Paula Fether Supporter Lifelong student of the scriptures

Please understand that many words, including proper names, change over time with each translation. Even before the time of Christ, the Israelites translated from old Hebrew to Greek (the Septuagint or LXX), and names were transliterated as much as possible into Greek, which for example did not have the "sh" sound.

Then after the time of the Apostles the Bible was translated by Jerome into Latin, and many more followed as the Gospel spread throughout the world. Even today, you will find name variations in many languages.

As to the issue of consistency, the gradual changes between languages is not planned or coordinated but "organic", taking many paths. So no person or committee declared these things. Even when we think in hindsight that names should be rendered more accurately to the original languages, translators err on the side of caution so as not to confuse readers with new spellings.

I hope this gives some insight into your question.

July 23 2024 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jennifer Rothnie Supporter Housewife, Artist, Perpetually Curious

Names are often "transliterated" into other languages, matching their phonemic sounds with more or less precision to an existing name or an easy to say name in the target language. This is a very common way of names being modified between Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, etc. Even those names that "seem close" to the Hebrew or Greek are rarely exact.

For example, Ahaziah is a transliterated name from אֲחַזְיָה, which is pronounced more like Akh-az-yaw. It isn't really, "the same" at all. Mephibosheth gets closer, as מֻפִיבשֶׁת is pronounced Mef-ee-bo'-sheth. English speakers will usually accent it a little differently, but it sounds pretty similar.

Why some names end up closer than others has to do with several factors - whether there's a traditional name swap for that name already, whether the syllables and sounds are easy or not in the target language to say, whether the named person spoke another language or did business in another region or not, how many variants of spelling already existed for that name, etc.


Sometimes, the person themselves may have already had multiple names during life that they went by, whether by reputation, because they spoke multiple languages, or because they were given a new name by someone else later on. We see this famously with "Simon" also being known as "Peter," yet then also being given the name "Cephus" by Jesus Christ later on. Abram was given the name Abraham by God, Sarai was given the name Sarah, Jacob the name Israel, etc. Moses also changed Hosea's name to Joshua (Numbers 13:16,) the King of Babylon renamed Mattaniah to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17), and so forth. In the NT, Saul is famously renamed to "Paul" after his conversion. And there are quite a few characters in the Bible which is isn't clear whether are separate people or the same under 2-3 different names.

Sometimes renaming a person was way to acknowledge God, or a way to mark a transition in their life or a new path in serving God. Other times, renaming a person could be used to strip them of their national identity.

As to why certain names have ended up the way they have now in any given English translation, there can be many reasons. Not every translation always agrees on a name, either, showing the difficulties in tracking languages and names perfectly through time.

Perhaps the weirdest naming choice in scripture is to translate Ἰάκωβος, or Iakabos, as James in many cases. A more sensible English transliteration would be Jacob, or perhaps Jacobus. Iakabos is itself a transliteration from the Hebrew pronounced like 'Yaaqob.' While the name is a bit of an entomological soup, apparently in Late Latin there was a spelling change and what was usually transliterated as Iacobus/Jacobus became Iacomus/Jacomus. Then the French shortened that to Gemmes/Jammes, and the English transliterated that to James! Quite the saga. So in scripture, one will find a couple Jacobs and a lot of James in the NT that all had the same name.

Jesus Himself is an interesting case, as well, as His Hebrew name would be better transliterated as Yehoshua and the Greek transliteration was Ἰησοῦς/Iesous. A better "English fit" name for Him would be Joshua or Yeshua. It's a bit unfortunate that His name was lost a bit in translation, as in Num 13:16 Moses renames Hosea to Joshua precisely to show that Yahweh is the one who brings salvation. Jesus' name, also, means that Yahweh is salvation.

Overall, translators try to stick to historical transliterations for names or, when it seems necessary, try to transliterate from the original Hebrew or Greek. Sometimes various traditions will end up taking precedence. There isn't really a hard and fast set of rules on it, but neither is it done arbitrarily - there are usually several factors or reasons that go into any final choice in a translation.

July 23 2024 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report