Is it true that Jesus' middle name was Harold?

Question

Why do people say Jesus H. Christ?

The Lord's prayer:
"Our father, who art in heaven, Harold be they name..."
After all, many children are given their father's first name as their middle name.

I may be wrong :-)

Alternative explanations?

Answer 1

I always thought it was "Hernando", but I could be wrong.

... always reminds me of ABBA's "Fernando" song though.


"JESUS HERNANDO CHRIST!" *starts humming*

Answer 2

Here is the whole text:


Why do folks say "Jesus H. Christ"?

04-Jun-1976

Dear Cecil:

How come people always say "Jesus H. Christ"? Why not Jesus Q. Christ or Jesus R. Christ or something else? Does the H really stand for something? My future peace of mind depends on your answer. --W.B.T., Chicago

Dear W.:

The H stands for Harold, as in, "Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name" (snort).

Actually, I've heard numerous explanations for the H over the years. The first is that it stands for "Holy," as in Jesus Holy Christ, a common enough blasphemy in the South, abridged to H by fast-talking Northerners. Other colorful Southern epithets include Jesus Hebe Christ and Jesus Hebrew Christ, which abbreviate the same way. The drawback of this account is that it is so boring I can barely type it without falling asleep. Luckily, the other theories are more entertaining:

(1) It stands for "Haploid." This is an old bio major joke, referring to the unique (not to say immaculate) circumstances of Christ's conception. Having no biological father, J.C. was shortchanged in the chromosome department to the tune of one half. Ingenious, I'll admit, but whimsy has no place in a serious investigation such as this.

(2) It recalls the H in the IHS logo emblazoned on much Christian paraphernalia. IHS dates from the earliest years of Christianity, being an abbreviation of "Jesus" in classical Greek characters. The Greek pronunciation is "Iesous," with the E sound being represented by the character eta, which looks like an H. When the symbol passed to Christian Romans, for whom an H was an H, the unaccountable character eventually became accepted as Jesus's middle initial.

(3) Finally, a reader makes the claim that the H derives from the taunting Latin inscription INRH that was supposedly tacked on the cross by Roman soldiers: Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Hebrei (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Hebrews). Trouble is, the inscription is usually given as INRI: Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (J.C., King of the Jews).

Nonetheless, this is the kind of creative thinking I like to see from my Teeming Millions. With every passing day, my mission on this earth comes closer to completion.

--CECIL ADAMS

Answer 3

Ben-Yosef is, by some accounts, the last name of Joseph, earthly father of Jesus. How accurate this is is hard to say. "Yeshua" is a poor romanization of the Hebrew pronounciation of "Jesus" ("Jesus" is the name in Greek, which was the language the original Gospels were written in.) Since "Jesus H. Christ" is, for the most part, only used in America, it most likely is a cut-down version of "Jesus, Holy Christ!" which is indeed used. However, the theory involving the Greek letter eta, seen in the old Greek writing of Jesus, is rather interesting.

"Ben-Yosef" means "son of Yosef." It's not a last name, this is the way Hebrew names are structured. Yeshua ben-Yosef, "Yeshua, son-of-Yosef" would therefore be the full Hebrew name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Challah is bread eaten by Jews primarily on the eve of the Sabbath but also at other times. It represents the "show bread" that was placed on the altar in the days of The Temple. It traditionally (and by traditionally I mean in the Eastern-European Jewish estimation of tradition) a braided loaf made with a lot of egg and is somewhat sweet... though these are not requirements, and there are many versions of Challah to be found in Jewish communities around the world. Challah itself is uniquely Jewish, though other sweet eggy bread can be found in many cultures. It does not make them Challah.

Challah The first sound of the word Challah is a throaty aspirated "kh" sort of sound. Like hocking up a phlegm wad. Think Klingon. A lot of people can't pronounce this sound and it comes out sounding like an "h" so Challah becomes "Hallah" which sounds like "Holla."

"Our Father Who Art In Heaven, Harold Be Thy Name."

Answer 4

Jesus, Mateo, Philipe Alou....good baseball players....
Never heard of this "Christ" fellow in the big leagues


Wait a sec....did you mean Chris Carpenter???

Answer 5

Jesus doesn't have a middle name

Answer 6

Harold would have been a fine name, but I think in ancient Aramaic it is pronounced "hallowed". lol..

Answer 7

Some people here are bound to say 'haploid' and then pat themselves on the back for their second-hand cleverness.

I'd like to suggest 'Half-wit' but that'd be mean...

Answer 8

You are Wrong

Answer 9

This website may help. I would prefer if it was "Bloody" or "F*cking" though.

Answer 10

Sir, please add my IM to your yahoo messenger list, you'r too crazy to not get to talk to...my IM is h101raptor, and yes his name was Charles...