# Jesus' Real Name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 19, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420 "2002-04-19T00:04:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JCDenton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@JCDenton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCDenton)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/1 "2002-04-19T00:04:49Z")
I had heard an arabicization/hebrewization combonation calling him Yeshua (the hebrew spelling of joshua) al-Nazareth, Yeshua bin Nazarath (son of nazareth :-S) and Yeshua bin Joseph (with the hebrew equivelant of joeseph, of course). I think Yeshua al-Nazareth sounds coolest, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/2 "2002-04-19T00:08:26Z")
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**Author:** ![jiHymas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@jiHymas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jiHymas)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/3 "2002-04-19T02:23:59Z")
I was a bit surprised at Cecil’s reference to a date as “60 A.D”. Surely correct usage is “A.D. 60”, although the former style is being seen more and more often in these degenerate times. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/4 "2002-04-19T02:39:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JCDenton \* > \*\*I had heard an arabicization/hebrewization combonation calling him Yeshua (the hebrew spelling of joshua) \*\* Hi, **JCDenton** and welcome to the boards! Just to make a minor nitpick. _Yeshua_ is not the Hebrew form of Joshua. The Hebrew form of Joshua is _Yehoshua_. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/5 "2002-04-19T04:30:49Z")
I’m not sure what the correct answer to the Yeshua/Yehoshua is- I don’t speak Hebrew and I don’t know much about it. But I know names, and so I do know that there was one other mistake in the e-mail. Assuming the other stuff is right, “bar-Joseph” wouldn’t be correct if what Cecil is saying is true. “Bar” comes from Aramaic. If… if what’s-his-name was being named in Hebrew for the reasons Cecil explains, his surname would be ben-Joseph- _ben-Yosef_, really. Whether this is really a mistake depends on who said “Joshua bar-Joseph:” if it was a speaker of Aramaic, it makes sense- that’s probably how they’d say it. If it was a speaker of Hebrew, though, it’d be a mistake. If it was a Roman, ben would make more sense than bar, but perhaps more sensible than either would have been (since they were speaking English “Jesus, son of Joseph” or (in Latin, something like) “Jesus Josephus,” which, if it’s correct Latin, means the same as all the other names. So if we make a number of assumptions- Jesus or his historical equivalent was real, the bible gives accurate details as to his parentage and so on, and Cecil is correct about the naming style- _I, Claudius_ would be wrong, and the proper name would be Ye(ho)shua ben-Yosef. If anybody else knows something about this that I don’t, please add it on (I’m sure you would anyway, of course ;)). --Marley ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/6 "2002-04-19T20:24:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > **Just to make a minor nitpick. _Yeshua_ is not the Hebrew form of Joshua. The Hebrew form of Joshua is _Yehoshua_.** **Zev** , meet [**RedNaxela**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110451). ;j ---
**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:** [April 19, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/7 "2002-04-19T20:31:35Z")
In that case, I stand corrected. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![JCDenton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@JCDenton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCDenton)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/8 "2002-04-20T01:24:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > \*\*Hi, JCDenton and welcome to the boards! > > Just to make a minor nitpick. Yeshua is not the Hebrew form of Joshua. The Hebrew form of Joshua is Yehoshua. > > Zev Steinhardt > \*\* oh. sorry, i dont speak hebrew lol. so Yeshoshua al-Nazareth lol? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesus-real-name/104420/9 "2002-04-21T03:25:33Z")
I recall reading somewhere that the form of his name would be transliterated as _Yeshu ha Notzri_ = “Joshua the Nazorean”. This is usually held to mean that he was from Nazareth, although there is a minority that thinks that it may mean something else, like “Joshua the Nazirite”, meaning the member of a sect of that name. (the first reliable mention of a village of Nazareth outside the NT apparently comes from long after Jesus’time.)