thinking that perhaps joshua and jesus are the same name in spanish (like in russian in the example i gave above)i asked 2 women in my office who are from south america. they looked at me about as baffled as you could. they had no clue what joshua would be in spanish, they said they would check their bibles tonight and get back to me.
perhaps someone here could find out quicker? i’m also checking with other people in the office from other countries to see if the same name thing holds true. perhaps all the people we think (in our english speaking way) are named after jesus are actually joshes.(?)
Interesting perspective…but if it were clearly a Catholic-Protestant split, I’d understand it. As Arnold pointed out earlier, the name Jesus is unheard of for non-Spanish Catholics as well: French, Irish, Italian… For some reason, this non-use of the name doesn’t occur in Spanish-speaking countries.
Rocking Chair:
The on-line Bible Gateway, which has a Spanish section, translates the Book of Joshua as “Josué,” not as “Jesus.”
I looked “Joshua” and “Jesus” up in a baby name book (not terrifically reliable, I know), and it said that Joshua was Hebrew in origin and means “God is my saviour,” and “Jesus” is Aramaic for “saviour.”
For what it’s worth as a middle-of-the-road Protestant, there is nothing in my faith or religion that prohibits anyone from naming their child “Jesus.” I have never heard of a Christian “policy,” formal or informal, that frowns on giving a child that name. It’s just not a popular name in our WASPy culture. Just as I wouldn’t name a son “Jesus,” I wouldn’t name a daughter Immaculata (Immaculate One) or Concepcion (Conception), either. I think its a cultural thing, not a religious thing. I mean, I wouldn’t name my son Marcel or Marian, either, but it doesn’t have anything to do with religion.
CMK – Re the Gateway Bible, that’s because “Jesus” and “Joshua” have evolved into separate names, even if they were once totally synonymous. Just as it would be inaccurate to call it “the Book of Jesus” in English, it would be inaccurate to call it the “Book of Jesus” in Spanish. Josue (sorry no accent) is Spanish for Joshua, not Jesus. Also Italian, I believe – wasn’t that the name of the little Jewish boy in “Life Is Beautiful”?
thank you for the quick look up. it appears that russian stands alone in having jesus and joshua as the same name. although it was fun confounding people at work. i’ve just checked italian, french, german, and greek all are diffrent names. it also seems that joshua is a popular name mostly in america. (maybe another thread topic?)
i also checked with a priest on where the “taboo” may have started. according to him jesus and mary are patrons of all people, not just an individual. so to name someone after one of them specifically would cause undue pride, ie my patron saint IS god. that wouldn’t help someone become a better christian. a patron saint is used as a further example of how to be more christ-like, christ being the first example.
That doesn’t sound right to me. How would Russians translate the name of the Joshua’s in the old testament? They wouldn’t say Yezoos (Jesus) because that’s not the same name. It’s not even the same language.
Well, this may be inappropriate, but Levon named his son Jesus just because he liked the name. (Just trying to get my post count up. Sorry. Back to your discussion.)