Theophoric name
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
A theophoric name (from Greek: θεόφορος, theophoros, literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the name of a god, both invoking and displaying the protection of that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo, such as Apollonios or Apollodorus, existed in Greek antiquity.
Theophoric personal names, containing the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted (or a generic word for god), were also exceedingly common in the ancient Near East and Mesopotamia. Some names of theophoric origin remain common today, such as Theodore (theo-, "god"; -dore, origin of word compound in Greek: doron, "gift"; hence "God's gift"; in Greek: Theodoros) or less recognisably as Jonathan (from Hebrew Yonatan/Yehonatan, meaning "Yahweh has given").
Contents |
Classical theophoric names
- Demetrius and its derivatives mean "follower of Demeter."
- Dennis, in Latin Dionysius, and its relatives mean "of Dionysus."
- Martin and its relatives mean "of Mars."
- Zeno and Diodoros or Diodorus from Zeus (genitive of Zeus is 'dios')
- Poseidonios from Poseidon
- Athenodoros/Athenodora from Athena
- Minervina from Minerva
- Apollodoros/Apollodora and Apollonios from Apollo
- Artemisia and Artemidoros/Artemidora from Artemis
- Aphrodesia from Aphrodite; Hephaistion from Hephaistos
- Aria from Ares
- Hermione from Hermes
- Heliodoros/a from Helios
- Fortunatus from Fortuna
- Serapion from Serapis
- Isidoros or Isidora from Isis.
- Certain names of classical gods are sometimes given as personal names. The most common is Diana and its variants, such as Diane; others include Minerva, Aphrodite, Venus, Isis, or Juno. The first pope to take a regnal name, Pope John II, had the given name Mercurius and changed his name as he considered it inappropriate for the Pope to have the name of a pagan deity.
Christian theophoric names
- Amadeus: (Latin) "lover of God"
- Bogdan: (Slavic) "God given"
- Bogomil: (Slavic) "dear to God"
- Bozhidar: (Slavic) "gift of God"
- Christian: (Greek) "believer in Christ"
- Christopher: (Greek) "Christ-bearer".
- Deodatus/Deusdedit: (Latin) "God-given"
- Dorotheus/Dorothea: (Greek) "gift to God"
- Fürchtgott: (Germanic) "God-fearing"
- Gottfried: (Germanic) "God's peace"
- Gottlieb: (Germanic) "God's love"
- Philothea/Philothei/Philotheos: (Greek) "lover of God"
- Shenouda: (Coptic) "son of God"
- Theodore/Theodora: (Greek) "gift of God"
- Theodosius/Theodosia, Theodotos/Theodotē and Dositheus/Dosithea: (Greek) "God-given"
- Theodotus: (Greek): "given by God"
- Theophilus: (Greek) "one who loves God"
- Theognis: (Greek) "God-knowing"
- Theophanes/Theophania, Tiffany: (Greek) "manifestation of God"
- Theophrastus: (Greek) "godly speech"
- Theaetetus: (Greek) "one who pleads to God"
- Timothy/Timotheus: (Greek) "one who honors God"
Some Christian saints have polytheistic theophoric names (such as Saint Dionysius, Saint Mercurius, Saint Saturninus, Saint Hermes, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki,).
Germanic theophoric names
Rarely, Germanic names contain the element Wod (such as Woðu-riðe), potentially pointing to an association with the god Odin. In connection, numerous names containing wulf "wolf" have been taken as totemistic, expressing association with Odin in the earliest period, although -ulf degenerated into a mere suffix from an early time (Förstemann 1856).
Hinduism
The personal names of almost all gods and goddesses of various deities from the polytheistic Hindu pantheon are considered common and traditional names for people from region. Many traditional Hindu names are in fact from various names or epithets of Hindu gods or goddesses. This is in addition to compound theophoric names using the name of a deity in addition to possessive qualifiers.
- Names of gods which are also used as personal names, include
- Personal names using a deity's name as the base
- Vaishnavi, meaning "a worshipper of Vishnu"
- Shivansh, meaning "a part of Shiva"
Brahma, the Hindu creator god, is one of the only deities of the pantheon whose name is rarely if ever used as a personal name or as a base for theophoric personal names.
It must be noted however that some seemingly theophoric names, may in fact be more related to the original etymology of the deity's name itself. For example, both Lakshmi and Lakshman are names of a deity and an avatar respectively, which are both derived from the etymological root Laksh meaning goal or aim, which in itself is also a valid personal name.
Islam
- Abdullah: "servant of God"
Judaism and biblical
Much Hebrew theophory occurs in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. The most prominent theophory involves
- names referring to El, a word meaning might, power and (a) god in general, and hence in Judaism, God and among the Canaanites the name of the god who was the father of Baal.
- names referring to Yah, a shortened form of Yahweh.
- names referring to Levantine deities (especially the storm god, Hadad) by the epithet Baal, meaning lord.
In later times, as the conflict between Yahwism and the more popular pagan practices became increasingly intense, these names were censored and Baal was replaced with Bosheth, meaning shameful one. However the name Yahweh does not appear in theophoric names until the time of Joshua, and for the most part is very rare until the time of King Saul, when it began to be very popular.
El
- Ariel: "lion of God"
- Daniel: "God is my judge" or "justice from God"
- Elijah: "my God is YHWH"
- Elihu: "He is my God"
- Elisha: "my God is salvation"
- Elisheba (Elizabeth): "my God is an oath" or "my God is abundance"
- Immanuel: "God is with us"
- Ezekiel: "God will strengthen"
- Gabriel: "God is my strength"
- Ishmael: "God listens"
- Israel: "who struggles with God"
- Joel: "YHWH is God"
- Lemuel: "Dedicated/Devoted to God"
- Michael: "Who is like God"
- Nathaniel: "God-given" or "gift of God"
- Raphael: "God heals/God is great"
- Samuel: "God heard"
- Uriel: "God is my light"
Yahweh
The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shortened to Yah or Yahu, and Yeho or Yo) appears as a prefix or suffix in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period. For example, Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah), Yesha-yahu (Isaiah), Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah, Yeho-natan (Jonathan), Yeho-chanan (John), Yeho-shua (Joshua), Yeho-tzedek, Zekharya (Zechariah).
"Yahū" or "Yah" is the abbreviation of YHWH when used as a suffix in Hebrew names; as a prefix it appears as "Yehō-", or "Yo". It was formerly thought to be abbreviated from the Masoretic pronunciation "Yehovah". There is an opinion that, as Yahweh is likely an imperfective verb form, "Yahu" is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form: compare yiŝtahaweh (imperfective), yiŝtáhû (preterit or jussive short form) = "do obeisance".
- Abijah: "my father is YHWH"
- Hezekiah: "YHWH strengthens"
- Isaiah: "YHWH is salvation"
- Jedediah: "friend of YHWH"
- Jeremiah (Jeremy): "YHWH will raise"
- Jonathan: "YHWH has given"
- Joseph: "YHWH shall increase"
- Josiah: "YHWH saves"
- Matityahu (Matthew): "gift of YHWH"
- Micah/Micaiah: "who is like YHWH?"
- Nehemiah: "YHWH comforts"
- Obadiah: "servant of YHWH"
- Toviyahu (Tobias): "the goodness of YHWH"
- Uriah: "YHWH is my light"
- Uzziah: "YHWH is my strength"
- Yehoshua (Joshua)/Yeshua (Jesus): "YHWH will save"
- Yohanan (John): "graced by YHWH"
- Zechariah (Zachary): "YHWH has remembered"
- Zephaniah: "hidden by YHWH"
In the table below, 13 theophoric names with "Yeho" have corresponding forms where the letters eh have been omitted. There is a theory by Christian Ginsburg that this is due to Hebrew scribes omitting the "h", changing Jeho (Template:Script/Hebrew) into Jo (Template:Script/Hebrew), to make the start of "Yeho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name.
Strong's # | the name | other element | English conventional form | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
long form | short form | long form | short form | long form | short form | |||
3059 | 3099 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉho'achaz | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yo'achaz | achaz [# 270] | Jehoahaz | Joahaz |
3060 | 3101 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉho'ash | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yo'ash | 'esh [# 784] | Jehoash | Joash |
3075 | 3107 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhozabad | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yozabad | zabad [# 2064] | Jehozabad | Jozabad |
3076 | 3110 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhowchanan | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yochanan | chanan [# 2603] | Yehochanan | Jochanan |
3077 | 3111 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoyada | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoyada | yada [# 3045] | Jehoiada | Joiada |
3078 | 3112 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoyakin | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoyakin | kun [# 3559] | Yehoyakin | Joiakin |
3079 | 3113 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoyaqim | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoyaqim | qum [# 3965] | Yehoyakim | Joakim |
3080 | 3114 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoyarib | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoyarib | rib [# 7378] | Jehoiarib | Joiarib |
3082 | 3122 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhonadab | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yonadab | nadab [# 5068] | Jehonadab | Jonadab |
3083 | 3129 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhonathan | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yonathan | nathan [# 5414] | Yehonathan | Jonathan |
3085 | — | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉho'addah | — | — | 'adah [# 5710] | Jehoaddah | — |
3087 | 3136 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhotsadaq | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yotsadaq | tsadaq [# 6663] | Jehozadak | Jozadak |
3088 | 3141 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoram | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoram | rum [# 7311] | Jehoram | Joram |
3092 | 3146 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉhoshaphat | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yoshaphat | shaphat [# 8199] | Jehoshaphat | Joshaphat |
3470a | 3470 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉsha'yahu | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yᵉsha'yah | yasha [# 3467] | Yeshayahu | Isaiah |
5418a | 5418 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Nᵉthanyahu | Template:Script/Hebrew | Nᵉthanyah | nathan [# 5414] | Netanyahu | Netaniah |
138a | 138 | Template:Script/Hebrew | 'Adoniyahu | Template:Script/Hebrew | 'Adoniyah | 'adown [# 113] | Adoniyahu | Adonijah |
452a | 452 | Template:Script/Hebrew | 'Eliyahu | Template:Script/Hebrew | 'Eliyah | 'el [# 410] | Eliyahu | Elijah |
3414a | 3414 | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yirmᵉyahu | Template:Script/Hebrew | Yirmᵉyah | rum [# 7311] | Yirmeyahu | Jeremiah |
— | 5166 | — | — | Template:Script/Hebrew | Nᵉchemyah | nacham [# 5162] | — | Nechemiah |
Referring to other gods
- Jerubbaal, the alternate name of Gideon, variously translated as "Baal will contend"
- Abijam: "my father is Yam"
- Nebuchadnezzar (in Babylonian, Nabu-kudurri-usur)
- Ishbaal: "man of Baal".
- Mark: "dedicated to Mars".
- Jezebel: "glory to Baal".
Theophoric names containing "Baal" were sometimes "censored" as -bosheth = "shameful one", whence Ishbosheth etc.
Some names might be controversial theological statements: Bealiah could mean Baal is Yahweh and Elijah could mean Yahweh is El (and vice versa, respectively).Template:Citation needed On the other hand, as traditionally understood, these names simply mean "YHWH is Master" and "YHWH is God." (1 Chron. 12:5)
See also