Jude
A Quranic Name for Girls
Jude is variant of Judy and has the exact same meaning and pronunciation (see below for full meaning). You can use either Jude or Judy, both are correct and acceptable. If you like this variant more and you'd like to pronounce it the way it is spelled (different than the original name), this is perfectly acceptable. For more details please see the main entry at: Judy.
Full Meaning of Jude
Jude is the name of the place where the ark of Prophet Noah (alaihi salam) rested at the end of the flood. Abu Ishaaq Az-Zujaj, the great linguist and grammarian of the Arabic language (died 311 Hijri) says it is a mountain in Amad (modern Diyar Bakr in Turkey), others say it is a mountain in Mosul in Iraq.
This name sounds exactly like the popular Western name Jude, which is short for Judith, or someone who comes from Judea. Scholars say that the fact that this name sounds exactly like a Christian/Jewish name doesn’t create a problem as long as it is acknowledged that the name is sourced from the Quran and not from Christian/Jewish culture.
This name is mentioned once in the Quran:
And it was said, “O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, withhold [your rain].” And the water subsided, and the matter was accomplished, and the ship came to rest on Jude. And it was said, “Away with the wrongdoing people.” {11:44}
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Reader Comments:
on Friday 15th of March 2024 05:01:29 AM
The actual word Jude used in parts of the western world isn’t a proper name. It is a shortening of an actual name.
If we are talking about so-called biblical origins… Just like Matt is a shortened version Matthew, Mike of Michael, Tim of Timothy, Jake of Jacob; Jude was a shortened version of Judas. The actual name is Judas which is the Greek version of the semitic word Judah (not Hebrew only, existed in practically all semitic languages).
It’s key to note that the J was pronounced as a Y sound as that’s how Europe functioned in the day before the actual introduction of the Y.
The Greek Ὶούδας (Ioudas) became Judas, which comes from Yehudah (Judah) believed to mean “praised”. Pronouncing it with a J is the incorrect form and loses its meaning; this was a later corruption in the west.
The Jude/Judy mentioned above in the Quran uses the J consonant sound in Arabic and has no correlation to the nickname Jude derived from Judas/Judah which is actually meant to be pronounced as Yehuda.
Please note that Jude doesn’t exist in Hebrew. Only Yehuda (Judah) which is where the Greeks recorded the name Ioudas (Judas) before its entry into the Roman-Germanic languages where it was pronounced the same until the letter J’s vocalised pronunciation was changed. It’s also worth noting that Assyrian Aramaic has the word Yehud which predates Hebrew unlike other semitic languages.