Young Writers Society

I was told by a teacher some time ago that Jews believed that whenever someone called you by name, they were expressing authority or ownership over you. That's what happened when God created the universe and named everything He created. That's also what happened when Adam gave names to all the animals on Earth. It meant that humans held dominion over nature (which is a belief that Catholics hold up to now). That also plays an effect in how the Jews refer to God. They do not call God by His real name. They use other words to refer to Him, like Adonai, Abba, or YHWH (they just removed the vowels off His name here). Christians are kind of more liberal about it, but some are still a little uncomfortable in calling God by name.

In my country where it's very Catholic, calling someone by name doesn't really mean that. It's more of a sign of closeness or intimacy. Or it can be seen as very rude when you do it to an older person without using titles.

I'm researching this for an essay I want to make that relates Death Note and Christian beliefs. I want to confirm the information that I received. What I'm looking for is either: a.) an explanation of the meaning of names in the Creation story, or b.) what names meant to the Jews back then.

I'd greatly appreciate any information on this. Thanks in advance.

So, I'm not Jewish, but I've taken classes in Hebrew Language and plenty of undergraduate and graduate level courses in different aspects of Christianity (scripture, history, and theology). I would be interested if there are any people on YWS who are actually Jewish and could maybe correct me on some of these details or add to my explanation.

Here's what my understanding is though:

In the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians use as the Old Testament) names have a lot of importance, they're often (if not always) symbolic in a story. For instance "Adam" means "Man", Jacob means "holder of heel" or trickster, "Leah" means heifer, "Rachel" means ewe/lamb. This isn't unique to Jewish people, most early cultures had names from other words or that had familial significance. This still continues in modern day civilizations actually.

The actual naming of a person, does mean that you claim them as your own (so you'd be right in saying that they have some authority over you), that you take them into your family/responsibility. So when God names us, He claims us into His family as His children. When Joseph named Jesus, it was maybe today's equivalent of "putting your last name on the birth certificate," he makes Jesus an heir, and puts him in his own family. So not only is he by blood a descendant of David (through Mary) but he is legally a descendant because Joseph claims him by naming him.

Your explanation is somewhat wrong as far as God's name - in early Hebrew writing, they simply didn't use vowels. So that's why "YHWH" God's official name that He told us lacks vowels now, because we have no idea what vowels actually go in there. Traditionally now, people spell it out "Yahweh" but that's just an idea of the vowels that might have been in there. The letters we actually know are just the four consonants - Yod, Hei, Vav, Hei.

Ancient Jews, probably did actually use and say out loud God's real name "YHWH" or else we wouldn't have it handed down from the oral tradition. Eventually though the reason many stopped using it out loud comes from the same reasons Christians are hesitant to use "God" as a swear word or "in vain". It comes from an interpretation of one of the 10 commandments that were given by God to us through Moses. Exodus 20:7 reads, "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."

In order to make sure that they weren't using the Lord's name in vain, as part of trying to adhere to piety, many Jewish people just stopped using "YHWH" out loud. Also to respect it, most I think wouldn't write out the name on something that could be discarded or erased, but would put in a substitute like "adonai" (lord) or "al shem" (the name). This is also why many Christians don't use the name "God" or they try not to swear by saying a variation like "gosh darnit" or things like that. Because God has told us not to use His name in that way.

Also interesting, the name "YHWH" is related to the word "HWH" pronounced "hayah" when you add vowels, which means "to exist" - which is why in the Bible it's translated to "I am" (but could also be translated to "I will be" or "I was" -- it's ambiguous). This makes it interesting in the book of John when Jesus continually uses statements like "I AM the light" or "I AM the good shepherd" -- his Jewish followers could have easily made the connection that he was using that part of God's name there.

The other names you listed for God, are Hebrew words as well. "Adonai" means "My Lord" -- coming from the word "adon" which means "lord" or "ruler" or "master" -- like the master of a slave or servant. It's just a term that can be used in the place of God's true name to remind us that God is our lord. Then the word "Abba" means "father" in Hebrew -- and again doesn't necessarily mean "God" but people use it sometimes in place of the word "god" to remind us that God is our heavenly "father".

Other words that you'll see in the Jewish scriptures referring to God are "elohim" or the shortened "el" or "al" which can mean "god" or "gods" - it's ambiguous though if you don't have the context that it's referring to the God of Israel, the word "elohim" could just as well be referring to the gods of a different nation, unless there are context clues to show differently.

Here's an article from a Jewish source that breaks down some Jewish modern and historical understanding of the name of God which probably covers some aspects that I missed or didn't know. Judaism 101:The Name

And here's one specifically on Jewish traditions in naming, but focuses more on the modern practice: http://www.jewfaq.org/jnames.htm

For early Christians, many of whom were former Jews, personal names became less important. During periods of persecution when asked for their name, often Christians would simply answer, "I am a Christian" as their personal identity was seen as less important than they're belonging to Christ. There's a lot of History with Baptismal names though that you can look into, and in some traditions like the Orthodox church, it is still seen as significant and important to receive the sacraments (like Baptism and Communion/Mass) by your Christian/Orthodox name.

I hope that answers some of your questions. Feel free to reach out if you'd like the Hebrew translations of other specific names from the creation story or the Bible, or if you have other questions about this topic and I can try to assist.

I unfortunately don't have anything to add, but @alliyah that was fascinating and I feel enlightened!

So alliyah covered... more than I could ever dream of covering. But there's something else I wanted to mention about the creator's name (I follow the Jewish religion in many ways, but I'm not exactly like the traditional sects).

My understanding is that the Jews don't say the Name or even words they feel are similar like god etc, is not because of the commandment "dong take his name in vein" but rather because there's a portion somewhere that says Elohim will cause everyone to forget his name and not say it (not an exact quote at all)- and so Jews felt they weren't allowed to say his name. Or at least, that's what I thought?

alliyah also covered the history of the spelling of the name "YHWH" or "Yahweh". Though, many many Jews would feel uncomfortable spelling out even "YHWH". The reason for the lack of vowels, to my knowledge, is what alliyah said- they were not removed for the same reason some Jews spell "God" as "G-d".

As for everyday names, they often will have a piece of the creator's name in them. alliyah's name for example has "yah" in it, which is what we believe to be the first syllable of "Yahweh". That's pretty common for Jewish/Hebrew names. At least, that's what I've always understood.

And for Catholics, we have the 3 name deal, which doesn't entirely relate but @alliyah started talking about it.

Where I'm from, you have to have a first and middle name, which is supposed to be like given name and saints name. My name is Elizabeth Jane and both of those have respective saints, so I'm covered.

Part of what goes along with the saints name is honor. The child is often being named after an ancestor and usually people pick a specific Saint. My name is after whatever Elizabeth my grandmother was named for, but with the choices nowadays, it could be Elizabeth Seton.
You choose the first and middle name to honor family and god, which represents the most important things in your life.

For Confirmation, which is literally confirming your faith so really creative naming there, you as a semi adult choose a Saint. Before the naming went onto your parents and they could do whatever they please and give you the names to guide you. But for confirmation, which shows that you went through everything and pledged loyalty among other things to god, you have the freedom to choose whatever saint you like.

Most people go with Mary, John, Joseph, etc. confirmation names are something you're rarely called by, at least in modern traditions, they used to be something more, but we've passed by that.

There's a lot of symbolism in every level and some of what I've said, is just a combination of what I've heard from my grandmother and my deacon.
So whatever. Listen if you like but there's what I know about the significance in choosing the names in the first place.

oh my goodness

I've yet to make a proper response or a set of questions regarding these new things (crunch time you see), but highkey thanks for now to all the people who answered. I feel like I'm elevated to a higher level of understanding the mysteries of God.