Some biblical figures seem to have names with very negative meanings (e.g., ‘Destruction,’ ‘Dog,’ or similar terms), and they do fit the narrative. How should we understand these-were these their actual historical personal names, or are they symbolic\/literary names or later interpretive labels used by the biblical text?<\/p>\n\t
During biblical times, it was common to give children names with significant meaning to their parents. Often, those names are related to events surrounding the birth or to the parents’ feelings and desires for the child. Cain’s name means “acquired.” Obviously, Adam and Eve acknowledge that they acquired a son from God. Sometime later, they had a second son whom they named Abel. Abel’s name means “breath.” Abel was killed by Cain, but Adam and Eve had another son afterward, whom they named “Seth,” which means “appointed” because they saw Seth as being appointed by God to replace his elder brother, Abel.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the names were given because of events at the time of the birth. Esau got his name because he was covered with red hair at his birth (Genesis 25:25). The name Esau means “hairy.” His twin brother was born holding onto Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob, which means “heel catcher” or prankster. As Rachel lay dying after the birth of her second son, she named him Benoni, which means “son of my sorrow.” Jacob immediately changed his name to Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand.” Phinehas’ wife gave birth right after learning that her husband died in battle, and the Ark of the Covenant was captured. She named her son Ichabod, which means “no glory.”<\/p>\n
Of course, naming a child after a favorite relative was also common (Luke 1:59-61).<\/p>\n
In a few cases, God steps in to state a child’s name (Luke 1:13; Matthew 1:21; Isaiah 8:3; Hosea 1:3-9). As you noted, it is interesting how many times a person’s name reflects facets of his life. Did his name lead him toward various choices, or was God working behind the scenes? It is something that we can’t fully determine.<\/p>\n
Another puzzle is what would lead a parent to name their son Nabal (“fool”). Other names sound strange to us, but may have made more sense to the parents. Cabel’s name means “dog.” They likely wanted to express their hope that their son would grow up to be loyal and courageous. Balaam’s name means “destroyer of the people.” Perhaps his parents wanted him to become a conqueror.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Some biblical figures seem to have names with very negative meanings (e.g., ‘Destruction,’ ‘Dog,’ or similar terms), and they do fit the narrative. How should we understand these-were these their actual historical personal names, or are they symbolic\/literary names or later interpretive labels used by the biblical text? Answer: During biblical times, it was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[998],"class_list":["post-95873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-names"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24585,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-isnt-cain-mentioned-in-the-genealogy-of-adam\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":0},"title":"Why isn’t Cain mentioned in the genealogy of Adam?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If everything in the original Bible is true, why is Cain not mentioned once in the genealogy of Adam? If we look into the word superinfertation at the three latest I have seen in medical files is there perhaps a way that Cain could have been born just before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14547,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-beth-mean-in-various-town-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":1},"title":"What does “beth” mean in various town names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question that came up in my most recent studies with maps. My study sent me to look at the maps in the back of my Bible, and I found something quite interesting. There are some towns with names that begin with 'Beth', such as Bethlehem. My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8271,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-biblical-word-korah\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":2},"title":"What is the meaning of the biblical word “korah?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the meaning of the biblical word \"korah?\" Answer: Korah is a proper name in Hebrew. Like most names, it is used without reference to its direct meaning. Such is still done today. My name is \"Jeffrey,\" but few use the word for its original meaning \"at peace\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35448,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-give-us-our-names\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":3},"title":"Does God give us our names?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does God give us our names? Answer: Depends on which name you are referring to. If you mean the designations like Christian, disciple, or child of God, then, yes, those come from God. If you mean your birth name then, no, that was the name your parents picked out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-cain-conceived-by-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":4},"title":"Was Cain conceived by Satan?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: [Since the author believes himself wise, I left the original note unedited.] Who ever said that Cain is Adams' son and not the devil or Satan the Dragon or what ever name you want to use is out of there mind Very simply first check the Hebrew manuscripts and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89909,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-using-the-names-of-the-week-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":95873,"position":5},"title":"Is using the names of the week wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been reading your posts and finding them really helpful. Thanks for sharing your insights! I'm having a discussion with someone about the names of the days of the week. They argue that using names like Sunday and Saturday is unbiblical because they're named after gods. They also claim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}