While John McCain’s name is not as exotic as Barak Obama’s, it still has some fascinating features. McCain shares a name with his father and grandfather — to what extent are their fortunes parallel? And what is the relationship, if any, between McCain and the famous Cain of the Bible?

But first, the historical background. The name John is ultimately from Hebrew Yohanan, meaning “Yahweh has favored”, and as it was the name of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, it became a popular Christian name all across Europe. In Greek it became Ioannes, in Latin Joannes, and in Medieval Latin Johannes. Energetically, the name John indicates a difficult decision that gives rise to narrowed, targeted Source energy. People named John are ones whose own personal, hard-fought decisions have a particularly salient effect on the spiritual energies around them.

Sidney is probably derived from the Norman name Saint-Denis, and therefore was brought to England during the invasion of William the Conqueror. It is a sinuous name, one of light, tense energy that slides through a decision and results in stamina and longevity. Intuitively, it suggests a warrior’s energy — compare the word sword – mixed with endurance through hardship. McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, which defines so much of his character and life, jumps to mind in this connection.

McCain itself is an Irish variant of the Scots name McKean, which comes from Gaelic Mac Ian, which means — you guessed it — “son of John”. But the Gaelic Ian has a very different spiritual energy than the English John; there is no implication of decision or difficulty, but instead a strong, enduring energy that is channeled.

The Cain syllable, which sounds like cane, has that same narrowing, channeling quality, but the energy is elastic and wide, and the source is some kind of containment. The sense one gets is of controlled, coiled power, like that in a taut spring. In the story of Cain, of course, one sees personal energy channeled and directed against another, but there is nothing inherently evil or misdirected within the sounds of the name Cain itself.

The first, unaccented syllable, Mc, indicates forces of manifestation, encircled and gathered up. The overall thrust of the name is of tightly controlled, narrowly focused energy, which is nevertheless flexible and far-reaching.

My sense of the name John Sidney McCain is of a life of difficult decisions, directed yet malleable energy, and controlled power. Here is a man who is both focused enough to work towards a single goal for many years, and yet flexible enough to be adaptive and creative in the way he seeks that goal.

The other John Sidney McCains. Since McCain’s father and grandfather shared his name — and his son does, as well — it’s tempting to think about whether their lives paralleled his in any significant ways. While the similarities on the surface are striking — his father and grandfather were both US Admirals, and McCain’s son is currently attending the US Naval Academy — the differences are more interesting. McCain’s father (who actually preferred to be called “Jack”) was a submarine man, not an aviator; and his postwar career was spent deep in the Pentagon, commanding the Pacific fleet, — a very different environment from the US Senate. McCain’s grandfather served in WWI and WWII, and, like his grandson, was a naval aviator. He commanded an aircraft carrier and was a vice Admiral in the latter war; but apparently the stress of his wartime service wasted him away, and he died just four days after the peace treaty with Japan was signed.

Finally, it appears that in fact John McCain’s grandfather’s father was also named John Sidney McCain; so I wonder why our presidential candidate is not John S. McCain IV? This earliest McCain was not a military man, but owned a plantation in Mississippi.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 9:13 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.