10 entries from the /names/ index. Names with their own individual page link out.
Meaning: English "patience" (from Latin patientia, the Christian virtue).
Figure: The Christian virtue.
Patience is one of the virtue names that came into use in English-speaking Christian families during the Puritan period. The name remains in some modern Protestant use.
Meaning: Latin "nobleman" or "patrician" (from patricius).
Figure: Saint Patrick; fifth-century Apostle to Ireland (c. 387-461).
Saint Patrick is the fifth-century Romano-British missionary who, after capture by Irish slave-traders in his youth, returned to Ireland as a bishop and brought Christianity to the island. The Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox calendars commemorate him on March 17, a major feast in Ireland and (in the diaspora) in the United States. He is the patron saint of Ireland.
Meaning: Latin "small" or "humble."
Figure: Apostle to the Gentiles; author of the principal epistles of the New Testament.
Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles, originally Saul of Tarsus, whose conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) and subsequent missionary work shaped the early Christian movement more than any other single figure. His letters constitute the principal theological corpus of the New Testament. The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 is among the major feasts of the Christian calendar across the traditions.
Meaning: Greek "rock" (Petros; translating Aramaic Cephas).
Figure: Chief of the apostles; brother of Andrew; first bishop of Rome in Catholic tradition (Matthew 16:18; John 21:15-17).
Peter is the chief of the apostles, originally Simon son of Jonas, renamed by Jesus as Kepha (Aramaic, "rock"), Petros in Greek, on whom Christ said he would build his Church (Matthew 16:18). Catholic tradition holds him as the first bishop of Rome, making him the first pope. The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 is among the major feasts of the Christian calendar.
Meaning: Greek "lover of horses" (philos + hippos).
Figure: Apostle (John 1:43-46; 6:5-7; 14:8-9); also a deacon and evangelist in Acts 6-8.
Two principal Philip figures appear in the New Testament: Philip the Apostle (one of the Twelve, appearing in John's gospel as the disciple Jesus calls to follow him in John 1:43) and Philip the Evangelist (one of the seven deacons of Acts 6, whose preaching of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 is foundational to Christian missionary tradition). The name has been in continuous Christian use; modern English-speaking Christian families use it freely.
Meaning: Greek "bright" or "radiant."
Figure: Deaconess of the church at Cenchreae who brought the letter to the Romans (Romans 16:1-2).
Phoebe is named at the close of Romans 16 as "a deacon of the church at Cenchreae" whom Paul commends to the Roman church. The text is widely read in modern scholarship as identifying her as the deliverer of the Letter to the Romans. The name has come into modern Christian use, particularly in English-speaking Protestant and Anglican families.
Meaning: Greek "of light" (from phos, "light").
Figure: Saint Photius the Great; Patriarch of Constantinople (c. 810-893).
Saint Photius the Great is the ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople, a scholar and theologian whose role in the controversies between Rome and Constantinople (particularly over the filioque clause of the Creed) shaped subsequent Orthodox theological tradition. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on February 6.
Meaning: Spanish "pillar," from Our Lady of the Pillar (Virgen del Pilar).
Figure: Our Lady of the Pillar; Marian devotion at Zaragoza, Spain.
Pilar is the Marian name referring to Our Lady of the Pillar, the Marian devotion at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, traditionally held to date from the visit of the Virgin Mary to the Apostle James the Greater in 40 AD. The Catholic feast is October 12, also Spain's national day. The name is widely used in Spanish Catholic families.
Meaning: Latin "ancient" or "venerable" (the diminutive of Prisca).
Figure: Jewish-Christian teacher with her husband Aquila; instructed Apollos (Acts 18:26).
Priscilla is the wife of Aquila and his co-worker in Christian mission; the two are named six times together in the New Testament. Acts 18:26 records that she and Aquila "took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately," a passage notable for the role it gives to a woman as teacher in the early church. The name has been in continuous Christian use.
Meaning: English "prudence" (from Latin prudentia, one of the four cardinal virtues).
Figure: One of the four cardinal virtues (with justice, fortitude, and temperance) in Catholic moral tradition.
Prudence is one of the four cardinal virtues in Catholic moral teaching (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance), and a virtue name that came into use in English-speaking Protestant families during the Puritan period. The name is in some continuing Catholic and Protestant use.