Name

"name; reputation; memory; renown." Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Arabic. This word appears about 864 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.

It is not always true that an individual's "name" reveals his essence. Names using foreign loan words and ancient words were probably often not understood. Of course, names such as "dog" (Caleb) and "bee" (Deborah) were not indicative of the persons who bore them. Perhaps some names indicated a single decisive characteristic of their bearer. In other cases, a "name" recalls an event or mood which the parent(s) experienced at or shortly before the child's birth and/or naming. Other names make a statement about an individual. This sense of a name as an identification appears in Gen 2:19 (an early occurrence of this word): "… and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." On the other hand, the names by which God revealed Himself (’adonay, ’El, ’elohîm) do reflect something of His person and work.

Shem can be a synonym for "reputation" or "fame": "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Gen 11:4). To "give a name for one" is to make him famous: "And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land …" (2Sam 7:23). If a name goes forth for one, his "reputation" of fame is made known: "And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty …" (Ezek 16:14). Fame may include power: "And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among three" (2Sam 23:18). This sense, "men of reputation," appears in Gen 6:4: "… mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

This word is sometimes a synonym for "… and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the earth" (2Sam 14:7). In this respect "name" may include property, or an inheritance: "Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father" (Num 27:4).

Shem can connote "renown" and "continuance" (in those remaining after one): "And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown" (Num 16:2). This significance is in the phrase "to raise up his name after him": "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance" (cf. Deut 9:14; Deut 25:6; Ruth 4:5).

is used (I) in general of the "name" by which a person or thing is called, e.g., Mar 1:3-17, "(He) surnamed," lit., "(He added) the name;" Mar 14:32, lit., "(of which) the name (was);" Luk 1:63, Joh 18:10; sometimes translated "named," e.g., Luk 1:5, "named (Zacharias)," lit., "by name;" in the same verse, "named (Elizabeth)," lit., "the name of her," an elliptical phrase, with "was" understood; Act 8:9, RV, "by name," Act 10:1; the "name" is put for the reality in Rev 3:1; in Phi 2:9, the "Name" represents "the title and dignity" of the Lord, as in Eph 1:21, Heb 1:4;

(II) for all that a "name" implies, of authority, character, rank, majesty, power, excellence, etc., of everything that the "name" covers: (a) of the "Name" of God as expressing His attributes, etc., e.g., Mat 6:9, Luk 1:49, Joh 12:28, Joh 17:6, Joh 17:26, Rom 15:9, 1Ti 6:1, Heb 13:15, Rev 13:6; (b) of the "Name" of Christ, e.g., Mat 10:22, Mat 19:29, Joh 1:12, Joh 2:23, Joh 3:18, Act 26:9, Rom 1:5, Jam 2:7, 1Jo 3:23, 3Jo 1:7, Rev 2:13, Rev 3:8; also the phrases rendered "in the name;" these may be analyzed as follows: (1) representing the authority of Christ, e.g., Mat 18:5 (with epi, "on the ground of My authority"); so Mat 24:5 (falsely) and parallel passages; as substantiated by the Father, Joh 14:26, Joh 16:23 (last clause), RV; (2) in the power of (with en, "in"), e.g., Mar 16:17, Luk 10:17, Act 3:6, Act 4:10, Act 16:18, Jam 5:14; (3) in acknowledgement or confession of, e.g., Act 4:12, Act 8:16, Act 1:9-28; (4) in recognition of the authority of (sometimes combined with the thought of relying or resting on), Mat 18:20; cp. Mat 28:19, Act 8:16, Act 9:2 (eis, "into"); Joh 14:13, Joh 15:16, Eph 5:20, Col 3:17; (5) owing to the fact that one is called by Christ's "Name" or is identified with Him, e.g. 1Pe 4:14 (with en, "in"); with heneken, "for the sake of," e.g., Mat 19:29; with dia, "on account of," Mat 10:22, Mat 24:9, Mar 13:13, Luk 21:17, Joh 15:21, 1Jo 2:12, Rev 2:3 (for 1Pe 4:16, see Note below);

(III) as standing, by metonymy, for "persons," Act 1:15, Rev 3:4, Rev 11:13 (RV, "persons").

Note: In Mar 9:41, the use of the phrase en with the dative case of onoma (as in the best mss.) suggests the idea of "by reason of" or "on the ground of" (i.e., "because ye are My disciples"); 1Pe 4:16, RV, "in this Name" (AV, "on this behalf"), may be taken in the same way.

denotes (a) "to name," "mention," or "address by name," Act 19:13, RV, "to name" (AV, "to call"); in the Passive Voice, Rom 15:20, Eph 1:21, Eph 5:3; to make mention of the "Name" of the Lord in praise and worship, 2Ti 2:19; (b) "to name, call, give a name to," Luk 1:6-14; Passive Voice, 1Co 5:11, RV, "is named" (AV, "is called"); Eph 3:15 (some mss. have the verb in this sense in Mar 3:14, 1Co 5:1). See CALL, Note (1).

"to call by a name, surname" (epi, "on," and No. 1), is used in Rom 2:17, Passive Voice, RV, "bearest the name of" (AV, "art called"). See CALL, Note (1).

primarily denotes "to address, greet, salute;" hence, "to call by name," Heb 5:10, RV, "named (of God a High Priest)" (AV, "called"), expressing the formal ascription of the title to Him whose it is; "called" does not adequately express the significance. Some suggest the meaning "addressed," but this is doubtful. The reference is to Psa 110:4, a prophecy confirmed at the Ascension. In the Sept., Deu 23:6.

"to call," is translated "named" in Act 7:58, RV (AV, "whose name was"). See CALL, No. 1 (b).

Notes: (1) In Luk 19:2, AV, kaleo, "to call" (with the dative case of onoma, "by name"), is translated "named" (RV, "called by name"); in Luk 2:21, AV, the verb alone is rendered "named" (RV, "called"). (2) In Mat 9:9, Mar 15:7, AV, the verb lego, "to speak, to call by name," is rendered "named" (RV, "called"). See CALL, No. 9.