For sake of distinction, the father’s name was sometimes added ; as in the case of David, the son of Jesse; and occasionally a person was called
* Also, no doubt, Gn 2954, where we ought to read ΠΝ Ἢ =she called (so Ball in SBOT).
+ On the cause of the ambiguity in these cases, of. Davidson. Syntax, ὃ 108a.
NAME
NAMES, PROPEK 48]
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simply son of so-and-so, often in contempt (e.g. Is 7"). But the familiar Arabic custom of making actual proper names out of such combinations as father of so-and-so, or son of so-and-so, did not exist among the Hebrews. Nor, again, have we any evidence that anything strictly corresponding to our family names was in use; though, of course, there were clan names, and a man might be described as being the ‘man’ or ‘son’ of such and such a clan (Jg 10'). A woman did not change her name on marriage, though to her own name the deseription ‘ wife of so-and-so’ was often added (Gn 12", Jg 44). Is 4! does not refer to such a custom: for its interpretation see above I. 2, It is not therefore to the family name, but to the memory of a deceased person, that the term ‘name’ refers in the very frequent phrases ‘to blot out’ or ‘to take away’ the name (with refer- ence to childless people ; ef. e.g. Nu 274, Dt 25°: 7, 1S 247; cf. in Aramaic, CJS ii. 113); it is the memory, not the actual name, of an ancestor that posterity preserves (cf. Is 56°).
Several instances are recorded of change of name in mature life. But most of these instances are of a special character, and it is therefore difficult to feel sure that the custom was at all frequent. Thus we find (a) three or four instances in the legends of the patriarchs, Gn 32% (J) 17515 35%, ΝῈ 1816. (P); ὦ two instances of the names of kings of Judah being changed (by their Babylonian conqueror) on their accession to the throne (2 Καὶ 23% 2417); (6) instances of Hebrews resident in a foreign country taking names of that country (Gn 41%, Dn 15) ; (d) some instances in NT of new names given denoting some striking quality of the person in question (Mk 315 17),
On the other hand, after the contact of the Jews with the Greeks, it became quite common for a man to adopt a Greek as well as a Jewish name; in these cases a Greek name similar in sound or significance to the Jewish was often adopted, e.g. Jakim changed his name to Alcimus (Jos. Ant. XII. ix. 7; 1 Mae 75), and Saul to Paul. Peter is the Greek name with the same signification as Cephas in Aramaic. This was one cause of the custom unknown to early times of a man being referred to by two names at the same time, e.g. Thomas Didymus, Simon Peter, John Mark. fh other cases the second of two names may denote a man’s city, e.g. Judas Iscariot (=m pes ; ef. Pirke Aboth, 1% 45 3% ete.).
2. Cities.—Of the customs connected with the naming of cities we know little beyond what can be inferred from the meaning of the names (see following art.). But we must note that certain narratives trace back the names of cities to their founders or captors (Gn 47, Nu 32", Dt 34, Jos 197), But these are for the most part, if not entirely, name-myths. How far it points to a custom it is difficult to feel sure, because we are ill informed as to the extent to which the place names of the OT originated with the Hebrews. The Shemer after whom Samaria was named was probably a clan rather than an individual (Stade in ZATW, 1885, p. 165 ἢ). In one instance the new name given by a king of Judah toa conquered town (2 Καὶ 147) was that of an old town of Judah. It cannot be inferred from 1S 12% that it was customary to name a city after its conqueror (see above, I. 2). In the Greek period, Hebrew (Semitic) names of places as well as of persons gare place to Greek names, ¢.g. Beth-shan became
cythopolis (Jth 3"; ef. Jg 17 LXX); but in uhis, as in so many similar instances, it is the Semitic name which has subsequently survived (mod. Beisdn).
LiTeratur®.—More especial! Ε1. of the article —Oshlae, or
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dealing with the subject of Theol, (Eng. tr.) i. pp. 181-185;
Schultz, OT Theol. ch. xxviii. 2; Smend, Alttest. Religions. geschichte?, pp. 28f.,102; Baethgen, Beitriige zur semit. Religions. geschichte, p. 267f.; Stade, GVI ii. 247f.; G. Hoffmann, Ceber einige phin. Inschriften, pp. 47-52 ; Driver, Deuteronomy, Rp. 141, 306; Sayce, Hibbert Lecture, p. 302 ff. ; Holtzmann, eutestamentliche Theologie, ii. 484 f. ; KO. Conybeare, ‘ Chris- tian Demonology,’ in JQR viii. 576-608, ix. 59-114, 447-470, 481-603 (esp. 581-589). More especially dealing with the subject of § Il. :—Gray, Studies in Heb. Prop. Names, pp. 1-10; Benzinger, Heb. Archdologie, 124-131, 160-153 ; Nowack, Lehrb. d. Heb, Arch, 148f., 165f.; L. Low, Beitrdge zur jiid, Alter- thumskunde, ii. pp. 92-110; Deissmann, Bibelstudien, 181-136, α. B. GRay.
NAMES, PROPER.—How much a name meant to the Hebrews is indicated in the article NAME. The Bn portanies attached to names makes the study of them a valuable means to appreciating the religious and social ideas of the Hebrews. An historical study of them enables us in some measure to trace the growth of ideas; a comparative study of Hebrew and other Semitic names brings to light many similarities and some dissimilarities in the Hebrews to their Semitic kinsfolk. In the present article it will be unnecessary to examine these names in any exhaustive manner; but, so far as space allows, the attempt will be made to indicate the large classes into which great numbers of names naturally fall, the degree to which the meaning of the names is ambiguous, the points of ey: and dissimilarity in Hebrew and the cognate languages, and the history of ideas and their prevalence, so far as the existing data permit these to be traced in the proper names. The meanings of particular names must be sought for under the several articles,