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:
“I do not see why, since America and her autumn woods have been discovered, our leaves should not compete with the precious stones in giving names to colors; and, indeed, I believe that in course of time the names of some of our trees and shrubs, as well as flowers, will get into our popular chromatic nomenclature.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Without infringing on the liberty we so much boast, might we not ask our professional Mayor to call upon the smokers, have them register their names in each ward, and then appoint certain thoroughfares in the city for their use, that those who feel no need of this envelopment of curling vapor, to insure protection may be relieved from a nuisance as disgusting to the olfactories as it is prejudicial to the lungs.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 66:11-12.
“The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)