Elian

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  • Dutch
Dutch variant of names beginning with Eli, such as ELIJAH or ELISABETH.

ELIJAH   male   English, Hebrew, Biblical
From the Hebrew name אֱלִיָּהוּ ('Eliyyahu) meaning "my God is YAHWEH". Elijah was a Hebrew prophet and miracle worker, as told in the two Books of Kings in the Old Testament. He was active in the 9th century BC during the reign of King Ahab of Israel and his Phoenician-born queen Jezebel. Elijah confronted the king and queen over their idolatry of the Canaanite god Ba'al and other wicked deeds. At the end of his life he was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, and was succeeded by Elisha. In the New Testament, Elijah and Moses appear next to Jesus when he is transfigured.

Because Elijah was a popular figure in medieval tales, and because his name was borne by a few early saints (who are usually known by the Latin form Elias), the name came into general use during the Middle Ages. In medieval England it was usually spelled Elis. It died out there by the 16th century, but it was revived by the Puritans in the form Elijah after the Protestant Reformation.
YAHWEH   male   Theology
A name of the Hebrew God, represented in Hebrew by the tetragrammaton ("four letters") יהוה (Yod Heh Vav Heh), which was transliterated into Roman script as Y H W H. Because it was considered blasphemous to utter the name of God, it was only written and never spoken, which resulted in the original pronunciation becoming lost. The name may have originally been derived from the old Semitic root הוה (hawah) meaning "to be" or "to become".
ELISABETH   female   German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Biblical, Biblical Latin
German and Dutch form of ELIZABETH. It is also a variant English form, reflecting the spelling used in the Authorized Version of the New Testament.
ELIZABETH   female   English, Biblical
From Ελισαβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע ('Elisheva') meaning "my God is an oath" or perhaps "my God is abundance". The Hebrew form appears in the Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.

Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who used her wealth to help the poor. In medieval England it was occasionally used in honour of the saint, though the form Isabel (from Occitan and Spanish) was more common. It has been very popular in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. It has also been borne (in various spellings) by many other European royals, including a ruling empress of Russia in the 18th century. Famous modern bearers include the British queen Elizabeth II (1926-) and actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011).
EQUIVALENTS
ARABIC: Ilyas
BIBLICAL GREEK: Elias, Eliou
BIBLICAL HEBREW: Eliyyahu
BIBLICAL LATIN: Elias, Helias
BIBLICAL: Elijah
BULGARIAN: Ilia, Ilija, Iliya
CROATIAN: Ilija
DANISH: Elias
DUTCH: Elia
ENGLISH: Elias, Elijah
FINNISH: Eelis, Elias, Eljas
FRENCH: Élie
GEORGIAN: Ilia
GERMAN: Elias
GREEK: Elias, Ilias
HEBREW: Elijah, Eliyahu, Eliyyahu
HUNGARIAN: Éliás, Illés
ICELANDIC: Elías
ITALIAN: Elia
MACEDONIAN: Ilija
MEDIEVAL ENGLISH: Elis
NORWEGIAN: Elias
OLD CHURCH SLAVIC: Ilia
POLISH: Eliasz
PORTUGUESE: Elias
ROMANIAN: Ilie
RUSSIAN: Ilia, Ilya
SERBIAN: Ilija
SPANISH: Elías
SWEDISH: Elias, Elis
TURKISH: İlyas
DIMINUTIVES AND SHORT FORMS
MACEDONIAN: Ile
FEMININE FORMS
BULGARIAN: Iliana, Ilina, Iliyana
CROATIAN: Ilinka
GREEK: Iliana
MACEDONIAN: Ilina, Ilinka
SERBIAN: Ilinka
OTHER FORMS
DUTCH: Anna, Elisabeth, Johanna, Lisanne, Lysanne
ENGLISH: Eliot, Eliott, Elliot, Elliott, Ellis
THEOLOGY: Yahweh
VARIOUS: Elián