Real names of Bible characters

[GodLovesCats]

For years I have been convinced some of the character names are changed in English versions. If you read lists of Hebrew, Greek, or Egyption names for boys and girls, you will not find these names, which are in the Bible:

Adam, Eve. Seth, Rachel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Ethan, Nathan, Danial, James, Simon, Paul, Saul, Peter, Matthew, Mark. Luke, John, Mary (several people), Martha, Michael, Elizabeth, Phillip, and David. I am sure there are more I don't know about or can't remember.

My question is what were their real names? Are all these familar English names just fillers for a large group of English readers, updated variations of their real names, or the original names of these people?

 

[doctorwho29]

It is a direct translation of their actual names most of the time. Some minor characters, like Orpha in "Ruth", may be aliases for storytelling but all the main ones are them to my understanding. We get many of these names from the Bible

 

[~Anastasia~]

For years I have been convinced some of the character names are changed in English versions. If you read lists of Hebrew, Greek, or Egyption names for boys and girls, you will not find these names, which are in the Bible:

Adam, Eve. Seth, Rachel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Ethan, Nathan, Danial, James, Simon, Paul, Saul, Peter, Matthew, Mark. Luke, John, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth, Phillip, and David. I am sure there are more I don't know about or can't remember.

My question is what were their real names? Are all these familar English names just fillers for a large group of English readers, updated variations of their real names, or the original names of these people?

They are mostly all "translated" names. The originals would not have even been written with English letters.

Peter for example is Πέτρος in Greek letters, which could be transliterated into English as Petros.

Many people couldn't even read the names written as they once were. It's more important that we know who we are talking about.

"Jesus" doesn't appear in ancient texts either. In the Greek manuscripts it was Ἰησοῦς (Iesous).

 

[GodLovesCats]

It's more important that we know who we are talking about.

Of course it is. So you would think there was only one "Mary" to give each person a different name.

 

[HTacianas]

For years I have been convinced some of the character names are changed in English versions. If you read lists of Hebrew, Greek, or Egyption names for boys and girls, you will not find these names, which are in the Bible:

Adam, Eve. Seth, Rachel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Ethan, Nathan, Danial, James, Simon, Paul, Saul, Peter, Matthew, Mark. Luke, John, Mary (several people), Martha, Michael, Elizabeth, Phillip, and David. I am sure there are more I don't know about or can't remember.

My question is what were their real names? Are all these familar English names just fillers for a large group of English readers, updated variations of their real names, or the original names of these people?

The names in English bibles have been anglicanized. Ha'adam and Chavah are Adam and Eve. Solomon's real name is Schlomo. Moses is Moshe. Even Jesus' name comes to english through the Greek Iesous. Originally it was Yahshua, sometimes pronounced Yeshua. In English it would be Joshua.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

It is common practice to transliterate names for ease of pronunciation in other languages, at least in the past. Often today people try and keep original forms unless a transliteration is widely known. Don't really know if it aids comprehension though.

So for instance, Gwenhwyffr in Welsh is transliterated to Guinevere in Arthurian legend and long ago entered English as Jennifer.
Or Yohannan in Hebrew became Latin Iohannes, then English John or Russian Ivan. Ultimately all the same name.

We used to translate names even, so up till the 19th century they would call Johannes Hendrikus Brand, John Henry Brand - but we stopped doing so. Or Christopher Columbus was Christobal Colon to the Spanish.

When we write ancient names, we do the same. Plinius becomes Pliny, or Pilatus Pilate, or Aristoteles becomes Aristotle. It isn't nefarious, it just makes it easier in other languages. Sometimes we know people by names that aren't even their own - like Genghis Khan (really a title of Temujin) or create different names for the same (French kings Clovis and Louis and the Frankish Hlodowig are all actually the same; or Jesus and Joshua from Yeshua).

The Bible merely came via Greek or Latin into other languages, so Hebrew or Latin or Greek or Aramaic names are all transformed thereby and then changed in the new language to fit its sound structure.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Of course it is. So you would think there was only one "Mary" to give each person a different name.

The names were Anglicanized, not fictionaized. Mary was a very common name. There are other names people have in common (such as two men named Judas). The Scriptures generally explain which one is meant (sometimes it is in the context). People sometimes get them confused because of false stories that have become common.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Another minor issue with Anglicization is the pronunciation of Greek. So we all know who Socrates the philosopher (SOCK-ret-ees) is. In Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure they call him "SO-crates". But in Greek, the name is pronounced "so-CRAT-ess".

 

[GodLovesCats]

I assumed his name is pronounced SO-crates because it is too easy to think of English spellings for words and names, which include double letters for a long E and pronouncing "ates" with a long A and silent E. In other languages this is not the case, but without knowing them, messing up pronouncations is to easy.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Another minor issue with Anglicization is the pronunciation of Greek. So we all know who Socrates the philosopher (SOCK-ret-ees) is. In Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure they call him "SO-crates". But in Greek, the name is pronounced "so-CRAT-ess".

I had a Greek friend whose dog was named Plato. Too bad he didn't name him Socrates ... I might have had more chances to hear proper pronunciation.

 

[GodLovesCats]

Most likely everybody would pronounce the dog's name wrong except those who know Greek.

Another issue is different letters for the same sound. During a U.S. Library of Congress tour, one room on it has murals with text on the walls. I asked the tour guide, "What is all the text in a foreign language? It is actually "English with a Latin spelling." A nice reminder Latin does not have J and U in its alphabet.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

It is actually "English with a Latin spelling." A nice reminder Latin does not have J and U in its alphabet.

Latin doesn't have a J, U or a W sign, as I only later differentiated into J (so Iulius Caesar for instance) and the V sign was often pronounced as a W, but mostly as a U sound. There were actually attempts within Latin to add letters (the Claudian letters) for places where letters were used for more than one sign, but never caught on.

English had its own extra letters: eth, wynn and thorn - that it eventually lost.

Also, Latin C is hard. So in Cicero or Caesar, the C is closer to a K (hence the origin of German Kaiser from it). English pronunciation of Latin names is often way off.

 

[GodLovesCats]

During a Vatican tour the guide said Caesar is pronounced Kizer.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Most likely everybody would pronounce the dog's name wrong except those who know Greek.

Well, most of the folks in the Church (and almost all in that group) ARE Greek. Some languages are notoriously difficult to learn even to hear properly as an adult, much less pronounce. Greek isn't that difficult. I've been singing Greek in the choir for several years and it's easier for me than English most of the time. Chanting in Greek is a whole other learning curve I'm working on.

Another issue is different letters for the same sound. During a U.S. Library of Congress tour, one room on it has murals with text on the walls. I asked the tour guide, "What is all the text in a foreign language? It is actually "English with a Latin spelling." A nice reminder Latin does not have J and U in its alphabet.

True, alphabets seldom match, and sometimes results in different spellings or confusing pronunciations when transliterated.

Even more "fun" ... the writing on icons and such is often done in Greek, but a sort of shorthand Greek. I'm used to some of it, but I still sometimes see writing I can't fully decipher.

(And actually understanding is a whole other thing, but I'm working on it. The Greek is so rich and we miss so much by not reading in Greek that it's worth the effort to me, though I'm sure I'll never understand Biblical texts as fully as those who lived then and used the language would have. Even small things can teach us a lot though.)

 

[Jonaitis]

For years I have been convinced some of the character names are changed in English versions. If you read lists of Hebrew, Greek, or Egyption names for boys and girls, you will not find these names, which are in the Bible:

Adam, Eve. Seth, Rachel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Ethan, Nathan, Danial, James, Simon, Paul, Saul, Peter, Matthew, Mark. Luke, John, Mary (several people), Martha, Michael, Elizabeth, Phillip, and David. I am sure there are more I don't know about or can't remember.

My question is what were their real names? Are all these familar English names just fillers for a large group of English readers, updated variations of their real names, or the original names of these people?

Judah betrayed Joshua, or as we normally say, Judas betrayed Jesus.

Interesting how we have anglicized names, sometimes from a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew!

Egypt is Greek, Mizraim is its Hebrew name. Same with Lazarus, in Hebrew it is Elazar, anglicized as Eleazar.

The Hebrew names would be proper, in my opinion, but it would be difficult to pronounce I suppose and strange to use.

 

[GodLovesCats]

One thing I noticed during my nephew's bar mitzvah last year was when he spoke in Hebrew, one sound - spelled "ch" and pronounced similar to a K in English - is further back on the tongue and more clickly. The letter helped me identify whether I was hearing English or Hebrew at some points.

 

[Dave-W]

"Jesus" doesn't appear in ancient texts either. In the Greek manuscripts it was Ἰησοῦς (Iesous).

Actually His name was יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua. It means simply Salvation.

 

[Dave-W]

One thing I noticed during my nephew's bar mitzvah last year was when he spoke in Hebrew, one sound - spelled "ch" and pronounced similar to a K in English - is further back on the tongue and more clickly. The letter helped me identify whether I was hearing English or Hebrew at some points.

It can be spelled (in English) either ch- or k- They are slightly different and come from different letters. English has no sound like it at all. If it was pronounced like a K then it was not being pronounced correctly, in either Ashkenazi or Sephardic Hebrew. It sounds like you are clearing your throat.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Actually His name was יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua. It means simply Salvation.

Yes I know. Was speaking of texts and translations, since Greek is the main language for received NT texts.

 

[prodromos]

I'd love someone to explain how we get "James" from "Iakovos" in the Greek.