A theophoric name (from Greek: θεόφορος, theophoros, literally "bearing or carrying a god")[1][2] embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo, such as Apollonios or Apollodorus, existed in Greek antiquity.[3]

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.[4][5][6] 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").

Classical Greek and Roman theophoric names

Greek and Roman theophoric names
Deity Name Meaning
Aphrodite Aphrodisius, -a
Hermaphroditus "Hermes and Aphrodite"
Apollo Apollodorus, -a "gift of Apollo"
Apollonides "son of Apollo"
Apollonius
Ares Arius "war-like"
Artemis Artemiche
Artemidorus "gift of Artemis"
Artemisius, -ia
Athena Athenaeus
Athenais
Athenagoras "man in Athena's market"
Athenodorus, -a "gift of Athena"
Cephissus Cephisodorus "gift of Cephissus"
Cephisodotus "given by Cephissus"
Demeter Demetrius, -ia
Demetrodorus "gift of Demeter"
Dionysus Dionysius, -a, Dennis
Dionysodorus, -a "gift of Dionysus"
Dionysicles "glory of Dionysus"
Fortuna Fortunatus "fortunate, lucky"
Hecate Hecataeus
Helios Heliodorus "gift of the Sun"
Hephaestus Hephaestion
Hera Heracles "glory of Hera"
Heraclitus
Herodotus "given by Hera"
Hermes Hermaphroditus "Hermes and Aphrodite"
Hermesianax "king Hermes"
Hermione, Hermion
Hermippus "horse of Hermes"
Hermocrates "strength of Hermes"
Hermolaus "people of Hermes"
Isis Isidorus, -a "gift of Isis"
Mars Marcus
Martialis "Mars-like"
Martinus
Mene (Selene) Menodora "gift of the Moon"
Minerva Minervina "little Minerva"
Nymphs Nymphodora "gift of the nymphs"
Poseidon Poseidippus "horse of Poseidon"
Poseidorus, -a "gift of Poseidon"
Poseidonius
Serapis Serapion
Themis Themistocles "glory of Themis"
Zeus Dio of Zeus (gen. Dios)
Diocles, Diocletian "glory of Zeus"
Diodorus "gift of Zeus"
Zeno of Zeus (gen. Zenos)
Zenobius, -ia "might of Zeus"
Zenodotus "given by Zeus"

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

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.

Some seemingly theophoric names, may in fact be more related to the original etymology of the deity's name itself. For example, both Lakshmi (fortune, success, prosperity) and Lakshman (prosperous, principal, marked) are names of a deity and an avatar respectively, which are related to lakṣ meaning "to mark or see".[7]

Islam

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.[8]

El

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[9] 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".

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 (יְהוֹ‎) into Jo (יוֹ‎), to make the start of "Yeho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name.[10][11]

Strong's # the name other element English conventional form
long formshort form long form short form long formshort form
30593099יְהוֹאָחָז‎Yᵉho'achazיוֹאָחָז‎Yo'achazachaz [# 270]JehoahazJoahaz
30603101יְהוֹאָש‎Yᵉho'ashיוֹאָש‎Yo'ash'esh [# 784]JehoashJoash
30753107יְהוֹזָבָד‎Yᵉhozabadיוֹזָבָד‎Yozabadzabad [# 2064]JehozabadJozabad
30763110יְהוֹחָנָן‎Yᵉhowchananיוֹחָנָן‎Yochananchanan [# 2603]YehochananJochanan
30773111יְהוֹיָדָע‎Yᵉhoyadaיוֹיָדָע‎Yoyadayada [# 3045]JehoiadaJoiada
30783112יְהוֹיָכִין‎Yᵉhoyakinיוֹיָכִין‎Yoyakinkun [# 3559]YehoyakinJoiakin
30793113יְהוֹיָקִים‎Yᵉhoyaqimיוֹיָקִים‎Yoyaqimqum [# 3965]YehoyakimJoakim
30803114יְהוֹיָרִיב‎Yᵉhoyaribיוֹיָרִיב‎Yoyaribrib [# 7378]JehoiaribJoiarib
30823122יְהוֹנָדָב‎Yᵉhonadabיוֹנָדָב‎Yonadabnadab [# 5068]JehonadabJonadab
30833129יְהוֹנָתָן‎Yᵉhonathanיוֹנָתָן‎Yonathannathan [# 5414]YehonathanJonathan
3085—יְהוֹעַדָּה‎Yᵉho'addah——'adah [# 5710]Jehoaddah—
30873136יְהוֹצָדָק‎Yᵉhotsadaqיוֹצָדָק‎Yotsadaqtsadaq [# 6663]JehozadakJozadak
30883141יְהוֹרָם‎Yᵉhoramיוֹרָם‎Yoramrum [# 7311]JehoramJoram
30923146יְהוֹשָפָט‎Yᵉhoshaphatיוֹשָפָט‎Yoshaphatshaphat [# 8199]JehoshaphatJoshaphat
3470a3470יְשַׁעְיָהוּ‎Yᵉsha'yahuיְשַׁעְיָה‎Yᵉsha'yahyasha [# 3467]YeshayahuIsaiah
5418a5418נְתַנְיָהוּ‎Nᵉthanyahuנְתַנְיָה‎Nᵉthanyahnathan [# 5414]NetanyahuNetaniah
138a138אֲדֹנִיָּהוּ‎'Adoniyahuאֲדֹנִיָּה‎'Adoniyah'adown [# 113]AdoniyahuAdonijah
452a452אֵלִיָּהוּ‎'Eliyahuאֵלִיָּה‎'Eliyah'el [# 410]EliyahuElijah
3414a3414יִרְמְיָהוּ‎Yirmᵉyahuיִרְמְיָה‎Yirmᵉyahrum [# 7311]YirmeyahuJeremiah
—5166——נְחֶמְיָה‎Nᵉchemyahnacham [# 5162]—Nechemiah

Referring to other gods

Theophoric names containing "Baal" were sometimes "censored" as -bosheth = "shameful one", whence Ishbosheth etc.

References

  1. ↑ "theophoric". Merriam-Webster online dictionary.
  2. ↑ θεόφορος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  3. ↑ Shendge, Malati J. The Language of the Harappans: From Akkadian to Sanskrit, 1997. p 24. "It may also be interpreted as theophorous names, i.e. the name of the god forming part of the name of an individual. The usage is theophorous because besides the eponymous Asura, each individual of high or low status has a personal name."
  4. ↑ Zadok, R. The Pre-Hellenistic Israelite Anthroponymy and Prosopography, 1988. p 16. "The Period of the Judges (J) The theophorous names constitute a sizable minority (almost 40%). Many of the hypocoristica possibly originate from compound theophorous names (e.g., Abdon, Gerd, J21 1 1 1 1, 2141 12)."
  5. ↑ Benz, Frank L. Personal Names in the Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions. p 233. "Any one of the three major types of elements, divine name or theophorous, nominal, or verbal can make up a Phoenician-Punic hypocoristic name. The divine name hypocoristic is the least attested. The simplest formation is that of a single ..."
  6. ↑ Drijvers, H. J. W. Cults and Behafs at Edessa, 1980. p 21. "The proper names, which are mainly theophorous ones, may increase our knowledge of the religious feeling of the people of Edessa and of the cults practiced by them, insofar as their theophorous elements reflect existing beliefs."
  7. ↑ Madhuri Agrawal. Dictionary, Sanskrit English Dictionary Wilson.
  8. ↑ Mark Haughwout, "Personal Names Before Exodus 6:2-3"
  9. ↑ Anson F. Rainey, How Yahweh Was Pronounced Archived December 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, QUERIES & COMMENTS.
  10. ↑ Christian Ginsburg, Introduction To the Massoretico-Critical Edition Of The Hebrew Bible, p 369
  11. ↑ Scott Jones, Jehovah Archived December 15, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
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