Forms of address or reference to the deity of a religion
This article is about names for the single God of monotheistic religions. For theonyms generally, see List of deities.
A diagram of the names of God in Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652–1654). The style and form are typical of the mystical tradition, as early theologians began to fuse emerging pre-Enlightenment concepts of classification and organization with religion and alchemy, to shape an artful and perhaps more conceptual view of God.
Part of a series on
Theism
Types of faith
Agnosticism
Apatheism
Atheism
Classical theism
Deism
Henotheism
Ietsism
Ignosticism
Monotheism
Monism
Dualism
Monolatry
Kathenotheism
Omnism
Pandeism
Panentheism
Pantheism
Polytheism
Transtheism
Specific conceptions
Brahman
Creator
Demiurge
Deus
Father
Form of the Good
God
Great Architect
Monad
Mother
Summum bonum
Supreme Being
Sustainer
The Lord
Trinity
Tawhid
Ditheism
Monism
Personal
Unitarianism
In particular religions
Abrahamic
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Baháʼí Faith
Mormonism
Mandaeism
Samaritanism
Indo-Iranian
Hinduism
Buddhism
Jainism
Sikhism
Yungdrung Bon
Zoroastrianism
Chinese
Tian
Shangdi
Hongjun Laozu
Attributes
Eternalness
Existence
Gender
Names ("God")
Omnibenevolence
Omnipotence
Omnipresence
Omniscience
Aseity
Transcendence
Experiences
Practices
Belief
Esotericism
Faith
Fideism
Gnosis
Hermeticism
Metaphysics
Mysticism
Prayer
Revelation
Worship
Related topics
Euthyphro dilemma
God complex
God gene
Theology
Ontology
Problem of evil (theodicy)
Religion
philosophy
texts
Portrayals of God in popular media
Religion portal
v
t
e
There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word god (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or specifically to the Supreme Being, as denoted in English by the capitalized and uncapitalized terms God and god.[1] Ancient cognate equivalents for the biblical Hebrew Elohim, one of the most common names of God in the Bible,[2] include proto-Semitic El, biblical Aramaic Elah, and Arabic ilah.[2] The personal or proper name for God in many of these languages may either be distinguished from such attributes, or homonymic. For example, in Judaism the tetragrammaton is sometimes related to the ancient Hebrew ehyeh ("I will be").[2] It is connected to the passage in Exodus 3:14 in which God gives his name as אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh), where the verb, translated most basically as "I am that I am" or "I shall be what I shall be", "I shall be what I am" In the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 3:14), YHWH,[2] the personal name of God, is revealed directly to Moses. Correlation between various theories and interpretation of the name of "the one God", used to signify a monotheistic or ultimate Supreme Being from which all other divine attributes derive, has been a subject of ecumenical discourse between Eastern and Western scholars for over two centuries.[3] In Christian theology the word is considered a personal and a proper name of God.[4] On the other hand, the names of God in a different tradition are sometimes referred to by symbols.[5] The question whether divine names used by different religions are equivalent has been raised and analyzed.[6]
Exchange of names held sacred between different religious traditions is typically limited. Other elements of religious practice may be shared, especially when communities of different faiths are living in close proximity (for example, the use of Khuda or Prabhu within the Indian Christian community) but usage of the names themselves mostly remains within the domain of a particular religion, or even may help define one's religious belief according to practice, as in the case of the recitation of names of God (such as the japa).[7] Guru Gobind Singh's Jaap Sahib, which contains 950 names of God is one example of this.[8]The Divine Names, the classic treatise by Pseudo-Dionysius, defines the scope of traditional understandings in Western traditions such as Hellenic, Christian, Jewish and Islamic theology on the nature and significance of the names of God.[9] Further historical lists such as The 72 Names of the Lord show parallels in the history and interpretation of the name of God amongst Kabbalah, Christianity, and Hebrew scholarship in various parts of the Mediterranean world.[10]
The attitude as to the transmission of the name in many cultures was surrounded by secrecy. In Judaism, the pronunciation of the name of God has always been guarded with great care. It is believed that, in ancient times, the sages communicated the pronunciation only once every seven years;[11] this system was challenged by more recent movements. The nature of a holy name can be described as either personal or attributive. In many cultures it is often difficult to distinguish between the personal and the attributive names of God, the two divisions necessarily shading into each other.[12]
^Velde, Rudi van de (2006). Aquinas on God: the 'divine science' of the Summa theologiae. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0-7546-0755-0.
^ abcdEisenstein, Judah D.; McLaughlin, John F. (1906). "Names of God". Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
^Jordan, Mark D. (1983), The Names of God and the Being of Names, in The Existence and Nature of God, edited by Alfred J. Freddoso, pp. 161–190. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0-268-00911-2
^(PDF) Sacraments of the Incarnate Word: The Christological Form of the Summa theologiae C Wells, Etd.nd.edu
^Aiyadurai Jesudasen Appasamy, G. S. S. Sreenivasa Rao, Inter-faith dialogue and world community. Christian Literature Society for India (1991) "All these names of God are, of course, symbols. ... All names of the one God or the Absolute are symbols." p. 9
^Peter C. Phan Being religious interreligiously: Asian perspectives on interfaith dialogue. 2004 p.102
^Jerald D. Gort On sharing religious experience: possibilities of interfaith mutuality p.146 Encounter of Religions Research Group Rodopi, 1992 ISBN 0-8028-0505-1
^Singh, Prithi Pal (2006). The History of Sikh Gurus. Lotus Press. p. 176. ISBN 9788183820752.
^Paul Rorem, Pseudo-Dionysius: a commentary on the texts and an introduction to their influence. Oxford University Press, 1993, p.163 ISBN 0-19-507664-8
^Valentina Izmirlieva, All the names of the Lord: lists, mysticism, and magic, University of Chicago Press, 2008 ISBN 0-226-38870-0
^James Orr The International Standard Bible encyclopaedia Edition: —Item notes: v. 1—1959 1915 p. 1267
^John S. Mbiti. Concepts of God in Africa. p.217, 1970
There are various namesofGod, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word god (and its equivalent in other languages)...
some namesofGod so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: יהוה (YHWH), אֲדֹנָי (Adonai transl. my Lord[s]), אֵל (El transl. God), אֱלֹהִים...
NamesofGod in Islam (Arabic: أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ʾasmāʾu llāhi l-ḥusnā, "Allah's Beautiful Names") are names attributed to God in Islam by...
The Bible usually uses the nameofGod in the singular (e.g. Ex. 20:7 or Ps. 8:1), generally using the terms in a very general sense rather than referring...
NamesofGod in Sikhism are names attributed to God in Sikhism by Sikh gurus. Below is a list of some names used by Sikhs for God: The various names for...
the possible namesofGod, numbering about 9,000,000,000 ("nine billion") and each having no more than nine characters. Writing the names out by hand,...
All the NamesofGod (Spanish: Todos los nombres de Dios) is a 2023 Spanish action thriller film directed by Daniel Calparsoro and written by Gemma Ventura...
belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or...
shalt not take the nameof the LORD thy God in vain" (KJV; also "You shall not make wrongful use of the nameof the Lord your God" (NRSV) and variants...
τετραγράμματον '[consisting of] four letters'), or the Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the nameofGod in the Hebrew...
comparable to him. Thus, God is unlike anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression. The namesofGod used most often...
Egyptian god Re is the god with many names. "The NameofGod in the Liturgy". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 2008. …pronouncing the Godof Israel's...
ʃadːaj]) or just Shaddai is one of the namesof the Godof Israel. El Shaddai is conventionally translated into English as God Almighty. (Deus Omnipotens in...
supreme and all-comprehensive divine name. Among the 99 namesofGod, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Merciful" (ar-Raḥmān) and...
use different names as much as Allah, for instance "God" in English. Whether or not Allah can be considered as the personal nameofGod became disputed...
Odin (Old Norse Óðinn) is a widely attested god in Germanic mythology. The god is referred to by numerous names and kenningar, particularly in the Old Norse...
calling – a form of verbal abuse NamesofGod Numeral (linguistics) Onomastics – the study of proper names Popular cat names Title (publishing) "Online Etymology...
religion and philosophical schools the idea of the universal God has been expressed in a variety ofnames and representations, most notably as 天 (Tiān...
of "pleasing to the mind, lovely" to the composite word. Rama as a first name appears in the Vedic literature, associated with two patronymic names –...
and Heq. According to some Yazidi hymns (known as Qewls), God has 1,001 names, or 3,003 names according to other Qewls. Aboriginal Australians are typically...
In Sikhism, God is conceived as the Oneness that permeates the entirety of creation and beyond. It abides within all of creation as symbolized by the...
and all-comprehensive divine Arabic name. Among the 99 namesofGod, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Entirely Merciful" (al-Rahman)...
Yahweh was an ancient Levantine deity, and national godof the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Though no consensus exists regarding the deity's...
village of Llanpumsaint. Founded in 1973 by Guru Sri Subramanium, the monastery is inhabited and run by the Community of the Many NamesofGod, which also...
Global Information
