# How would Jesus have written his own name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468 "2003-12-28T22:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/1 "2003-12-28T22:46:42Z")
How would Jesus have written his own name? Translations are fine to include, but I’d like to know what it would have _actually_ looked like. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/2 "2003-12-29T00:36:23Z")
I’m guessing Yeshua, or some might say Yeshua ben Yosef, as in, Jesus, son of Joseph. However, I’m not exactly a pro at Hebrew, so how that would be written in that language, I don’t know. And, of course, being Hebrew, that’s a very Jewish way of saying it, as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/3 "2003-12-29T01:04:40Z")
If anyone can link to a site where it’s written in Hebrew letters, that would be terrific. As I recall, they’re not available in the fonts accessible on this board. In Hebrew, he would have used **Yeshua ben Yosef** , or **ben Miriam** if He did actually consider Himself the product of a virgin birth and did not use his foster father’s name (which He probably would have, out of respect for Joseph). In Aramaic (the standard spoken language in First Century Galilee and Judaea), **Yeshua bar Yosef** , or **bar Miriam**. In Greek (the lingua franca for the Eastern Mediterranean at the time), **Iesous Iosefides ([symbol]IhsouV IwsefidhV[/symbol])**– it’s debatable whether He would have created a matronymic in Greek. It’s quite possible He might have used His common self-referent of “Son of Man” – **ben** or **bar Adam**. FTR, as a young Jew of the craftsman class in society, it’s almost certain He would have learned to read and write – and we do have the story of the woman taken in adultery, where He writes in the sand, to provide evidence supporting that assertion. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/4 "2003-12-29T03:11:34Z")
ישוע בן יוסף ---
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/5 "2003-12-29T03:30:40Z")
If you copy **coffeecat** ’s post and paste it into Word, its reverses the order. Clever, clever. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/6 "2003-12-29T05:56:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kushiel \* > \*\* Yeshua ben Yosef, as in, Jesus, son of Joseph. \*\* Wouldn’t that be _Joshua_ ben Joseph, since the word/name Jesus is Greek? ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/7 "2003-12-29T07:06:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EJsGirl \* > \*\*Wouldn’t that be _Joshua_ ben Joseph, since the word/name Jesus is Greek? \*\* _Yeshua_ is the Aramaic version of his name – Aramaic, by the way, would’ve been Jesus’ first language. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/8 "2003-12-29T07:53:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nichol\_storm \* > \*\*_Yeshua_ is the Aramaic version of his name – Aramaic, by the way, would’ve been Jesus’ first language. \*\* Additionally, Hebrew (and I expect Aramaic, they’re closely related languages) doesn’t have a J sound at all. For reasons a linguist can explain, I’m sure, the Y-sound in Hebrew has been consistantly transliterated as a J. Examples include Jew (Yehudi), Jerusalem (Yerushalyim), Joel (Yo’el), Jacob (Ya’acov), etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/9 "2003-12-29T08:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*Additionally, Hebrew (and I expect Aramaic, they’re closely related languages) doesn’t have a J sound at all. For reasons a linguist can explain, I’m sure, the Y-sound in Hebrew has been consistantly transliterated as a J. Examples include Jew (Yehudi), Jerusalem (Yerushalyim), Joel (Yo’el), Jacob (Ya’acov), etc., etc. \*\* No linguist required for this one… Hebrew words that got carried into Germanic/Slavic languages had the letter “yod” (Consonant Y sound) properly transliterated into the Latin letter “J” (such as _Jude_ - “Jewish” in German). Than English came along and appropriated the words without changing the spelling… English, of course, pronouces “J” as, well, “J” rather than as “Y”. So: Yerushalaim or Yerushalem (Hebrew) -\> Jerusalem (prounouces Yeruzalem) in German/Slavic -\> Still Jerusalem (but now prounounced "J"eruzalem) in English. Similarly Ya’akov -\> Jaacob (Yakob) -\> Jacob ("J"acob) You get the idea… Dani ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/10 "2003-12-29T08:03:16Z")
Major hijack, but I have to know. The suspected terrorist in the Twin Cities is named Yousef. (The accused 20th hijacker) Was he technically named after Jesus? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/11 "2003-12-29T08:05:42Z")
No, Yousouf is Arabic for Joseph Dani ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/12 "2003-12-29T14:38:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by coffeecat \* > \*\*ישוע בן יוסף \*\* That’s very interesting, **coffeecat**. Is that the original, Aramaic way of writing ‘Yeshua Ben Yosef’ then? Does it translate as ‘Jesus, son of Joseph’? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/13 "2003-12-29T14:39:35Z")
EJ’s Girl: > [@](#): > > Wouldn’t that be Joshua ben Joseph, since the word/name Jesus is Greek? Joshua is the English version of the Hebrew Ye_ho_shua, as in the prophet who immediately followed Moses. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/14 "2003-12-29T15:24:35Z")
OP poses a questionable question. The only indication of Jesus having ever wirtten anythis is recorded in: “John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.” It is to be noted that it was written on the ground in the dust. A record to disappear with the passing of feet or the wind. It was his words that were to endure, not some scrap of paper or other artifact for well meaning but ignorant people would attach more importance to. * * * “Beware of the Cog” ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/15 "2003-12-29T15:36:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Philosopher \* > \*\*That’s very interesting, **coffeecat**. Is that the original, Aramaic way of writing ‘Yeshua Ben Yosef’ then? > > Does it translate as ‘Jesus, son of Joseph’? \*\* Actually, that’s Hebrew. If it were Aramaic, the middle word would have been _bar_, not _ben_. It translates as _Yeshua_ son of _Yosef_. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/16 "2003-12-29T16:49:18Z")
Btw, the Hebrew characters shown are the later alphabet. Chances are JC’d write his name using the paleo-Hebrew characters, which are almost identical to the Phoenician alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/17 "2003-12-29T16:59:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriarTed \* > \*\*Btw, the Hebrew characters shown are the later alphabet. Chances are JC’d write his name using the paleo-Hebrew characters, which are almost identical to the Phoenician alphabet. \*\* I’m pretty sure that Square Hebrew was adopted after the return from Babylon. By the time of Jesus, people wouldn’t be using the paleo-Hebrew alphabet anymore. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/18 "2003-12-29T18:37:17Z")
If Jesus believed Himself to be Son of God, wouldn’t he have written _Yeshua ben Yhvh_? ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/19 "2003-12-29T18:39:14Z")
Sorry… _Yeshua bar Yhvh_? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468/20 "2003-12-29T21:11:23Z")
I doubt it as he would not have used the Divine Name. Zev Steinhardt [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-jesus-have-written-his-own-name/221468.md?page=2)