There’s Just Something About That Name

There’s Something About That Name is a compact gospel chorus of adoration centered on the person and name of Jesus Christ. Rather than developing a narrative across several stanzas, it concentrates attention on who Jesus is and on the enduring significance of his lordship. The repetition characteristic of the song functions devotionally: the congregation is invited to linger over the confession of Christ rather than move rapidly through a sequence of ideas.

Theologically, the song belongs with the New Testament passages that connect Jesus’ name with salvation, faith, exaltation, and universal lordship. Its movement is from intimate address to a larger confession that Christ outranks every temporary human power. That gives the chorus both a personal and a cosmic dimension.

In worship, the song is especially useful as a response to Scripture, a prayer chorus, or a transition into adoration. Because it is brief, its strongest use is often alongside a substantial biblical reading or fuller hymn so that the congregation hears the scriptural claims that give theological weight to its simple devotional form.

There’s Something About That Name was written in 1970 during a period of rapid growth in the songwriting and publishing ministry of Bill and Gloria Gaither. By then Bill had left school teaching to work full time in gospel music, and the couple had already produced songs that were moving from Southern Gospel performance into broader church use. Gloria increasingly supplied literary and lyrical strength, while Bill’s work centered heavily on melody, arranging, performance, and publishing. Standard hymnals credit both as authors of the text and identify Bill as composer of the tune THAT NAME.

The song was copyrighted in 1970 by William J. Gaither. Its precise composition scene is less securely documented than the basic authorship and copyright facts. Later devotional retellings connect it with family experiences involving the Gaithers’ grandparents and their early years as parents, and Gloria eventually included the song among works discussed in her retrospective writing on their songwriting life. However, readily accessible contemporary documentation does not establish all of the frequently repeated anecdotal details with enough precision to present them as certain. The safest historical account is therefore to retain the 1970 date and collaborative authorship while treating detailed origin stories cautiously.

Text and tune originated together. Bill Gaither composed the melody now indexed as THAT NAME in the same year as the text. Hymnary identifies the meter as irregular and commonly records the tune in E-flat major. Unlike many older hymns that acquired their familiar tunes decades later, this chorus entered circulation with a purpose-written musical setting, so its text-and-tune association is original rather than editorially imposed.

An early hymnal appearance currently indexed by Hymnary is The Best of Sacred Music from 1972. By 1976 it appeared in Hymns for the Family of God and The New Church Hymnal, and it continued into denominational collections such as The New Broadman Hymnal, The United Methodist Hymnal, The Worshiping Church, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, The Celebration Hymnal, the African American Heritage Hymnal, Lead Me, Guide Me, and later collections. This trajectory shows a short gospel chorus moving from the Gaithers’ performance and publishing world into established congregational hymnody.

The tune is normally called THAT NAME, although a few hymnals identify it by its opening incipit or use another descriptive tune label such as JESUS, JESUS. Hymnary’s tune authority credits Bill Gaither as composer and dates it to 1970. Some modern commercial arrangements credit both Gaithers more broadly as composers, but major hymnal records consistently distinguish the shared text authorship from Bill’s composition of THAT NAME.

The song remains copyrighted. Hymnary gives the original copyright as 1970 William J. Gaither, while current licensing records identify William J. Gaither, Inc. and Gaither Copyright Management or Capitol CMG administration depending on the resource. CCLI identifies the song as number 14064. Modern reproduction, projection, recording, streaming, and arrangement should therefore follow the permissions attached to the specific licensed edition being used.