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A Hebrew name is a name of Hebrew origin. In a more narrow meaning, it is a name used by Jews only in a religious context and different from an individual's secular name for everyday use.

Names with Hebrew origins, especially those from the Hebrew Bible, are commonly used by Jews and Christians. Many are also used by Muslims, particularly those names mentioned in the Qur'an (for example, Ibrahim is a common Arabic name from the Hebrew Avraham). A typical Hebrew name can have many different forms, having been adapted to the phonologies and orthographies of many different languages.

A common practice among the Jewish diaspora is to give a Hebrew name to a child that is used in religious contexts throughout that person's lifetime.

Not all Hebrew names are strictly Hebrew in origin; some names may have been borrowed from other ancient languages, including from Egyptian, Aramaic, Phoenician, or Canaanite.

Names of Hebrew origin

Hebrew names used by Jews (along with many Hebrew names used in Christendom) often come from the Tanakh, also known as the Hebrew Bible (the Christian version of which is called the Old Testament).

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.

Theophoric names are those which include a form of a divine name, such by adding the suffix -el, meaning "God", forming names such as Michael ("who is like God?") and Gabriel ("man of God"). Another common form of theophory is the use of the Tetragrammaton YHWH as the basis for a suffix; the most common abbreviations used by Jews are -yāh/-iyyāh and -yāhû/-iyyāhû/-ayhû, forming names such as Yəšaʻªyāhû (Isaiah), Ṣiḏqiyyāhû (Zedekiah) and Śərāyāh (Seraiah). Most Christian usage is of the shorter suffix preferred in translations of the Bible to European languages: Greek -ιας -ias and English -iah, producing names such as Τωβίας Tōbias (Tobias, Toby) instead of Tobiyyahu and Ἰερεμίας Ieremias (Jeremiah, Jeremy) instead of Yirmeyahu.

In addition to devotion to Elohim and Yahweh, names could also be sentences of praise in their own right. The name Ṭôḇiyyāhû means "Good of/is the LORD".

Names of Aramaic origin

Aramaic was a major vernacular language of Israel at the time of Jesus, though it was not the only language spoken in the region. Aramaic was also the language used to write parts of the Book of Daniel, the Book of Ezra, and the entire Jewish Babylonian Talmud. Aramaic remained the lingua franca of the Middle East until the time of Islam. When the Misheberach (prayer for the sick) is recited, the ill person's Hebrew name is said along with the Hebrew name of the mother. for example, Elisheva bat Moshe v'Sarah.)

While, strictly speaking, a "Hebrew name" for ritual use is in the Hebrew language, it is not uncommon in some Ashkenazi communities for people to have names of Yiddish origin, or a mixed Hebrew-Yiddish name;

See also

  • Arabic name
  • Bilingual Hebrew-Yiddish tautological names
  • Christian name
  • List of Hebrew place names

References

  • Appendix:Hebrew given names at Wiktionary
  • Most Popular American Women’s Names In Hebrew (Phonetic Transliteration)
  • Customs relating to the naming of a child from the Chabad group of Hassidic Judaism
  • – article on old testament naming from a Catholic perspective
  • List of over 2500 Hebrew names used in Israel with pronunciation
  • List of all first names used in Israel with pronunciation and statistics in Hebrew
  • List of all Hebrew first names used in Israel, all Hebrew Names For Boys & Girls ( 2016 Update )
  • Names from Hebrew to Turkish