What's in an Old Testament name?

It's fun to study surnames, or last names, as distinguished from Christian names, or first names. Back in history, when things got crowded, they had to add second names to sort out all the people named "John" or "James" or "Mary" or "Ruth." So they turned to four contextual features -- location (as in Lois "Hill"); parentage (as in James "Williamson"); physical characteristic (as in John "Armstrong"); and occupation (as in Mary "Miller").

The same names occur today in many languages in the West. For instance, "son (or 'kin') of John" turns up as Jansen and Jensen in Scandinavia, Johnson and Jenkins in England, Owens and Evans in Wales, Ionescu in Romania, and Ivanovich in Russia. And the occupation of metalworker shows up as Smith in England, Kowalski in Poland, and Ferrara in Italy. (And yes, it's fortunate the Ferrari was made in Italy, for who wants to drive a car called a Smith?)

Furthermore, names often come in groups. In England, a "leigh" was a clearing or meadow, so when a person was associated with a stony meadow, he became Stoneleigh, which morphed into the more common Stanley. And then you start to notice other "leys" -- such as Oakley (meadow with oak trees). Then there are the "cottage" names, whether based on location (Westcott, on the west side of town) or the occupant (Prescott, where the priest lived).

It's fun to see similar groupings in the Old Testament. Read more