated to him (Genesis 17:5). Sarai becomes Sarah in the same passage.

Jacob becomes Israel after wrestling all night with a stranger who will not give his own name (Genesis 32:28). He is given a new name and a limp in the same hour.

Simon becomes Peter — the rock — and the reader is told this early and then watches him behave like anything but one for two more years (John 1:42; Matthew 16:18).

In none of these is the new name a description of the person as they are. It is a description of what they are being drawn into. Abraham is not yet the father of many. Israel has just been beaten in a fight. Peter is not yet solid.

The name arrives first and the person catches up.

There is one more, and Scripture keeps it deliberately private:

To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)

Known only to the one who receives it. Not announced, not put on a list. Whatever we are finally called, we will be told in person.

That is a remarkable thing to promise, and the promise is that God’s knowledge of each of us is particular. Not a category. A name nobody else is given.

Names drift. They cross from surname to first name, from boys to girls and occasionally back. It can feel as though a name lightly held is a name that means less.

Scripture does not treat it that way. What it treats seriously is being named at all — being singled out and called by someone who knows us.

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

By name. Not by type, not by tribe, not by what the name meant in the eleventh century.

May we grow into whatever we have been called, as Abraham and Peter had to.

May we hold the name we were given gratefully and the one we are promised expectantly.

And may we be glad to be summoned by name by the one who knows which name is ours.

What does Avery mean?

“Elf counsel” or “elf ruler,” depending on whether Alfred or Alberich stands behind it. It came into England with the Normans and settled into a surname.

Does the Bible say anything about names changing?

A great deal. Abram becomes Abraham (Genesis 17:5), Jacob becomes Israel (Genesis 32:28), Simon becomes Peter (Matthew 16:18). In none of these does the new name describe the person as they already are.

What is the new name in Revelation 2:17?

A white stone with a name written on it, “known only to the one who receives it.” It is not announced or listed; it is given in person.

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