A theophoric name (from Greek: θεοφόρητος - theoforētos, "bearing a deity"[1]) 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.
Contents |
Some Christian saints have polytheistic theophoric names (such as Saint Dionysius, Saint Mercurius, Saint Saturninus, Saint Hermes, Saint Martin of Tours).
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).
Some traditional Hindu names honor Hindu Gods or Goddesses. Often, the same name is ascribed to multiple deities.
It is not uncommon to find Hindus with names of Gods. Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, Durga, Radha, and Sita are all names of Hindu Gods or Goddesses as well as being personal names for Hindus. Hindu Gods themselves have multiple names, so it is not always apparent if an Indian name is the name of a God or not.
The name of God that appears in Hebrew biblical texts is יהוה, transliterated YHWH. (For more information about the pronunciation of יהוה see Tetragrammaton, Jehovah and Yahweh)
Among the Biblical names that have developed this way are:
Referring to God (El):
Referring to Yahweh:
Referring to other gods:
Theophoric names in Baal were sometimes "censored" as -bosheth = "shameful one", whence Ishbosheth etc.
Some names might be controversial theological statements: Bealiah could mean Baal is Yahweh and Elijah could mean Yahweh is El (and vice-versa, respectively). On the other hand, as traditionally understood, these names simply mean "YHWH is Master," and YHWH is God."
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, e.g., Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah), Yesha-yahu (Isaiah), Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah, Yeho-natan, Yeho-chanan, Yeho-shua, Yeho-tzedek.
"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". In former times that was thought to be abbreviated from the Masoretic pronunciation "Yehovah". There is nowadays an opinion [2] 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".
However, the name Judah (Yehūdah) is not an example: here the ye- 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.
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 "Yeho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name.[3][4]
[Note that theophoric names with "יוֹ" [i.e. "Yo"] are written in bold letters.]
| Strong's # | Hebrew word | Strong's Transliteration |
|
English Spelling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Strong's # | Hebrew word | Strong's Transliteration |
|
English Spelling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|