# What does the H stand for in the saying Jesus H Christ **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610 "2014-07-20T17:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/21 "2014-07-22T01:35:29Z")
Hussein. I hear he’s returning. And running for President. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/22 "2014-07-22T01:59:09Z")
Happy ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/23 "2014-07-22T04:04:49Z")
According to Gramma Rose “Holy”. To her “Jesus Christ” was a curse but by adding the “Holy” it became a prayer. Terrific lady – lived to 98 and drank most of her life. Which some of you may have already guessed. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/24 "2014-07-22T04:13:06Z")
I heard once, and consider a serious contender, the assertion that it’s a euphemism for the not-so-quick-to-appear-in-print “Jesus F Christ.” ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/25 "2014-07-22T07:38:30Z")
Hellraiser ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/26 "2014-07-22T11:07:03Z")
> [@Dereknocue67](#): > > Hellraiser This one deserves some special thought! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/27 "2014-07-22T11:15:45Z")
It’s to remind us the J is silent. Hesus. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/28 "2014-07-22T11:50:26Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s to remind us the J is silent. > > Hesus. Nitpick: a silent J would give you Esus. Pronouncing J as in Spanish “Hesus” or German “Yesus” is not silent. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/29 "2014-07-22T11:51:26Z")
Hooker-lovin’. ---
**Author:** ![jbaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/30 "2014-07-23T01:18:49Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > From my post in one of many [previous threads on this subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=107808&highlight=jesus+christ): > Lighter, Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang says that it first appears in print in 1892. Cited by one A. Lomax as in a folk song. That may indicate it does go back a bit farther than that date. > > The Mark Twain reference is mentioned in his autobiography(written in 1910) in which Clemens says, referring to ca. 1850 “In that day the common swearers of the region has a way of their own of emphasizing the Saviour’s name when they were using it profanely…He enlarged the offending J.C. into Jesus H. Christ.” > > Whether this truly happened as early as 1850, we will probably never know. > > Lighter suggests that “the H. is probably from Greek. epigram for Jesus, IHS or IHC, with the H(the Greek letter eta) reinterpreted as the E letter H.” > > Trust in Lighter. All others pay cash. Clemens’s notebooks mention it around 1888, so his memory of the timing was probably faulty. A widely reprinted short newspaper piece from 1885 refers to “Jesus H. Christ” as a Spanish name, apparently seriously (well, seriously in the context of making fun of those funny Spanish names), suggesting (a) it goes back at least that far and (b) it was not yet widely recognized. Of course, none of this tells us what the H stands for, but Lighter’s theory is the most plausible I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/31 "2014-07-23T01:57:03Z")
As you’ve so perfectly demonstrated, it doesn’t stand for anything, because it doesn’t need to. Meaning comes from usage and in this case, you certainly didn’t need to assign any meaning to it in order to use it and I don’t need to assign a meaning in order to understand you, so it doesn’t need to stand for anything. It’s just an embellishment that works fine on it’s own as a letter. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/32 "2014-07-23T11:12:16Z")
Hashimoto. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/33 "2014-07-23T17:56:03Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > From my post in one of many [previous threads on this subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=107808&highlight=jesus+christ) It’s probably from IHS. Latin and Greek terms had a huge cultural impact. Sort of the same thing as the term “hocus pocus” coming from the Latin “hoc est corpus meum” (“This is my body”), which people heard every week in church for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/34 "2014-07-23T18:50:38Z")
Frankly, I don’t think it’s anything at all except a random syllable inserted to serve purposes of meter and emphasis on the model of other typically American names with a middle initial. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/35 "2014-07-23T19:00:54Z")
Well, Jesus was a nice Jewish boy, so… probably Howard or Hy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610/36 "2014-07-23T20:25:19Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Hey, Zeus Could be: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BquyQj8TX\_w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BquyQj8TX_w) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-h-stand-for-in-the-saying-jesus-h-christ/693610.md?page=1)