Why Do We Call Him “Jesus”?

The name “Jesus” is a transliteration, meaning it’s the result of His original name passing through several languages over time. It’s important to remember: Jesus was a Hebrew boy, living under Roman rule, speaking Aramaic, in a world shaped by Greco-Roman culture. And all of these factors played a part in our English rendering of His name as "Jesus" today—a name which, until English-speaking times, had never existed.

• In Hebrew, His name was Yehoshua ( יְהוֹשֻׁעַ ), a common name that means “YHWH is salvation” or “God saves.”
• In Aramaic, the language Jesus often spoke, it would have sounded very similar— Yeshua.
• When the Bible was translated into Greek (the language of the New Testament), Yeshua became Iēsous ( Ἰησοῦς ), since Greek didn’t have the “sh” sound or the Hebrew “Y” sound.
• Later, Latin translators used Iesus, and eventually, English added the “J” sound we use today, forming Jesus.

So “Jesus” is the same person—it’s just the name Yehoshua, adapted for the languages that carried His story across the nations.