Theophoric names are exceedingly common in the Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia, where the personal name of an individual included the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted. The practice, called in onomastics theophory, refers to this naming convention of adding a god's name (or the local equivalent of the generic term for god) to an individual's proper name. Among the names that have developed this way are Elizabeth, which utilized the Semitic god El's name, Samuel (same derivation) or Jonathan.

"The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shorter as Yah or Yahu) appears in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period, e.g., Yirme-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah. Theophoric names of this period may also refer to different deities, as in the name Solomon (S-l-m=Salem as in “R-S-l-M, i.e., Urushalimum or Rushalimum). This practice of naming is not limited to ancient Israel or Judah but has been a common practice of many cultures (cf., e.g., the Hebrew “Yedid-yahu”, i.e., YHWH has loved, with Greek “Theophilus” and German “Gottlieb”."Jerusalem/StudyQuestionsIII.htm Michael Zank, Boston University.

The practice was Christianized in familiar forms such as Theodore ("gift of God") [1].

External links

• Theophoric names: bibliography
• Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
• Ogden Goelet, "Moses' Egyptian Name"
• Jewish onomastics