Where Did the Names of the 12 Disciples Come From?

Like the name "Jesus", the names were written in Greek, but were Greek versions of Hebrew names:

James (Iakobos) was actually Jacobus.
John (Ioannes) was actually Jochanan.
Simon (Simon) was actually Shimon.

We know them by the English versions of the Greek names. If we had gone by their actual Hebrew names, James would be Jacob, John would be Joacim, and Jesus would be Joshua.

 

They are obviously Anglicized forms of the biblical names. Too bad the authors hadn't Anglicized some of those Old Testament names we love to mispronounce.

Cheers,

Jim (Jacobus (old Latin), Jacob, The Supplanter, Hebrew..The English can be, Jakobos, Jacob, Jake, Jack, Jocko, Jeames, Jamie, Jemmy. Jimmie, Jimmy, Jim, or the Greek Iakobos.)

 

I'm thinking the names originated with their parents...

 

I can hear it now, "Turn with me in your Bibles if you will to Jimmy 2:10." I know it only sounds funny because I am not used to it but, it still sounds funny.

 

That's the 20,000 question. My understanding is that the Apostles were already being known by the English versions of their names prior to the first English translation bibles. It's often hard to fight tradition. For example, had the KJV authors decided to refer to Jesus as "Joshua", the version no doubt would have been critically berated more than it did.

Interestingly, there's one instance in the KJV (Hebrews 4) where Joshua was translated as "Jesus". Since we realte the name "Jesus" to the son of Mary and Joseph, and "Joshua" to the OT hero, Hebrews 4 should have been translated as "Joshua", not "Jesus".