Biblical Names and their Meaning
Posted on Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Biblical
Names and their Meaning
By Apolinario Villalobos
When the Spaniards came to the shores of
the Philippine archipelago, they found the early Filipinos using one name that
described their quaint personalities, such as “Matapang” (brave), “Maganda” (beautiful),
“Masipag” (industrious), “Mayumi” (modest), etc. This was also a practice of
the people during the Biblical time. The following are some Biblical names and
their corresponding meaning that might interest you:
Adam -
of the ground; taken out of the red earth; mankind
Eve -
life; living
Abel -
breath; shepherd; herdsman
Seth -
appointed; substituted (he was a “substitute” for Abel)
Abraham - the father is right
Sara/Sarah - princess
Moses -
drawn out; born (he was drawn out of a river)
Isaac - one laughs (before Isaac was conceived,
Sarah laughed when she was told by an angel that she will bear a son, despite
her old age)
Ishmael
- God hears
Solomon
- peaceable
Salome - female name of Solomon
Jerusalem
– city of peace; the city of God
David - beloved; chieftain
Joseph - may God add
Bethlehem
– house of bread
Paul -little
Martha
– mistress
Barak - lightning
Samaria
– watchtower
Samuel
– name of God
Judah - praised
Jacob - supplanter
Joel - Jehovah is God
Abigail
– father is rejoicing
Anna - grace
Alexander
– man-defending
Jonathan
– God has given
The above are the most familiar names that
I have encountered in a Bible dictionary, salvaged from a heap of junked books
in a sidewalk of Manila.
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