A co-worker and I were discussing names and their meanings. With most names with meaning, the meaning cannot be used in the same context of the name, (i.e, Elizabeth can mean 'the oath of God', but you would not say " I believe in Elizabeth" and it mean "I believe in the oath of God"). So we were just wondering how names evolve.
The Hebrew name "Elisheba" (אֱלִישֶׁבַע) means oath of God. "Eli" means "my God" and "Sheba" means oath. The oldest record of this name is the wife of Aaron in the Book of Exodus. The name was likely intended to be understood literally. Just as when we call a place a "doghouse" we expect the audience to understand the two parts combine to form a new concept.
When the Bible was translated to Greek the name was recorded as "Elisavet" (Ελισάβετ). From there we receive the English form "Elizabeth."
In some sense proper names don't "mean" anything - they're simply identifiable labels to distinguish one person, place or thing from another.
As opposed to a category noun like "dog" which can be considered shorthand for a more detailed description of the category. With this sort of word one can legitimately say something like "That can't be a dog because it doesn't have padded feet"
Proper names are often derived from other words and so they can carry a meaning of sorts (as with Elizabeth) but you wouldn't say of someone "Her name can't be Sophia because she's not wise"
If you want to follow this line of reasoning further, you could look into Frege's thoughts on sense and reference
Do people's names have meanings in English? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Favorite name-related etymolgies?
In general, where and how do names get their meanings?
The Hebrew name "Elisheba" (אֱלִישֶׁבַע) means oath of God. "Eli" means "my God" and "Sheba" means oath. The oldest record of this name is the wife of Aaron in the Book of Exodus. The name was likely intended to be understood literally. Just as when we call a place a "doghouse" we expect the audience to understand the two parts combine to form a new concept.
When the Bible was translated to Greek the name was recorded as "Elisavet" (Ελισάβετ). From there we receive the English form "Elizabeth."
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When I wondered the same thing I did a bit of search on the Internet and I came across this site: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/
It gives the meaning and the origin of English names, even those that aren't of English origin.
In general, personal names in English, though having a meaning historically, do not also have this meaning transparently.
They almost always have a meaning hidden by a change in vocabulary and phonology. For example, the Christian biblical names all have a explicit meaning in Hebrew. But it is in no way clear to the uninitiated that Rachel means 'ewe' in Hebrew.
As to where to find meanings of names, the internet is -full- of baby naming sites with all sorts of meanings. just google:
baby names meaning
Different sites will have different details, but together they'll give you a good idea of the history of a name.
Anyone have any interesting name-related etymologies to share? I’m doing a project and would love to use any good ones. Here’s a few I enjoy
Phillip can be broken down into Phil- meaning love (audiophile, etc) and hip- meaning horse. (For example, Hippo-potamus meaning river horse).
Nickname was originally eke-name, eke having a sense of like, “additional thing,” (the sense survives in the phrase ‘to eke (something) out’) but it was misparced as nickname when people would say “an eke name,” it sounds like “a neke name”
Things like this. Any thoughts?