Theophoric names are 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. Among the names that have developed this way are Elizabeth, which utilized the Semitic god El's name, Samuel (same derivation), or Jonathan, using the name of the Semitic god Yaw (Yaw corrupting to the Jo- prefix). Overview map of the Ancient Near East The term Ancient Near East or Ancient Orient encompasses the early civilizations predating Classical Antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Middle East (Egypt, the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia), during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age from... Sumerian list of gods in cuneiform script, ca. ... Onomastics (Onomatology) is the study of proper names of all kinds and the origins of names. ... A name is a label for a thing, person, place, product (as in a brand name), and even an idea or concept, normally used to distinguish one from another. ... God is the term used to denote the Supreme Being believed by many people, and especially followers of monotheistic religions, to be the creator, ruler and/or the sum total of, existence. ... Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, the Semitic languages, as well as their speakers corresponding cultures, and ethnicities. ... Ä’l is a northwest Semitic word and name translated into English as either god or God or left untranslated as El, depending on the context. ... Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, the Semitic languages, as well as their speakers corresponding cultures, and ethnicities. ... Yaw or Yam is the name for the Levantine god of chaos and the power of the untamed sea as found in texts from the ancient city of Ugarit. ...

Theophoric Names with "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes

"The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shorter as Yah or Yahu) appears in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period, e.g., Yirme-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah. Theophoric names of this period may also refer to different deities, as in the name Solomon (S-l-m=Salem as in “R-S-l-M, i.e., Urushalimum or Rushalimum). This practice of naming is not limited to ancient Israel or Judah but has been a common practice of many cultures (cf., e.g., the Hebrew “Yedid-yahu”, i.e., YHWH has loved, with Greek “Theophilus” and German “Gottlieb”."Jerusalem/StudyQuestionsIII.htm Michael Zank, Boston University.

The practice was Christianized in familiar forms such as Theodore ("gift of God") [1]. St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen Ansgar, the 9th century apostle of the North in an 1830 drawing. ... Theodore, or the Latin equivalent Theodorus, can refer to: Theodorus of Cyrene a mathematician from Greek antiquity Theodore of Amasea, a Christian saint Theodore the Studite, a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church Pope Theodore I, Pope from 642 to 649 Theodore, Syrian Patriarch of Antioch from 649 to 667...

Theophoric Names starting with "Yeho"

The Data in the table below is found in a 1958 reprint of the 1890 Edition of James Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible. All the Hebrew names listed are Theophoric Names starting with "יְהוֹ" [ i.e. "Yeho" ]. James Strong believed that all of these Theophoric names were derived from Hebrew word # 3068, [ i.e. "יְהֺוָה" = Yehovah ]. Even Gesenius who personally believed that God's name was Yahweh, believed that Yehowah better explained the Theophoric Names starting with Yeho.

In a post made on 08/22/03 at 12:36 am the following information is found:

Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures agrees saying:

"Those who consider that YHWH [Yehowah] was the actual pronunciation are not altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion. In this way can the abbreviated syllables YHW [Yeho] and YH [Yo], with which many proper names begin, be more satisfactorily explained."-George Wesley Buchanan Professor Emeritus, Wesley Theological Seminary Washington, DC

[ Note! Hebrew reads from right to left ]

There are other sources that believe that Theophoric names can be better explained if the divine name was "Yahweh". In the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1910-11, vol. 15, pp. 312, in the Article “JEHOVAH”) it states:

The name Jhvh enters into the composition of many names of persons in the Old Testament, either as the initial element, in the form Jeho- or Jo- (as in Jehoram, Joram), or as the final element in the form -jahu or -jah (as in Adonijahu, Adonijah).

These various forms are perfectly regular if the divine name was Yahweh, and, taken altogether, they cannot be explained on any other hypothesis.

The issue of pronunciation of God's name may best be summarized by a statement from Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, page 6:

Hebrew Scholars generally favor "Yahweh" as the most likely pronunciation.

They point out that the abbreviated form of the name is Yah (Jah in the Latinized form), as at Psalm 89:8 and in the expression Halelu-Yah (meaning "Praise Yah, you people!"). (Ps 104:35; 150:1, 6)

Also, the forms Yehoh', Yoh, Yah, and Ya'hu, found in the Hebrew spelling of the names of Jehoshaphat, Joshaphat, Shephatiah, and others, can all be derived from Yahweh...Still, there is by no means unanimity among scholars on the subject, some favoring yet other pronunciations, such as "Yahuwa," "Yahuah," or "Yehuah."

External links

• Theophoric names: bibliography
• Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
• Ogden Goelet, "Moses' Egyptian Name"
• Jewish onomastics

Technical note

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