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A theophoric name (Greek: "bearing a deity") embeds the name of a god, both invoking and displaying the protection of that deity. Instances of theophoric names embedding Apollo, will be familiar among the many men named Apollonios or Apollodorus in Greek Antiquity.

Theophoric names were also exceedingly common in the Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia, where the personal name of an individual included the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted. The practice, called in onomastics theophory, refers to this naming convention of adding a god's name (or the local equivalent of the generic term for god) to an individual's proper name.

Judaism and biblical

The name of God that appears in Hebrew biblical texts as יהוה transliterates as YHWH, (For more information about the pronunciation of יהוה see Tetragrammaton, Jehovah and Yahweh)

Here, "-hh" at the end of a word means Hebrew h with mappiq, showing that that 'h' must be pronounced and is not a mater lectionis.

Among the Biblical names that have developed this way are:
Referring to God:

• El: Elizabeth: Hebrew Elisheva = "my God is an oath" or "my God is abundance"
• El: Samuel: "his name is El"
• El: Michael: "Who is like God?"
• YHWH /Yahweh: Jonathan (Hebrew Yônāṯān or Y^ehônāṯān: "who Yahweh gave"
• YHWH: Jesus: Ye·shu′a‛ or Yehoh·shu′a‛: “Yahweh/Jehovah Is Salvation”.

Referring to other gods:

• Yam: Abijam: "my father is Yam"
• Zedek: Melchizedek: "My king is Zedek"
• Nabu: Nebuchadnezzar (in Babylonian Nabu-kudurri-usur)
• Baal: Ishbaal: "man of Baal".

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

Some names could be controversial political statements: Beliah can mean Baal is Yahweh, Jael and Elijah can mean Yahweh is El (and vice-versa, respectively), while Jabin can mean Yahweh is the son.

Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes or "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes

"The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shortened to Yah or Yahu) appears in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period, e.g., Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah), Yesha-yahu (Isaiah), Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah.

"Yahū" or "Y^ehū" is a common short form for "Yahweh" in Hebrew names; as a prefix it sometimes appears as "Y^ehō-". In former times that was thought to be abbreviated from the supposed pronunciation "Yehowah". There is nowadays an opinion [1] that, as "Yahweh" is likely an imperfective verb form, "Yahu" is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form: compare yiŝt^ahawe^h (imperfective), yiŝtáhû (preterit or jussive short form) = "do obeisance".

However, the name Judah (Y^ehūda^h) is not an example: here the y^e- is a verb imperfective prefix, and the name means "He adds [a son to my family]". Some other examples of "y-" in biblical Hebrew names are also verb imperfectives.

"Yeho" prefixes changed to "Yo" prefixes

In the table below, 13 theophoric names with "Yeho" prefixes have corresponding forms (in bold type) 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 "Y^eho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name. ¹ and [2]

Table of theophoric names with "Yeho" and "Yo" prefixes

[Note that theophoric names with "יוֹ" [i.e. "Yo"] are written in bold letters.]

Table of Theophoric names with "Yah" and "Yahu" suffixes

Greek, Roman and Christian names

• The name "Christopher" literally means "Christ-bearer"
• Theodore/Theodora means "gift of God" [3]
• Dorotheus/Dorothea means "gift to God"
• Theodosius/Theodosia, Theodotos/Theodotē and Dositheus/Dosithea mean "God-given"
• Theophilus (Greek), Amadeus (Latin), Gottlieb (German) and Bogumił (Polish) mean "one who loves God"
• Theognis means "god-knowing"
• Theophanes means "manifestation of God"
• Theophrastus means "godly speech"
• Theaetetus means "one who pleads to God"
• Fürchtegott (German) means "fear God"
• Martin for the Roman god Mars

Some Christian saints have polytheistic theophoric names (such as Saint Mercurius, Saint Saturninus, Saint Hermes, Saint Martin of Tours).

Islam

Further information: List of Arabic theophoric names

"Abdul" names

"Abd" (= slave or servant) added to a name of Allah or one of his attributes. In Classical Arabic any of these names can be pronounced as "Abdul-" or "Abdal-" or "Abdil-" according to grammatical position in the speech. The most common are the first two:

Other Islamic names

• Asad-u-Allah (name)
• Saif-u-Allah (name) nickname for Khalid bin al Walid

• Habibur-Rahman
• Najibul-rahman
• Amatul-Laah
• Waliul-Laah
• Rooh-Allah

Islamic names which some think are faulty

• ‘Abdal Rasoul (name) means "slave of the prophet", a misnomer according to orthodox Muslim thinking, some change the name to Abd-Rab-Ar-Rasoul to mean "slave of the Lord of the prophet".
• Examples in Arabic name#Common mistakes

Hinduism

Some traditional Hindu names honor Hindu gods or goddesses. Often, the same name is ascribed to multiple deities.

External links

• http://www.ancientneareast.net/religion mesopotamian/cult ritual/names theophoric.html Theophoric names: bibliography
• Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
• Ogden Goelet, "Moses' Egyptian Name"
• Jewish onomastics
• When Can Muslims Use the Name Mohammed?: Plus, why don't English speakers name their children Jesus? by Michelle Tsai

Technical note

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References

1. ^ Christian Ginsburg, Introduction To the Massoretico-Critical Edition Of The Hebrew Bible, p 369