# What did Jesus call himself? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158 "2009-07-15T21:57:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/1 "2009-07-15T21:57:08Z")
It’s almost common knowledge that the name ‘Jesus’ is itself of Greek origin, and not how people at the time would have referred to Jesus of Nazareth. The Bible itself is not much use here, where references are of course to ‘Jesus’. So, how would Jesus have introduced himself? A Hebrew name? Aramaic? Professor Wikipedia postulates Jesus’ original name was [Yeshua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshua_%28name%29), but Dr. Google notes that ‘Eesa’, ‘Yahushua’, ‘Isa’ and ‘Jahshuwah’ are other possibilities (SDMB search pulls up 750 results, ‘name’ being too common a search term). What’s the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/2 "2009-07-15T22:00:28Z")
The Master Speaks: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/33/what-was-jesus-real-name](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/33/what-was-jesus-real-name) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/3 "2009-07-15T22:07:02Z")
:smack: Should have searched for the Master’s opinion. So his real name was conclusively Joshua (or “Joshua bar-Joseph”/“Joshua, son of Joseph”)? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/4 "2009-07-15T22:11:32Z")
All those names in the OP are the same name. It’s pronounced something like “YEH-shoo-ah”. The variant spellings are just playing with how hard the Y is pronounced and how rounded the vowels are. It’s just accent, basically. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/5 "2009-07-15T22:56:17Z")
I’ve heard it suggested that his name would have been Yehoshua ben-Yosef, meaning Joshua, son of Joseph, and that such a name was often shortened in common speech to something like Yeshua, with the first ‘e’ pronounced like ‘neighbor’, and the ‘u’ pronounced almost like ‘uor’, so it would sound like ‘y-ay-shuohh-a’, for want of a simpler way of writing that pronunciation… 🙂 But I can’t remember where I’ve heard this, it could well just have been from Prof. Wikipedia… ---
**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:** [July 15, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/6 "2009-07-15T23:01:34Z")
The name Yehoshua also apparently means ‘Yahweh is Salvation’, and refers to the prophet who led the Israelites into the promised land after Moses died: > [@](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua) > The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew: יהושע‎ “Yehoshua,” meaning means “Yahweh is Salvation,” “Yahweh delivers,” or “Yahweh rescues” from the Hebrew root ישע, “salvation,” “to deliver/be liberated,” or “to be victorious”[2] “salvation.” It often lacks a Hebrew letter vav (ו) after the shin (ש), allowing a reading of the vocalization of the name as Yehoshea (יְהוֹשֵׁעַ) - the name is described in the Torah as having been originally Hoshea before being changed to Yehoshua by Moses (Numbers 13:16). > > “Jesus” is the Anglicized transliteration of the Hellenized transliteration of “Yehoshua”. In the Septuagint, all instances of “Yehoshua” are rendered as “ιησου” (Iesou/Jesus), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/7 "2009-07-15T23:25:22Z")
Not to hijack, but why did he (appear to?) refer to himself as the “Son of Man”? ---
**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:** [July 15, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/8 "2009-07-15T23:44:50Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Not to hijack, but why did he (appear to?) refer to himself as the “Son of Man”? “Son of man” can be used in the bible just to refer to a man, but in the book of Daniel, there’s an apocalyptic verse referring to the messiah that the writers of the gospels are probably using as a messianic reference for Jesus. From the book of Daniel: > [@](#): > > I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/9 "2009-07-16T00:02:26Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Not to hijack, but why did he (appear to?) refer to himself as the “Son of Man”? Yes, there are passages in the Bible where Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Whether or not the historical Jesus actually spoke those words (and many others) is the topic of much debate and scholarship. Check out the [Jesus Seminar.](http://www.westarinstitute.org/Seminars/seminars.html) ---
**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/10 "2009-07-16T00:49:49Z")
Nothing to add, but I read the title as “Why did Jesus kill himself?” My first thought was, shouldn’t that be in GD? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/11 "2009-07-16T02:12:27Z")
Jesus’s homies called him J-Dog. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/12 "2009-07-16T02:16:12Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Jesus’s homies called him J-Dog. Or, more informally, Dude. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/13 "2009-07-16T02:19:03Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Not to hijack, but why did he (appear to?) refer to himself as the “Son of Man”? I thought the Son of Man guy was Ezekiel. Pretty much every second prophecy he has, God addresses him as “Son of Man”. I think some of the other prophets were called that, too, although not as often. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/14 "2009-07-16T02:25:41Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Or, more informally, Dude. Or maybe (J)ese. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/15 "2009-07-16T02:25:44Z")
> [@otorophile](#): > > Nothing to add, but I read the title as “Why did Jesus kill himself?” My first thought was, shouldn’t that be in GD? And I read your last question as “shouldn’t that be in G-D”? Not exactly sure what that’d mean, but likely opening up a whole other can of worms as well. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/16 "2009-07-16T02:38:17Z")
Me. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-jesus-call-himself/503158/17 "2009-07-16T10:48:00Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Not to hijack, but why did he (appear to?) refer to himself as the “Son of Man”? I asked this some time ago. [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=299070&highlight=jesus)