If you grew up in the middle of the “baby boom,” you remember how every classroom was overflowing with kids. But teachers didn’t have to memorize fifty new names for every class, because certain names were so popular there would always be at least two or three in every room. If a teacher guessed Steve, Dave, Mike, or Jeff for a boy or Kathy, Pam, Lisa, or Cheryl for a girl, chances were good that the teacher would be right.

One name never present in those classrooms was “Jesus.” Although Latino culture is comfortable with re-using the name Jesus for children, the same has never been true in Anglo traditions. Biblical names have always been popular, lots of Johns, Pauls, Marks, Sarahs, Marys, Deborahs, even Joshuas (the Hebrew equivalent of Jesus). But not “Jesus.” There is “something abou…