Jesus

Where Jesus comes from

From Middle English Jhesus, Iesus, from Latin Iēsūs, from Ancient Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), from Biblical Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ), a contracted form of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (yəhōšúaʿ, “Joshua”), meaning "the Lord saves". The form יֵשׁוּעַ (yēšū́aʿ) is attested in some of the later books of the Hebrew Bible (Ezra–Nehemiah), and translated as Jeshua or Yeshua in some English editions (the former appearing in the King James Version). The Greek texts make no distinction between Jesus and Joshua, referring to them both as Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs). In the Wycliffe Bible (Middle English), the forms used are Jhesus and Jhesu.
— Wiktionary's entry for Jesus
  • Spanish
  • Aramaic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #403 among boys — 18 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1927
    Jesus Varela born
    Filipino bishop
  3. 1930
    Jesus Tuquib born
    Catholic archbishop
  4. 2001
    Peak, #66
    6,425 babies named Jesus — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2015
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #129.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Spanish in Spanish culture; an anglicized spelling of Jesús.
  • A male given name from Aramaic.
Namesakes
  • Jesus Tuquib · Catholic archbishop, 1930–2019
  • Jesus Varela · Filipino bishop, 1927–2018
  • Jesus son of Damneus · High Priest of Israel, born 50
  • Jesus Dosado · Archbishop of Ozamis; Philippino Catholic bishop, 1939–2020
  • Jesus Luz · Brazilian fashion model and Disc jockey, born 1987

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.