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What is the linguistic term for names, that are actually statements? examples for this type of names are ancient egyptian names such as Neferkare, meaning Perfect is the Ka of Ra, or Indigeneous American names, such as Sitting Bull.

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  • Also common in Hebrew names, e.g. Tobias (God is good) and Elizabeth (variously given as God is an oath or God is abundance).
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 9:01
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    Wikipedia calls them "symbolic names", but I doubt it is a linguistic term.
    – fev
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 9:27
  • @fev: Indeed, there must be a more specific, scientific (and presumably latin or greek) term for these type of names - that's what I am looking for.
    – user1934212
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 10:15
  • "An aptronym, aptonym, or euonym is a personal name aptly or peculiarly suited to its owner." (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptronym). Same source says "Marilyn vos Savant, American columnist who has been cited for having the world's highest-recorded IQ (savant)" But I'm not sure from your question as to whether you want an apt name that is a statement.
    – rajah9
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 15:50
  • How is "Sitting Bull" a statement? It seems to be more of a description (which seems to be a common style of Native American names).
    – Barmar
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 22:44

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Theophoric names might be what you are looking for:

A theophoric name (from Greek: θεόφορος, theophoros, literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the name of a god, both invoking and displaying the protection of that deity. For example, names embedding Apollo, such as Apollonios or Apollodorus, existed in Greek antiquity.

Theophoric personal names, containing the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted (or a generic word for god), were also exceedingly common in the ancient Near East and Mesopotamia. Some names of theophoric origin remain common today, such as Theodore (theo-, "god"; -dore, origin of word compound in Greek: doron, "gift"; hence "God's gift"; in Greek: Theodoros) or less recognisably as Jonathan (from Hebrew Yonatan/Yehonatan, meaning "Yahweh has given").

(Wikipedia)

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    I am looking for a more general term, that includes non-teophoric names, as well (as specified in the updated original question).
    – user1934212
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 10:37
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    Well, you did edit the question after I answered in a way that made my answer no longer be valid.
    – fev
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 10:42
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    Unfair, I know. Fortunately, answers can be updated as well :-)
    – user1934212
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 10:43
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    @rahaj: Yes, the list is amazing. I am actually grateful for the question, because I found the name of this phenomenon... It's quite common, from the biblical I/Emmanuel (God is with us) to the South-African Goitsione (God Knows) . Fascinating...
    – fev
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 16:14
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    I checked the pre-edit question. It never asked for a term for names that come from a god. The only example happened to be theophoric, but the question itself was clear about what they're looking for.
    – Barmar
    Commented Jun 7, 2021 at 22:42

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