If most people agreed that Jesus didn't really have a last name, then why did "Mary Magdeline"?

Question

My last question was what was Jesus Christ's "LAST NAME". Most of my answers were the same. Example: Most people in those days didn't have surnames. That is a contradictory answer, since "Mary" had the last name "Magdeline." If he were so IMPORTANT, then we would have wanted to remember or know HIS descendants.

Answer 1

Magdeline is not a last name. Mary was from the town of Magdala. Jesus is sometimes referred to as Jesus the Nazarean, because he was from Nazareth.

Answer 2

Magdeline is not a last name, but a description. She is "Mary from Magdala," to distinguish her from all the other Marys. Neither Jesus nor anybody else in that time and place had a "last name," but occasionally they needed to distinguish between people. This is how last names developed.

Answer 3

He did Jesus of Nazareth. Just as Mary Magdeline's last name is a reference to where she was from

Answer 4

Magdala - is a place name

As for other biblical names with supposed last names like Pontius Pilate - pilate in Latin means 'the firm'. Or, perhaps someone would add their trade as their last name ie. Carpenter and Smith.

If you have studied any type of anthropology - even anthropology for beginners...you would know this is not how society operated 1600 years ago. The idea of last names is relatively new.

If there was ever any confusion about a persons name they would just add where they were from. This is still the practice in the middle east. They add the term 'al' or 'bin' and then the place name or an identifying term like profession...

Answer 5

Maybe magdeline is her middle name and who says that Christ isnt Jesus' last name...
Maybe people didnt need last names back then cuz there wasnt that many people.
Maybe they did have last names but they just arent in the bible

just some options....

Answer 6

I don't think Magdeline was her last name...I always thought it was a two-part name, used to distinguish her from the other Marys.

Answer 7

Jesus' surname would have been "Ben--Joseph" or "Bar-Joseph", depending on whether he used Hebrew, or Aramaic. His daughter would have been "Sara Bat-Joshua". Her son would have "Son bar-somebody", where "somebody" is the name of the husband of Sara."

The unusual thing with Mary Magdalene, is that the mores of the time were "Mary, wife of somebody"( or "Mary of somebody"), "Mary, brother of somebody" (if the father was deceased, and she was not married.), or "Mary, daughter of somebody" (if her father was alive, and she was not married).

"Magdeline" probably refers to the village of Magdala, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee that she came from. It might also be a corruption of the Hebrew "megaddela", which was a euphemism for "prostitute". Jerome thought it referred to her faith --- being like that of a watch tower (Hebrew: Migdol). Origen saw it as being indicative of her spiritual greatness ( Hebrew: Gadal <>).

For a man, say "Paul of Tarsus", the "of part" always refers to where he was born. For a woman, say, "Mary of Clophus", the "of" part usually refers to husband. If it was another relationship, the relationship would have been stated. "Mary, Mother of Jesus", "Miriam, sister of Lazarus", etc. In rare instances, the "of' would refer to where she was from. This would generally indicate that she had no male protector. ]

Answer 8

Magdeline was the town she was from. It's really "Mary of Magdeline" but people don't call "Yeshua of Nazereth" that, they call him "Jesus Christ" (not even "Jesus the Christ")

Answer 9

In those days people did not have last names... they used their name and the town from whence they came...
Example: Jesus of Nazareth, or Paul of Tarsus, etc.
Mary of Magdaline is probably how she is supposed to be called?

Answer 10

"Magdalene" is not a last name, it is a description of where she came from. People who had the same names were told apart by where they came from, what they did for a living, or some other easily descriptive word. For example, John "the Baptist" baptised people, Peter "the Carpenter", Joseph "of Aramethea". The "ene" ending of the word tells you that she was a native of Magda.