Name Meanings in the Bible:
(updated 2/05/06...click here to jump directly there)
Adam = the man (Genesis 2:19); AKA "the person" (can be male or female - Genesis 5:1-2: "1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.") Therefore God's image is male and female, perhaps a perfect balance of what today we would term male/female dominance aka harmony...maybe well represented in the Eastern yin/yang symbol?
Eve = the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20)
Cain = acquire (Genesis 4:1)
Abel = "Breath" or "Nothing" (Genesis 4:2)
Seth = appointed (Genesis 4:25)
Updated 09/19/05:
Ishmael = God hears (Genesis 16:11)
Abraham = Father of a multitude (Genesis 17:5)
Sarah = Princess (Genesis 17:15)
Isaac = Laughter (Genesis 21:3)
Jacob = supplanter (Genesis 27:36) Defined in the dictionary as 1) to supersede (another) especially by force or treachery. 2) To overthrow by tripping up. 3) Uproot; to eradicate and supply a substitute for; to take the place of and serve as a substitute for especially by reason of superior excellence or power. Jacob is AKA- "Israel "= Prince with God (Genesis 32:28)
Benjamin - or Benoni = son of my sorrows (Genesis 35:18)
Updated 01/16/06:
Moses = Drawn Out (Exodus 2:10)
Gershom = Stranger in a Strange Land (Exodus 2:22)
"Gershom" = "Alien in a strange land." (like Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land). Exodus 18:3. Son of Moses and Moses' wife Zipporah.
"Eliezer" = "the God of my father was my help." Exodus 18:4 Moses and Zipporah's other son, brother to Gershom