People with "Jesus" as their first name

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I understand that “Jesus” is a rather common name amongst Latinos. But, it still feels a bit weird to address someone as “Jesus,” even though it’s pronounced differently. It’s even more weird, when I’m writing to that person and addressing him as “Jesus” in writing. Maybe I’m just a little ignorant, but is there a reason behind naming your kid “Jesus?”
 
I always chalked this up to cultural differences. I understand the theory behind it but can’t say that I agree or accept the premise of it.

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I don’t get it…nobody gets upset about naming girls Mary or Elizabeth, or Sarah, etc…or sons John, Peter, Micael, etc. why? Because it is showing respect for those Holy Ones.

So why would anyone thing naming a boy Jesus would be weird or irreverent?

Everyone readily admits it is a Latino thing, so part of me thinks discontent by non Latinos is an unwillingness to be accepting of cultural differences, even among those who share the same faith.

Today’s gospel might be worth another read!
 
AllSeasons said:
I understand that “Jesus” is a rather common name amongst Latinos. But, it still feels a bit weird to address someone as “Jesus,” even though it’s pronounced differently. It’s even more weird, when I’m writing to that person and addressing him as “Jesus” in writing. Maybe I’m just a little ignorant, but is there a reason behind naming your kid “Jesus?”
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Jesus is simply the latinized version of Joshua. Jesus was not the first or last man to have that name.
 
Neofight said:
I don’t get it…nobody gets upset about naming girls Mary or Elizabeth, or Sarah, etc…or sons John, Peter, Micael, etc. why? Because it is showing respect for those Holy Ones.

So why would anyone thing naming a boy Jesus would be weird or irreverent?
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Well, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Peter, and Michael didn’t claim to be God. Since Jesus is God, isn’t naming your kid “Jesus” the same as naming him “God?”
 
Maybe the names are references to other Biblical Jesuses, like the author of the book of Sirach?

I do think it’s a bit strange for Christians to name their children Jesus though. This is the name above all other names, the name which we venerate even more than the Israelites venerated the name of the Lord. Sure we can just call it a cultural difference, but apparently the reverence for the name of Jesus which led other cultures to reserve the name to our Savior as much as possible did not exist, or at least did not lead to the same outcome, in the Spanish-speaking world. Personally I’m not a cultural relativist. Just because two cultures are different does not mean neither is better than the other in any respect. It’s not morally wrong to name a child Jesus of course and I’m sure many parents do it out of piety, but the greater goodness of keeping Jesus’ name special is missing for this particular culture group.

Edit: Let me be clear, traditional Latino culture is probably a great deal better than traditional English or “American” culture in many respects, and there are such things as purely neutral differences. It’s just this one point for which I’d say they are missing out on something.
 
AllSeasons said:
I understand that “Jesus” is a rather common name amongst Latinos. But, it still feels a bit weird to address someone as “Jesus,” even though it’s pronounced differently. It’s even more weird, when I’m writing to that person and addressing him as “Jesus” in writing. Maybe I’m just a little ignorant, but is there a reason behind naming your kid “Jesus?”
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I think you need to look at the intention. I would say in many cases it is out of respect and love.

I can’t speak to the absolute morality of it.
 
AllSeasons said:
Well, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Peter, and Michael didn’t claim to be God. Since Jesus is God, isn’t naming your kid “Jesus” the same as naming him “God?”
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No, it’s the same as naming him Joshua.

Culturally, the name is used respectfully. In a different culture, it might be considered disrespectful, but I don’t see how that’s relevant.
 
You will almost NEVER hear a Latino refer to Jesus as “Jesus”. It’s always “Jesucristo” (Jesus Christ) or Senor Jesus (Lord Jesus). Rarely do they use the name of Jesus like Anglos do, by itself. It’s always with an added title.
 
AllSeasons said:
I didn’t know that’s the case. Can you please provide verification?
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Apologies, what I should have said was this:
The word Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek Iesous, which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew Jeshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning “Jehovah is salvation.”
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Link

But again, point being, cultures have different ways of expressing themselves that aren’t necessarily right or wrong. This is one of them. 👍
 
AllSeasons said:
I didn’t know that’s the case. Can you please provide verification?
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It’s the same name. We get Jesus from the Greek form of our Lord’s name, which is Iesous. The Aramaic is Yeshua, the Hebrew is Joshua.
 
AllSeasons said:
Well, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Peter, and Michael didn’t claim to be God. Since Jesus is God, isn’t naming your kid “Jesus” the same as naming him “God?”
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The difference is: To you this is like naming your precious son “God” and you feel it would not be right. To the parent who finds this a wonderful name in their culture, they are naming their child to honor Jesus or for a friend or relative who was named to honor Jesus. They have chosen a name that they love to give to their precious son.

Each culture has its own “norms” in customs. You probably wear shoes when you go to Mass. If you were to attend Mass with the Missionary of Charity Sisters (Mother Teresa’s Sisters), you should remove your shoes before going into the chapel to pray or for Mass.

It is sometimes hard for us to accept other customs. When you are writing someone’s name as “Jesus” and it troubles you, try pronouncing your friend’s name while writing it and reading it. This will help you see you are writing to Jesus and not Jesus Christ. (Your friend will pronounce both his name and Jesus Christ as the same, but it may help you to remember to use his correct pronunciation for him and the name Jesus for Son of God.)

God Bless.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
Maybe the names are references to other Biblical Jesuses, like the author of the book of Sirach?

I do think it’s a bit strange for Christians to name their children Jesus though. This is the name above all other names, the name which we venerate even more than the Israelites venerated the name of the Lord. Sure we can just call it a cultural difference, but apparently the reverence for the name of Jesus which led other cultures to reserve the name to our Savior as much as possible did not exist, or at least did not lead to the same outcome, in the Spanish-speaking world. Personally I’m not a cultural relativist. Just because two cultures are different does not mean neither is better than the other in any respect. It’s not morally wrong to name a child Jesus of course and I’m sure many parents do it out of piety, but the greater goodness of keeping Jesus’ name special is missing for this particular culture group.

Edit: Let me be clear, traditional Latino culture is probably a great deal better than traditional English or “American” culture in many respects, and there are such things as purely neutral differences. It’s just this one point for which I’d say they are missing out on something.
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Kind of like it is for English speaking people who use the name Joshua?
 
My grandfather’s name was Jesus Maria.

It is to honor Jesus and to let people know your belief and faith. I knew someone named Jose Maria (Joseph Marie). In France they use the same system: Jean-Marie (John Marie) Jean-Paul (John Paul), Jean-Luc (John Luke) etc… it was the Spaniards that Christianized Latin America; the tradition has a European christian root.
 
RyanBlack said:
Kind of like it is for English speaking people who use the name Joshua?
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In English we have a Jesus-Joshua distinction which does not exist in all languages, and allows us to use the latter as a common name while reserving the name of Jesus for sacred purposes.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
No, naming a child José is the same as naming him Joshua.
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According to two dictionaries I found, they gave Josue, not Jesus, as the Spanish way to name a child Joshua.

I thought Jose was the Spanish way to say Joseph?
 
AllSeasons said:
Well, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, John, Peter, and Michael didn’t claim to be God. Since Jesus is God, isn’t naming your kid “Jesus” the same as naming him “God?”
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Our savior had two natures, human and divine. Calling him Jesus attests to his humanity not his divinity, so when a child today is named Jesus, it certainly NOT as you say "the same as naming him God!
 
AbideWithMe said:
According to two dictionaries I found, they gave Josue, not Jesus, as the Spanish way to name a child Joshua.

I thought Jose was the Spanish way to say Joseph?
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It is. I was hit by a staggering blast of stupidity. I caught the mistake and deleted the post, but clearly not in time. :o
 
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