With only a little bit of knowledge about the biblical languages, it is possible to infer in many cases if the name of a person in the Bible is Jewish or Greek? Once you have learnt even just a small amount of Biblical Greek you will be able to spot certain common patterns in name endings.

Greek vs Hebrew sounding names

These special characteristics found in the endings of names, can tell you if the person has a Jewish or Greek sounding name. In Biblical Greek, for example, male names typically end with -os (-ος), and female names typically end with -e (-η) or -a (-α), here are some examples:

• Chloe (-e, -η)
• Maria (-a, -α)
• Alexandra (-a, -a)

Contrast with these well known Hebrew names that do not have these traditional Greek endings:

• Ruth (-th, -θ)
• Esther (-r, -ρ)
• Jezebel (-el, -ελ)

Male names are a little more difficult, because English bibles traditionally prefer to remove the Greek endings from masculine Greek names, for example:

• Mark, from Markos (-os, -ος)
• Paul, from Paulos (-os, -ος)
• Peter, from Petros (-os, -ος)

Contrast with the following Hebrew names that don’t use the -os ending:

• Adam (-m, -μ)
• Daniel (-l, -λ)
• David (-d, -δ)

Hebrew Special Endings

Another interesting pattern occurs with Hebrew names that you may not know about. Have you noticed there is a common pattern in the ending of many Jewish names? Each of these names ends with -el (אל) which refers to Elohim, or God.

• Daniel
• Gabriel
• Michael
• Rachael

Notice that other Hebrew names commonly end in -ah (יה), which is an abbreviated form of Yahweh, the name of God in Hebrew.

• Josiah
• Kenaniah
• Hananiah
• Zechariah

Blended Hebrew Names

Sometimes Hebrew names are able to partially conform to Greek ending conventions. The word for Jesus, partially takes Greek endings. Compare the name Jesus to the name Mark, notice how the last ending does not match?

Markos (Μαρκος)	Jesus (Ιησους)
Markon (Μαρκον)	Jesun (Ιησουν)
Markou (Μαρκου)	Jesu (Ιησου)
Marko (Μαρκῳ)	Jesu (Ιησου)