Names of Hebrew Origin
Hebrew names used by Jews (along with many Hebrew names used in Christendom) often come from the Jewish Tanakh, which contains the Torah: The Five Books of Moses, which are also the first five books in the Christian Old Testament, along with two other collections of books, Nevi'im: The Prophets, and Kethuvim: The Writings.
Many of these names are thought to have been adapted from Hebrew phrases and expressions, bestowing special meaning or the unique circumstances of birth to the one who receives that name. An example of a name with a special personal meaning is יהודה Yəhûḏāh (Judah). An example of a name indicating circumstances of birth is ראובן Rəʼûḇēn (Reuben), which means "Look, a son."
Hebrew devotion to Elohim (God) is often indicated by adding the suffix אל -el/-al, forming names such as מיכאל Michael and גבריאל Gabriel.
Hebrew devotion to God is often indicated by adding an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton as a suffix; the most common abbreviations used by Jews are יה -yāh/-iyyāh and יהו -yāhû/-iyyāhû/-ayhû, forming names such as ישׁעיהו Yəšaʻªyāhû (Isaiah), צדקיהו Ṣiḏqiyyāhû (Zedekiah) and שׂריה Śərāyāh (Seraiah). Most of Christendom uses the shorter suffix preferred in translations of the Bible to European languages, primarily Greek -ιας -ias and English -iah, producing names such as Τωβιας Tōbias (Tobias, Toby) and Ιερεμίας Ieremias (Jeremiah, Jeremy).
In addition to devotion to Elohim and YHWH, names could also be sentences of praise in their own right. The name טוביהו Ṭôḇiyyāhû means "Good of/is the LORD."
Read more about this topic: Hebrew Name
Famous quotes containing the words names of, names, hebrew and/or origin:
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All nationalisms are at heart deeply concerned with names: with the most immaterial and original human invention. Those who dismiss names as a detail have never been displaced; but the peoples on the peripheries are always being displaced. That is why they insist upon their continuity—their links with their dead and the unborn.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“Many will entreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.”
—Bible: Hebrew Proverbs 19:6.
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)