18 entries from the /names/ index. Names with their own individual page link out.
Meaning: Hebrew "peace" (from shalom).
Figure: Witness of the crucifixion and resurrection (Mark 15:40; 16:1).
Salome appears in Mark 15:40 and 16:1 as one of the women at the cross and at the tomb. Tradition identifies her as the mother of the apostles James the Greater and John, named in Matthew 27:56 as "the mother of the sons of Zebedee." The name is in some Orthodox use.
Meaning: Spanish/Latin "Savior" (a title of Christ used as a given name).
Figure: Used as a title of Christ; given as a name in Hispanic Catholic families.
Salvador (Spanish for "Savior," a title of Christ) is used as a given name principally in Hispanic Catholic families. The Italian form Salvatore has the same meaning. The name is sometimes paired with Maria (Maria del Salvador) or used independently.
Meaning: Hebrew "sun" or "of the sun."
Figure: Judge of Israel; consecrated as a Nazirite from birth (Judges 13-16).
Samson is the judge of Israel whose Nazirite consecration, extraordinary strength, and final death in the temple of Dagon (Judges 13-16) make him one of the most complex figures in the Hebrew Bible. The name appears in modern Christian use, particularly in English-speaking Protestant families.
Meaning: Hebrew of contested etymology; traditional interpretation "heard by God" or "name of God."
Figure: Prophet; last judge of Israel; anointed Saul and David (1 Samuel 1-25).
Samuel is the prophet whose birth comes through Hannah's prayer (1 Samuel 1-2) and who anoints both Saul and David as king. The name has been in continuous Christian use across the centuries; modern English-speaking Christian families use it freely.
Meaning: Hebrew "princess."
Figure: Wife of Abraham; mother of Isaac (Genesis 11-23).
Sarah is the wife of Abraham, the matriarch through whom the covenant promise descends, and the mother of Isaac in her old age. Her name change from Sarai to Sarah (Genesis 17:15) parallels Abram's change to Abraham, marking the covenant. The name has been in continuous Christian use across the centuries.
Meaning: Hebrew "asked for" or "prayed for."
Figure: First king of Israel (1 Samuel 9-31); also the original name of the apostle Paul (Acts 7:58; 9:1).
Saul is the first king of Israel, anointed by Samuel at the people's request, whose reign begins well but ends with his rejection by God and death at Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31). The same Hebrew name belongs to the apostle Paul before his renaming after conversion (Acts 9). The name is rare in modern Christian use.
Meaning: Greek "venerable" or "from Sebaste" (a city in Asia Minor).
Figure: Saint Sebastian; Roman soldier and martyr (third century).
Saint Sebastian is the third-century Roman soldier and martyr, traditionally said to have survived an attempted execution by arrows before being killed in a second attempt. He is one of the most-painted saints in Christian art. Patron of soldiers and (in the medieval period) of plague sufferers. The Catholic and Anglican calendars commemorate him on January 20.
Meaning: Hebrew "burning ones" (the order of angels in Isaiah 6:2).
Figure: Saint Seraphim of Sarov; Russian Orthodox monastic and mystic (1754-1833).
Saint Seraphim of Sarov is one of the most-honored Russian Orthodox saints, an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century hermit, ascetic, and spiritual director whose conversations with the layman Nicholas Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit became foundational documents of modern Orthodox spirituality. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on January 2.
Meaning: Latin family name of contested etymology; possibly from Etruscan roots.
Figure: Saint Sergius of Radonezh; fourteenth-century Russian monastic and founder of the Trinity Lavra (1314-1392).
Saint Sergius of Radonezh is the fourteenth-century founder of the Holy Trinity Lavra (the principal Russian Orthodox monastery, at Sergiyev Posad), whose spiritual guidance of the Russian princes is traditionally credited with helping unify Russia against the Tatar yoke. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on September 25.
Meaning: Hebrew "appointed" or "placed."
Figure: Third son of Adam and Eve, born after Abel's death (Genesis 4:25-26).
Seth is the third son of Adam and Eve, born after the death of Abel, and the ancestor through whom the genealogy of the patriarchs descends to Noah (Genesis 5). The name appears in modern Christian use across English-speaking families.
Meaning: Latin "of the forest" (from silva, "forest") or possibly an Aramaic origin meaning "the third."
Figure: Companion of Paul on the second missionary journey (Acts 15-18; 1 Peter 5:12).
Silas is the companion who replaced Mark as Paul's co-worker on the second missionary journey (Acts 15:40), the one who sang hymns with Paul in the Philippian prison (Acts 16:25). He is mentioned in 1 Peter 5:12 as the bearer of that letter. The name appears in modern Protestant use.
Meaning: Hebrew "heard" (from Leah's exclamation that the Lord had heard, Genesis 29:33).
Figure: Second son of Jacob and Leah; the tribe of Simeon.
Simeon is the second son of Jacob and Leah, the namesake of one of the tribes of Israel. The name (Greek form Simon) is shared with several major New Testament figures: Simon Peter the apostle; Simeon who held the infant Jesus (Luke 2); and Simon the Zealot. Modern English use typically distinguishes Simeon (the older Hebrew form) from Simon (the Greek form).
Meaning: Hebrew "heard."
Figure: The righteous man at the Temple who held the infant Jesus (Luke 2:25-35).
Simeon is the righteous and devout man at the Temple of Jerusalem who, holding the infant Jesus at the Presentation (Luke 2:25-35), prayed the Nunc Dimittis ("Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace"). The Nunc Dimittis remains a principal part of Compline and Evening Prayer across the Western Christian traditions; the Orthodox calendar honors Simeon the Righteous on February 3, the day after the Feast of the Presentation.
Meaning: Spanish "solitude," from Our Lady of Solitude (the Mary of Holy Saturday, alone after Christ's death).
Figure: Our Lady of Solitude; the Marian devotion to Mary's solitude on Holy Saturday.
Soledad is the Spanish Marian name referring to Our Lady of Solitude, the Catholic Marian devotion to Mary in her solitude on Holy Saturday after Christ's burial and before his resurrection. The name is in continuing Hispanic Catholic use.
Meaning: Hebrew "peace" (from shalom).
Figure: Third king of Israel; son of David and Bathsheba; builder of the temple (1 Kings 1-11).
Solomon is the third king of Israel, the son of David and Bathsheba, the builder of the first temple in Jerusalem, and the figure to whom the wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs) is traditionally attributed. His reign begins in extraordinary wisdom and ends in compromised idolatry (1 Kings 11), making him one of the morally complex figures of the biblical narrative.
Meaning: Latin "star," from the Marian title Stella Maris ("Star of the Sea").
Figure: The Marian title Stella Maris; the Marian devotion as protector of sailors.
Stella is the Latin word for "star," used as a given name principally in reference to the Marian title Stella Maris ("Star of the Sea"). The Marian devotion under this title presents Mary as the protector of sailors and the guiding star of those at sea. The name is in continuous use in Catholic and Anglican families, with particular popularity in modern English-speaking families.
Meaning: Greek "crown" (stephanos).
Figure: First Christian martyr; one of the seven deacons (Acts 6-7).
Stephen is the first Christian martyr (protomartyr), one of the seven deacons appointed in Acts 6 to assist the apostles, whose stoning is recounted in Acts 7 with his dying prayer for his persecutors ("Lord, do not hold this sin against them"). The Catholic and Anglican calendars commemorate him on December 26, the day after Christmas, with the Orthodox calendar on December 27.
Meaning: Hebrew "lily" (from shoshannah).
Figure: Disciple of Jesus (Luke 8:3); also the figure of the deuterocanonical Susanna of Daniel 13.
Two Susannas appear in scripture: the disciple named in Luke 8:3 as one of the women who followed Jesus and supported the disciples' work, and the figure of the deuterocanonical Susanna chapter (Daniel 13 in the Greek tradition; placed among the apocrypha in Protestant tradition). The name has been in continuous Christian use; the English form Susan has been particularly common.