Theophoric name


A theophoric name embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo, such as Apollonios or Apollodorus, existed in Greek antiquity.
Theophoric personal names, containing the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted, were also exceedingly common in the ancient Near East and Mesopotamia. Some names of theophoric origin remain common today, such as Theodore or, less recognisably, Jonathan.

Classical Greek and Roman theophoric names

DeityNameMeaning
AphroditeAphrodisius, -a
AphroditeHermaphroditus"Hermes and Aphrodite"
ApolloApollodorus, -a"gift of Apollo"
ApolloApollonides"son of Apollo"
ApolloApollonius
AresArius"war-like"
ArtemisArtemiche
ArtemisArtemidorus"gift of Artemis"
ArtemisArtemisius, -ia
AthenaAthenaeus
AthenaAthenais
AthenaAthenagoras"man in Athena's market"
AthenaAthenodorus, -a"gift of Athena"
CephissusCephisodorus"gift of Cephissus"
CephissusCephisodotus"given by Cephissus"
DemeterDemetrius, -ia
DemeterDemetrodorus"gift of Demeter"
DionysusDionysius, -a, Dennis
DionysusDionysodorus, -a"gift of Dionysus"
DionysusDionysicles"glory of Dionysus"
FortunaFortunatus"fortunate, lucky"
HecateHecataeus
HeliosHeliodorus"gift of the Sun"
HephaestusHephaestion
HeraHeracles"glory of Hera"
HeraHeraclitus"glory of Hera"
HeraHerodotus"given by Hera"
HermesHermaphroditus"Hermes and Aphrodite"
HermesHermesianax"king Hermes"
HermesHermione, Hermion
HermesHermippus"horse of Hermes"
HermesHermocrates"strength of Hermes"
HermesHermogenes"born of Hermes"
HermesHermolaus"people of Hermes"
IsisIsidorus, -a"gift of Isis"
MarsMarcus
MarsMartialis"Mars-like"
MarsMartinus
Mene Menodora"gift of the Moon"
MinervaMinervina"little Minerva"
NymphsNymphodora"gift of the nymphs"
PoseidonPoseidippus"horse of Poseidon"
PoseidonPoseidorus, -a"gift of Poseidon"
PoseidonPoseidonius
SerapisSerapion
ThemisThemistocles"glory of Themis"
ZeusDioof Zeus
ZeusDiocles, Diocletian"glory of Zeus"
ZeusDiodorus"gift of Zeus"
ZeusZenoof Zeus
ZeusZenobius, -ia"might of Zeus"
ZeusZenodotus"given by Zeus"

Certain names of classical gods are sometimes given as personal names. The most common is Diana and its variants, such as Diane; others include Minerva, Aphrodite, Venus, Isis, or Juno. The first pope to take a regnal name, John II">John (given name)">John II, had the given name Mercurius and changed his name as he considered it inappropriate for the pope to have a pagan deity's name.

Christian theophoric names

Some Christian saints have polytheistic theophoric names.

Germanic theophoric names

Rarely, Germanic names contain the element Wod, potentially pointing to an association with the god Odin. In connection, numerous names containing wulf "wolf" have been taken as totemistic, expressing association with Odin in the earliest period, although -ulf degenerated into a mere suffix from an early time.

Hinduism

The personal names of almost all gods and goddesses of various deities from the polytheistic Hindu pantheon are considered common and traditional names for people from the Indian subcontinent. Many traditional Hindu names are in fact from various names or epithets of Hindu gods or goddesses. This is in addition to compound theophoric names using the name of a deity in addition to possessive qualifiers.
Brahma, the Hindu creator god, is one of the only deities of the pantheon whose name is rarely if ever used as a personal name or a base for theophoric personal names.
Some seemingly theophoric names may in fact be more related to the original etymology of the deity's name itself. For example, both Lakshmi and Lakshman are names of a deity and an avatar respectively, which are related to lakṣ meaning "to mark or see".

Pre-Islamic polytheism

Islam

Judaism

Much Hebrew theophory occurs in the Jewish Bible. The most prominent theophoric names are:
  • names containing El, a word meaning might, power and god in general, and hence in Judaism, God and among the Canaanites the name of the god who was the father of Baal.
  • names containing Yah, a shortened form of Yahweh.
  • names referring to Levantine deities by the epithet Baal, meaning lord.
In later times, as the conflict between Yahwism and the more popular pagan practices became increasingly intense, these names were censored and Baal was replaced with Bosheth, meaning shameful one. But abbreviations of the name Yahweh do not appear in theophoric names until the time of Joshua, and for the most part is very rare until the time of King Saul, when it began to be very popular.

El

Yahweh

Abbreviations of the name of the Israelite deity YHWH appear as a prefix or suffix in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period. For example, Yirme-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah, Yeho-natan, Yeho-chanan, Yeho-shua, Yeho-tzedek, Zekharya.
"Yahū" or "Yah" is the abbreviation of YHWH when used as a suffix in Hebrew names; as a prefix it appears as "Yehō-", or "Yo". It was formerly thought to be abbreviated from the Masoretic pronunciation "Yehovah". There is an opinion that, as Yahweh is likely an imperfective verb form, "Yahu" is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form: compare yiŝtahaweh, yiŝtáhû = "do obeisance".
In the table below, 13 theophoric names with "Yeho" have corresponding forms where the letters eh have been omitted. There is a theory by Christian Ginsburg that this is because Hebrew scribes omitted the "h", changing Jeho into Jo, to make the start of "Yeho-" names not sound like an attempt to pronounce the Divine Name.

Referring to other gods

Theophoric names containing "Baal" were sometimes "censored" as -bosheth = "shameful one", whence Ishbosheth etc.