Moses (given name)


Moses,, Moises, Moyses, Moishe, Moshe, Musa, or Movses is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses.
An Egyptian root has been considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a theophoric name, as for example in Egyptian names like Thutmose and Ramesses, with the god's name omitted. However, the biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen argued that this – or any Egyptian origin for the name – was unlikely, as the sounds in the Hebrew do not correspond to the pronunciation of Egyptian in the relevant time period. The linguist Abraham Yahuda, based on the spelling given in the Tanakh, argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water," thus yielding the sense of "child of the Nile".
The Hebrew etymology in the Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses' Egyptian origins. The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like Philo and Josephus. Philo linked Moses's name to the Egyptian word for 'water', in reference to his finding in the Nile and the biblical folk etymology. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, claims that the second element,, meant 'those who are saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess, known to Josephus as Thermutis and to 1 Chronicles 4:18 as Bithiah, could have known Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like Abraham ibn Ezra and Hezekiah ben Manoah. Hezekiah suggested she either converted or took a tip from Jochebed.
According to the Torah, the name "Moses" comes from the Hebrew verb, meaning "to pull out/draw out", and the infant Moses was given this name by the Pharaoh's daughter after she rescued him from the Nile Since the rise of Egyptology and decipherment of hieroglyphs, it was postulated that the name of Moses, with a similar pronunciation as the Hebrew Moshe, is the Egyptian word for son, with Pharaoh names such as Thutmose and Ramesses roughly translating to "son of Thoth" and "son of Ra," respectively.
There are various ways of pronouncing the Hebrew name of Moses, for example in Ashkenazi western European it would be pronounced Mausheh, in Eastern Europe Moysheh, in northern Islamic countries Moussa, and in Yemen Mesha. The nicknames are accordingly Moishe, Moysh, Maish, Moeez, Mo, Moyshee, Musie.
Jews named with the Hebrew name of Moses, commonly held a similar name in the language of the countries where they were born or lived. In Europe they were named Maurici, Maurice, Morris, Mauricio. In Arabic speaking countries, along with Musa or Moussa - the Arabic name for Moses, they were also named Mustafa.

People with this name

Ancient times

Medieval

Early modern to 18th century

Modern

Fictional characters