As you probably know, some ancient customs led people to name their children based on something they knew about them at the time of their birth. In Genesis 25, Isaac and Rebekah named their children Esau (which means "hairy" because he "came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak") and Jacob (which means "takes by the heal" or "he cheats" because he "came out with his hand holding Esau's heel").
Sometimes babies grew into their names. David became known as a man after God's own heart. His name meant "beloved." Moses delivered God's people out of bondage. His name meant "son" or maybe "deliver." If this sort of thing fascinates you, I found a cool website called Behind the Name. Check it out.
Of course, not all of the names in the Bible were positive in nature.Some reflected negatives character or physical traits. That takes us back to Shady Grady.
In modern culture, we tend to use nicknames rather than naming our children with some specific character or physical trait in mind. I don't remember Grady's character well enough to know if he wore his nickname with a badge of honor or if he hated it. But one thing is for sure. People become known by what they do and who they are, for better or worse.
