Jedediah

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine first name of Hebrew origin, meaning beloved of God, borne by various historical and biblical figures
2. A male given name derived from Hebrew, traditionally associated with the biblical king and used in English-speaking countries
3. A traditional masculine forename of Hebrew origin that means beloved by the Lord and is common in American usage

Etymology: Jedediah is a Hebrew given name, a variant of Jedidiah, and its meaning is set out in the Hebrew Bible itself. In 2 Samuel 12:25, the prophet Nathan renames the infant son of David and Bathsheba "Jedidiah," meaning "beloved of the LORD," a name given by God as a sign of favor after the child's older brother died. The Hebrew root "yada" carries the sense of "to love" or "to be beloved" here, with the divine name attached as the source of that affection. The name passed into English through the Bible, particularly the King James Version and the Protestant tradition that drew heavily on Old Testament names for children. Puritan and Reformation-era families in England and New England favored such names, and Jedediah became established among them, with the form "Jedidiah" remaining the more common spelling in the Bible itself. Jedediah appears to be the more usual spelling in English-speaking use, though the two forms are interchangeable.