It’s an odd collection of words and phrases that bring people to this blog, but recently someone came here via searching for
names of the disciples in all europe
which struck us as something that would make a nice blog post in itself!
The Biblical disciples (or apostles) are traditionally numbered as 12, though because different gospels name different ones, and also use different names for the same, the numbers don’t always quite add up. Nevertheless, the names of the “canonical” disciples are, in their modern English forms: Andrew; Bartholomew; James, the son of Alphaeus; James, the son of Zebedee; John; Judas Iscariot; Jude/Thaddeus; Matthew; Philip; Simon Peter; Simon the Zealot; and Thomas. (After his betrayal of Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot was replaced by Matthias). We’ve discussed all of these names before, in posts discussing the influence of Protestantism on the 16th-century naming pool, and in posts discussing the medieval roots of modern names; but here we want to focus on when and where these names were used in Europe:
| Country | Andrew | Bartholomew | James | John |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | 15th-16th C | 15th C | ||
| Czech Republic | 14th C | 14th C | 14th C | 14th C |
| England | 12th-16th C | 12th-16th C | 12th-16th C | 12th-14th C |
| Estonia | 14th-16th C | 16th C | 14th-16th C | 14th-16th C |
| Finland | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C | |
| France | 11th-16th C | 9th C, 11th-16th C | 9th C, 12th-16th C | 7th C, 9th C, 11th-16th C |
| Germany | 10th-15th C | 12th-13th C, 15th C | 9th C, 13th-15th C | 9th-10th C, 12th-16th C |
| Hungary | 14th C | 14th C | 14th | |
| Iceland | 16th C | 15th-16th C | ||
| Ireland | 12th C | 12th C, 16th C | 12th C, 16th C | 12th C, 16th C |
| Italy | 10th-16th C | 12th-16th C | 12th-16th C | 9th-16th C |
| Latvia | 13th-16th C | 15th-16th C | 13th C, 15th-16th C | 13th-16th C |
| Lithuania | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C |
| Low Countries | 13th-14th C, 16th C | 14th C, 16th C | 13th-14th C, 16th C | 12th-14th C, 16th C |
| Malta | 15th C | 15th C | 15th C | |
| Poland | 13th C | 13th-14th C | 13th-14th C | |
| Portugal | 13th C | 13th C | 12th-13th C | |
| Scotland | 14th-16th C | 14th C | 14th-16th C | 11th-16th C |
| Spain | 11th C, 15th-16th C | 15th-16th C | 15th-16th C | 11th-16th C |
| Sweden | 14th-16th C | 14th C | 14th-16th C | |
| Switzerland | 12th-13th C | 12th C | 12th-15th C | 12th-15th C |
| Ukraine | 15th C | 15th C | 15th C | |
| Wales | 12th C, 16th C | 13th C, 15th-16th c |
| Country | Matthew/ Matthias | Peter | Simon | Thomas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | 15th C | 15th C | ||
| Czech Republic | 14th C | 14th C | 14th C | 13th-14th C |
| England | 12th-14th C, 16th C | 12th-16th C | 12th-16th C | 12th-16th C |
| Estonia | 14th-16th C | 14th-16th C | 14th-16th C | 14th-16th C |
| Finland | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C |
| France | 12th-16th C | 9th-16th C | 11th-16th C | 9th C, 12th-16th C |
| Germany | 12th C, 14th-15th C | 7th C, 10th C, 12th-13th C, 15th C | 9th-10th C, 12th-13th C, 15th C | 13th-15th C |
| Hungary | 14th C | 14th C | 14th C | 14th C |
| Iceland | 16th C | |||
| Ireland | 12th C, 16th C | 12th C | 12th C, 16th C | |
| Italy | 12th-16th C | 10th-16th C | 13th-16th C | 13th-16th C |
| Latvia | 13th C, 15th-16th C | 13th-16th C | 13th C, 16th C | 13th C, 15th-16th C |
| Lithuania | 16th c | 16th C | 16th C | 16th C |
| Low Countries | 14th C, 16th C | 13th-14th C, 16th C | 14th C, 16th C | 13th-14th C, 16th C |
| Malta | 15th C | |||
| Poland | 13th-14th C | 13th C | ||
| Portugal | 12th C | 12th-13th C | ||
| Scotland | 14th C, 16th C | 12th C | 12th C, 14th-15th C | 11th-16th C |
| Spain | 15th-16th C | 11th-13th C, 15th-16th C | 15th-16th C | 15th-16th C |
| Sweden | 14th-15th C | 14th-16th C | 14th C | 14th-16th C |
| Switzerland | 12th-15th C | 12th-13th C | ||
| Ukraine | 15th C | 15th C | 15th C | |
| Wales | 16th C | 16th C | 15th-16th C |
Of course, our data set is by no means comprehensive in coverage, and thus we cannot say whether any gaps demonstrated in this post are due to the incompleteness of our data or due to the fact that the name was not used. However, this is a topic that we can revisit again in a few years, to see if things have changed! One omission, though, is noteworthy: We have not yet found a single example of any form of Jude, Judas, Judah. The legacy of the betrayal lasted long in Christian Europe.
Just as a curio, in Galicia and Northern Portugal we have some kind of fossil register of the names used in the 5-9th centuries: they are present as +5000 place names which are named after if old possessors, expressed as Latin (sometimes Germnanic) genitives.
So Pedre, Pidre, Vilapedre < villa Petri "Villa of Peter" (More than 20 places in Galicia)
Andrade, Andrade < Andreati "(Villa) of Andrew" (More than 8 in Galicia)
No Bartholomew
Xagobe, Xagoi < Jacobi "(Villa) of James" (just these two in Galicia)
Xan, Vilaxoán, Vilane… < Villa Iohanni (tens)
Matei < Villa Matei "Villa of Matthew" (just this one)
Tomade < Villa Tomati "Villa of Thomas" (just this one)
Now in Galician written Sources (so, in the Western extreme of Europe),
Petrus is already documented in 775 and is very common all along the High Middle Ages
Andreas/Andrias is documented in 561 and all along the HMA
Bartholomew just in the Low Middle Ages
Iacobus is documented in 899, but it is very rare during the HMA
Iohannes in 589, and it is very common
Mattias/Mateo is documented in 940 and it is very rare
Thomas in 917, but is very rare
Ok, they were just my 2 cent, just nothing important 🙂
This is wonderful data, thanks so much for sharing! We have as yet not delved as deeply into Iberian documents as we have records from other parts of Europe, and it definitely shows in our citations.
(We also one day hope to include the evidence from place names in our entries, but for that we really need some funding so we can pay someone!)
Well, I’m rather sure that you all need time to earn a living/eat/sleep/have family/relations, so, as a reader, thank you for all your efforts 🙂
The very early appearance of Simon in German is worth noting: Along with the name Phiipp it allows two interpretations: A Christian one as the biblical name of an apostel, and a Germanic one (Simon can be interpreted as a form of Sigmund, and Philipp can be a form of Filibert). The two names acted as door-openers for foreign biblical names to German speaking people.
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