Songfacts®:

• Naida Hearn was brought up as a Methodist in Palmerston North, New Zealand. As she grew in her faith, she became interested in the different Biblical names given to Jesus and their meanings. She even made a list of those names.
  
  One day when she was about 30-years-old, Naida was contemplating the names given to Jesus written on a piece of paper, as she did the washing. She recalled in the book
  The Sacrifice of Praise: Stories Behind the Greatest Praise and Worship Songs of All Time by Lindsay Terry: "While I was doing the family washing, the Lord gave me the first line of a song. I began singing, 'Jesus, name above all names.' I continued and sang the whole song just as you hear it today. I just opened my mouth and all of the words came out, the melody and everything. I just sang it."
  
  "I left the washhouse and went down into the sitting room and worked the song out on music paper. I then said, 'Lord, is that OK? Is it all right like that? Yes, it was all right. I then went back to the washing. It was just that simple. It was a straight-out lead from the Holy Spirit, absolutely. I can't say I thought about this or I thought about that; I just started on 'Jesus, name above all names,' and it carried on all by itself."
• The song was soon being sung by her local congregation at New Life Church in Palmerton North and in time it became a worldwide favorite. Naida said, "The Spirit impressed on me that it was to be sung as a love song. It's all about Him. You should sing it softly, slowly and reverently. This is what He wanted."