I am not a Bible historian. But as far as I (or anyone I ask) know, there are no names repeated in the Bible. Each person has his/her own identity. Was this done for the convenience of teaching, so students would not get confused with which “Adam” was being referred to?
Does anyone know if there is an example of repeated names? If so, please list. If not, is there another reason (different than the one I mentioned) that accounts for this?
Thanks,
Max
There were two women named Mary.
It certainly wouldn’t be true to say that there are no repeated names in the Bible, particularly if you are looking at both testaments.
I’m not going to try to research an entire list for you, but here are a couple of examples:
Joel, Son of Samuel (1 Samuel 8:2)
Joel, Son of Ladan (Chronicles 23:8)
Joel, Son of Azariah (2 Chronicles 29:12
Joel, Son of Zicri (Nehemiah 11:9)
Joel, Son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1)
Joshua (Moses’ successor)
Jesus (can’t remember exactly what it was he did, but he’s in there somewhere - this is the Greek form of the name ‘Joshua’)
No. For example, there are several Joshuas; Joshua son of Nun (that’s the Joshua we’ve all heard of), Joshua the Bethshemite (he turns up in the First Book of Samuel), Joshua son of Josedech (who features in Haggai) and Joshua son of Eliezer (who turns up in Luke’s genealogy of Christ). And then there were several Eliezers - Eliezer of Damascus, Eliezer son of Becher, Eliezer son of Moses, Eliezer son of Zichri, Eliezer son of Harim and Eliezer son of Jorim, to name but a few.
How about Genesis 11:23-29, where there are two Nachors mentioned. One is the grandfather of the other.
Zev Steinhardt
I think I read that Zachariah/Zacharias is the most common name.
And, I think “Jesus” is just the Greek version of the name “Joshua”
Other ones that I can think of (limiting myself to the Pentatuch):
Sheva and Dedan
- descendants of Noah – Genesis 10:7
- descendants of Abraham by Keturah – Genesis 25:3
Joseph
-Jacob’s son in Genesis (I don’t need to provide a verse, do I?)
-and a member of the tribe of Yissachar – Numbers 13:8
Be’or
-Bilaam’s father - Numbers 22:5
-and the father of an Edomite king – Genesis 36:32
Lemech
-Noah’s father – Genesis 5:28
-and a descendant of Cain – Genesis 4:18
Zev Steinhardt
Some more for you:
Bela
- The Edomite king named in Genesis 36:32
- Benjamin’s son Genesis 46:21
Chetzron
- Reuben’s son Genesis 46:9
- Judah’s grandson Genesis 46:12
Shaul
- Simon’s son Genesis 46:10
- another Edomite king Genesis 36:37
Zev Steinhardt
Eliezer
One was Abraham’s servant. The other was Moses’ son.
Well, just among the 12 Apostles of Jesus, there were 2 men named Simon, two named James, and two named Judas!
This brings up a somewhat related question, that may require an informed Jewish Doper.:
In the Gospel of Luke, the story goes that Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, had been struck dumb during the time his wife Elizabeth was pregnant. After the baby was born, family members all assumed that the boy was to be named Zachariah after his father, but Zachariah writes on a tablet “His name is John” (at which point, his speech returned).
Now, as I understand it, Jews almost NEVER name children after the living. But the Gospel story seems to indicate that, at the time at least, Jewish parents NORMALLY named the eldest son after his father.
So, I suppose there are two possible explanations:
Luke was a Gentile who didn’t fully understand Jewish customs, and simply got the story wrong.
The Jewish custom changed over the years; while modern Jews frown on naming children after the living, Jews 2000 years ago didn’t.
Any authority out there care to offer an opinion?
Another “Joshua” (who was actually called “Jesus”, being a Greek speaker) was the author of one of the apocryphal books (Ecclesiasticus?).
There were at least two Marys in the New Testament, and probably three (Mary Magdalene was probably not Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus).
There were at least two Johns in the NT: The Baptist, and the apostle.
Paul was originally named Saul, before he Romanized his name.
Add to the two OT Josephs Joseph husband of Mary, and Joseph of Arimathea, who provided for Jesus’ burial.
There were two Simons among the Apostles, as well as Simon the Strong, who helped carry Jesus’ cross.
I think there were two Jameses among the Apostles, as well, which is the Greek form of the name Jacob.
Jesus told a parable about a man named Lazarus, who was clearly not the same Lazarus that he raised from the dead (the parable Lazarus was a beggar, but Jesus’ friend Lazarus was relatively well-off).
Here are some more:
Mishael:
Mishael son of Uzziel, cousin of Moses (Exodus 6:22, Leviticus 10:4)
Mishael, Judean youth exiled to Babylon (Danial 1:6, et al)
Hoshea/Hosea (same name in Hebrew, although, curiously, spelled differently for different personalities in the NIV):
Hoshea son of Nun, original name of Joshua (Numbers 13:8, 16)
Hoshea son of Elah, King of Israel (II Kings 15:30 et al)
Hoshea son of Beeri (Hosea 1:1 et al)
Jehoram:
Jehoram son of Ahab, King of Israel (II Kings 8:16 et al)
Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah (I Kings 22:50 at al)
Jeroboam:
Jeroboam son of Nevat, first King of Israel (I Kings 11:26 et al)
Jeroboam son of Jehoash, later King of Israel (II Kings 13:13 et al)
Jehoash:
Jehoash son of Ahaziah, King of Judah (II Kings 11:21 et al)
Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, King of Israel (II Kings 13:10 et al)
Jehoahaz:
Jehoahaz son of Jehu, King of Israel (II Kings 10:35 et al)
Jehoahaz son of Josiah, King of Judah (II Kings 23:30 et al)
Zev and company have listed a number of examples of duplicate names, however I will attempt at giving an explanation of perhaps why there are fewer duplicate names than one mgiht expect.
People with a certain level of prophecy name their children names that partain to their future character. People who don’t have this level of prophecy, to forsee the essential character of the child they’re naming, (e.g. Jews today) name after relatives (in a chain that goes back to when people named using prophecy).
People who merit being mentioned in the bible, are there specifically because they are at a different spiritual level than the rest of us, and are therefore likely to have used prophecy to name their children after their essensial character traits.
Ashkenazic Jews do not name after living relatives. Sephardic Jews, however, have the custom to name after grandparents (living or dead). However, I have not heard of anyone ever naming a child with the name of his living father.
As for the customs of Jews living 2000+ years ago, one only has to look at the Bible itself. There are no examples in the Jewish bible that I can think of where a child is given the name of his father.
Zev Steinhardt
astorian:
Well, I can’t say I know the religion that Luke followed, but at the very least, in modern times, Jewish children are never named a living parent. While Sephardic Jews (those of Middle Eastern descent) have a tradition to name children after living grandparents, as far as I know, even they do not name after a living parent.
Chaim Mattis Keller
Not to mention Mary [wife] of Clopas (Cleopas) who stood at the foot of the cross.
Re: Mary of Bethany/Mary Magdalene, why would Mary of Magdala (a confirmed location) live in Bethany? Equating the two women named Mary seems a bit far-fetched, though there are symbolic similarities between the two of them. It may be the gospel writers themselves were confused by all the Maries.
Wow! This is great information! Thank you, everyone.
(Obviously, I hang out with a not-so-religious group.)
Max
Mary of Magdala is from Magdala, but she lives somewhere else. If she still lived in Magdala, being from Magdala wouldn’t distinguish her from her neighbours, and so calling her “of Magdala” wouldn’t help to identify her. She only gets called “of Magdala” after she has left there and settled somewhere else - Bethany, for example.
There’s a tradition that Mary Magdalene was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and that she was the woman that Jesus saved from being stoned, and the woman who annointed him with the valuable oil. However, there is no evidence in the gospels for any of these links: They could well have been (and probably were) four different women. It’s not the gospel writers who were confused, but the gospel readers.
Certainly there might have been a very different zeitgeist at the time. After all, Jesus’ brother, Joseph, was named after his father, and Jesus Himself was named after His father, Yahweh.