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Who was Noah?
Almost everyone knows the answer. Noah built the ark, survived the Flood and became one of the most recognisable figures in biblical history. But what if I told you that the Bible also mentions a woman named Noah? She was one of the five daughters of Zelophehad who challenged the inheritance customs of ancient Israel, arguing that their father's property should not disappear from the family simply because he had no sons (Numbers 27). The two names, although identical in English spelling, actually represent different Hebrew names with distinct linguistic origins.
This small discovery captures something that has always fascinated me as an onomastician: behind a familiar name, there may be an entirely unfamiliar story.
And this is precisely the world I wanted to explore in my book, One Name, Two Homes: A Cross-Cultural Guide to Biblical Names in Germany and the United States.
When Names Cross the Atlantic
Imagine two children born on the same day, one in Germany and the other in the United States. Their parents decide to give them a biblical name. The American child is called John; the German child, Johannes. Both names ultimately derive from the Hebrew Yôḥānān, traditionally interpreted as “God is gracious.” Both are connected to the same biblical tradition. Yet their pronunciation, historical development and patterns of popularity tell rather different cultural stories. The same fascinating relationship appears in other familiar pairs:
Mary and Maria. Jacob and Jakob. Rachel and Rahel. Leah and Lea. Elizabeth and Elisabeth.
Some names cross linguistic borders almost unchanged. Others undergo remarkable phonetic and orthographic transformations. Still others become fashionable in one country while remaining relatively uncommon in the other. Why should this happen? After all, Germans and Americans have inherited much of the same biblical tradition. Yet they have not inherited identical naming cultures. Religious history, migration, linguistic preferences, changing fashions and family traditions have all shaped the ways biblical names are adopted and transmitted. Names, in this sense, are cultural travellers. They carry their histories with them, but they also adapt to their new homes.
More Than Two Thousand Names, More Than Two Thousand Stories
The book brings together over 2,000 entries, covering the names of prominent biblical figures as well as individuals whose existence is recorded in little more than a single genealogical verse. Alongside familiar names such as Abraham, Sarah, David, Daniel, Esther, Mary and Paul, readers encounter names that rarely appear in contemporary naming discussions. Some belong to kings and prophets. Others identify soldiers, priests, servants, women, tribal leaders and otherwise little-known figures preserved in biblical genealogies.
These names raise an intriguing question: why do certain biblical names become part of the everyday vocabulary of entire cultures, while others remain almost completely forgotten? Consider Aaron, for example. The name has retained essentially the same spelling in English and German, but its pronunciation and contemporary frequency differ considerably. Or take Eve and Eva, two forms associated with the same foundational biblical narrative but shaped by different linguistic traditions. Then there is Jacob and Jakob, whose history also connects with the wider name family that includes James. Such examples remind us that a dictionary of biblical names is not merely a catalogue of ancient characters. It is also a record of how languages transform inherited cultural material.
From Ancient Scripture to Modern Statistics
One of my main objectives was to bring together two approaches that are often treated separately: historical onomastics and contemporary name statistics. For each name, the book explores its linguistic background and biblical context, while also examining its reception in Germany and the United States. The longer entries combine etymological explanations, biblical narratives, cultural interpretation, pronunciation guidance and demographic comparisons.
Historical popularity charts add another dimension by tracing naming trends across generations. The American comparisons draw primarily on Social Security Administration name statistics, while the German material relies on established German name-statistical resources, supplemented by cautious historical estimates where complete data are unavailable.
The result is an opportunity to observe a remarkable phenomenon: names originating in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin traditions continue to participate in contemporary naming fashions. A name may be thousands of years old and still experience a new period of popularity. Its history is ancient. Its social life is not.
A Personal Perspective: Karen, Karin, Anna and Elisabeth
I was particularly pleased that the book could begin with an essay by Karen Lodder, writer and creator of German Girl in America. Karen approaches biblical names not primarily through linguistic classification, but through personal and family experience. She reflects on growing up with a name that moves between the German and American pronunciation traditions: Karen and Karin. She also explores the significance of Anne, Anna, Hanna, Elisabeth and Elizabeth within her own family history.
Her reflections provide a valuable reminder that a name is never simply an entry in a dictionary. It may connect several generations, commemorate a beloved relative or preserve a family's relationship with a language that is no longer spoken every day. For immigrant families especially, choosing a name can mean negotiating between two cultural worlds. A name must sometimes feel equally at home in two languages. That observation inspired the central metaphor of the book's title: one name, two homes.
What Can Biblical Names Tell Us About Ourselves?
It would be easy to regard biblical names as a subject belonging primarily to religious history. But their influence reaches far beyond the boundaries of religious communities. Biblical names have become part of secular naming traditions, international migration histories, literary cultures and modern demographic developments. Many parents who choose names such as Noah, Sarah, Elias or David may be attracted principally by their sound, familiarity or perceived timelessness rather than by their biblical associations.
And yet the older linguistic and cultural histories remain. This is what makes biblical anthroponymy such a rewarding field of study. A single name can connect an ancient manuscript to a modern birth register, a Hebrew etymology to a German pronunciation, or an American family tradition to centuries of European migration. The same form may carry different associations across cultures, while two visibly different forms may preserve an identical historical origin. The relationship between names and identities is therefore neither simple nor static. It is a continuing conversation between the past and the present.
An Invitation to Explore
One Name, Two Homes is intended for more than one kind of reader.
For onomasticians and linguists, it offers comparative material on name forms, etymology and cultural adaptation. For genealogists and historians, it provides a way of following familiar family names into their earlier linguistic and biblical contexts. For readers interested in religion, it brings together well-known and overlooked figures from biblical narratives. And for parents considering a name for their child, it offers something beyond lists of fashionable choices: an opportunity to discover the stories that names carry. Ultimately, the book grew from a simple conviction that has guided much of my onomastic research:
Names are small linguistic forms with extraordinarily long biographies.
They survive migrations, religious transformations, changes of alphabet, shifting fashions and the passing of generations. They may change their spelling, pronunciation or popularity, but they continue to connect people to histories they do not always realise they share. And sometimes, as with Noah, the most familiar name turns out to have a story we have never heard before.
About the Book
Title: One Name, Two Homes: A Cross-Cultural Guide to Biblical Names in Germany and the United States
Series: Biblical Names Encyclopedia
Author: Dr. Eugen Schochenmaier
Opening essay: Karen Lodder, writer and creator of German Girl in America
First edition: July 2026
Contents: Over 2,000 biblical-name entries, with English–German comparisons, etymologies, pronunciation guidance, biblical and cultural background, illustrations and comparative name statistics.
For further discussion: Which biblical names have travelled most successfully between languages and cultures - and which have remained unmistakably local?
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