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Abarim Publications'
Biblical Name Vault
Hub
Name Vault
On Names in the Bible
Methods and Sources
Bible Commentary
The Hebrew Alphabet
Mardie MacDonald Fund
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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Judah, Judas, Jude
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Judah  Judas / Jude 
The Greek name Judas is the transliterated form of the Hebrew name Judah.
There are up to seven men named Judah in the OT (although some of these may be the same person), and six named Judas in the NT. For some reason, one of these NT Judases is known in English as Jude. Perhaps people didn't want the brother of Jesus to have the same name as the man who betrayed Him.
The original Judah is Jacob's fourth son with Leah. Judah becomes prominent when his three brothers Reuben, Simeon and Levi forfeit their places in the hierarchy. It should be noted that the feminine form of this name, Judith, occurs a generation earlier than Judah and may very well be the original (meaning that the name Judah is derived from Judith and not vice versa). Judith is the Hittite aunt of Judah, married to Judah's uncle Esau.
Other Judahs are: a postexilic Levite (Ezr 3:9); a Levite who divorces his foreign wife in the purge of Ezra (Ezr 10:23); a postexilic overseer (Neh 11:9); a Levite who returns with Zerubabel (Neh 12:8); a postexilic leader (Neh 12:34); and a priestly musician (Neh 12:36);
In the NT we find the following Judases: the apostle a.k.a Thaddaeus (Luke 6:16, Mat 10:3); the apostle Judas Iscariot (Luke 6:16); a brother of Jesus and James the Just, and most probable author of the Book of Jude (Mat 13:55); a leader referred to by Gamaliel (Acts 5:37); a Jew of Damascus who aids Saul, later Paul (Acts 9:11); and a prophet in Antioch (Acts 15:32).
The name Judah is a combination of two elements. The first element is  , which is the commonly accepted abbreviated form of  , which is YHWH, the Name of the Lord. The second part comes from the verb  (yada 847) meaning confess, praise, give thanks. TWOTOT reports that 'the primary meaning of this root is "to acknowledge of confess sin, God's character and works, or man's character."'
The name Judah means Let Yah Be Praised. A curious detail is that when the letter D is dropped from the name Judah, the Name YHWH appears.
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