Why is the name Jesus never used as a first name?

It is used in some countries, like in Bulgaria: the name Hristo (meaning Christ) is one of the most common male names there (though it is a bit less common among newborns).

Who gives a flying fuck?

I have always wondered that myself, OP. Let's hope that someone knows the answer. Although I'm sure silly answers would be entertaining as well.

Take it, bitches.

Lucifer should be more popular too.

Never heard of Mexico Mr Trump? It is used a LOT there. Seriously OP....you MAGA assholes are a real pain.

OP know nothing about Hispanic culture.

What, is Christopher not good enough?

His name was Yeshua. In English, the name is Joshua. "Jesus" comes from translating the Hebrew to Greek and then to Latin and then to English. Like a game of telephone.

R8 Wow, thanks for that explanation. So Jesus' name IS pretty common (in the US, at least) but I doubt most of those people even know Joshua means Jesus.

[quote] Never heard of Mexico Mr Trump?

FFS, the OP asked why Jesus is never used as a first name OUTSIDE THE SPANISH-SPEAKING WORLD. You read about as well as a MAGA asshole.

Joshua doesn't mean Jesus. It's the other way around.

R5 and R6 made fools of themselves.

If you do name your son Jesus, it's important to add the initial H.

It's interesting comparing this to Islam - the name of their prophet is the most common male name in pretty much every Arab country.

Christopher, Chris, Kris, Chrissy, Christine, Christina, Christian, and, lately, Topher more than make up for the Jesus deficit.

I have never heard the name used pronounced "JEE-zus". But in SoCA, it is common, pronounced "hey-ZOOS"

R15 Those names all mean "the one who bears Christ", they don't actually stand for Christ's name.

[quote]His name was Yeshua. In English, the name is Joshua.

Uh, not quite. Yehoshua has been translated into English as Joshua. Yeshua is the result of more multiple translations in the erroneous.

Essa is a common Muslim name that means Jesus in Arabic.

Issa a common Muslim name? Where?

I think it must have to do with being Catholic or not, since most Spanish speakers are Catholic, at least nominally, and English speaking speakers tend to be Protestant, at least culturally. I, for one, understand and accept that Jesus is an acceptable first name in the Hispanic culture, but as a more reserved Anglo Protestant I can't help but feel it is blasphemous and I would NEVER name my child that, since to Christians Jesus isn't a prophet, but actually God himself. It would be like a Muslim naming their child Allah.

Isa is not a rare name in Turkey, though not a super popular one either.

[quote] I think it must have to do with being Catholic or not, since most Spanish speakers are Catholic, at least nominally, and English speaking speakers tend to be Protestant, at least culturally.

That theory is entirely incorrect because the majority of Europe is catholic and no one would dream of naming their kid "Jesus" (in their local language, of course) in these parts, with the exception of Spain. But it would still be interesting to know why Spanish speakers don't find anything weird about using that name and others do. Maybe it has something to do with the Spanish Inquisition and the Reconquista; maybe they started using that name to rub it in the face of the defeated Moors or something.

R23 This thread really sent me down a rabbit hole, trying to figure it out, but I think you might be on the right track. Since, Spain was ruled by Muslims for a time, perhaps the Muslim's practice of naming their sons Mohammad, after their religion's most important figure, influenced Spanish Christians to follow suit and at the same time assert their Christianity, against their Muslim rulers.

Joshua is the English equivalent of the Hebrew name Yehoshua - which is the Hebrew name from which we have also derived Jesus. It's important to note that Jesus' name was not unique at all. He was named after a Jewish historical figure, the assistant or successor to Moses, and there were probably a lot of little Yehoshuas running around during Jesus' lifetime. There's a Book of Joshua in the Bible, so this was an important name in Jewish lore Every single person that you meet that is named Joshua or Josh essentially has the same name as Jesus. However, since it is also a Jewish name, of course the Jews are not thinking of the Christian Jesus when they name a boy child Joshua. We freely use names like Emmanuel, and Italians use Salvatore, and Slavs use Cristo or Hristo, all of which are clear references to Jesus, the religious figure.

. But I grant that since we use the name Jesus solely as the Christian religious figure, there is a bit of a taboo about naming children Jesus in the English language tradition.

I have read that through the middle ages the name Jesus was not used as a personal name in Spain. However, people would take the name Jose, or Antonio, or Luis and would call themselves Jose de Jesus, or Antonia de Jesus, meaning that they had dedicated their lives to Jesus. Eventually people left out the "de" and began to regard the name Jesus as an acceptable personal name, since they saw its use in compound names. That explanation makes sense to me.

[quote]I have never heard the name used pronounced "JEE-zus". But in SoCA, it is common, pronounced "hey-ZOOS"

R16. Because in Spanish the "J" is silent as is evident by the names Juan, Jorge, Joaquin...and jalapeno.

R26, Spanish 'j' is not silent. It is pronounced /h/ or /x/ (guttural sound, like 'ch' in "loch").

My ex

What about Adolf ?

R27. For Spanish speakers, the "J" may not be totally silent; however, for non-Spanish speakers, it's silent.

[quote]however, for non-Spanish speakers, it's silent.

In what language is 'J' silent? Certainly not in Spanish, English, Italian, French, Slavic and Scandinavian languages.

The name Adolf disappeared pretty much everywhere in all its forms and local variations except in the (here we go again) Spanish-speaking countries, where you might still run into someone named Adolfo. Looks like them Latinos don't give a flying fuck when picking out baby names.

Actually, for non-spanish speakers, the J in the Spanish name Jesus is not silent either. It is the letter h, as when an English person says the word Hay. The word hay is not pronounced as ay. It takes a little practice to aspirate the h more strongly to get the gutteral ch sound in there, but it's not impossible for English speakers, except that most are lazy. A much more difficult word to pronounce with correct Spanish pronunciation is Angel. (Ahn ch el) . Really hard for English speakers.

[quote]Outside of the Spanish-speaking world, that is.

That’s a huge, billion people asterisk there.

Isn't the "J" in the name Juan sort of silent? Yes, I guess, the J is pronounced as somewhat like an "H."

R15 and R25 have the only answers you need OP.

Huh?

What?

R13........I must say "Hjesus" just looks odd.