New Testament Names Pronunciation

How to Pronounce New Testament Names — Greek in a Roman World

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek within the Roman Empire — which means its names are drawn from three cultures simultaneously. Many are Greek forms of older Aramaic or Hebrew originals: Petros (Peter) for the Aramaic Cephas meaning "rock"; Ioannes (John) for Yochanan meaning "God is gracious"; Iakobos (James) for Yaakov (Jacob). Latin names like Felix, Festus, and Titus reflect Roman governance and the citizenship of certain figures. The result is a name pool that has passed through Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin before arriving in your English Bible — often with the stress pattern shifted at each stop.

How to Pronounce the Apostles' Names

The twelve apostles' names range from common Jewish names (James, John, Simon) to distinctly unusual ones (Thaddaeus, Bartholomew). Most English readers know these names from childhood but have only ever read them silently. Reading silently doesn't prepare you for the moment you're asked to read Luke 6 aloud in church and encounter "Bartholomew" and "Thaddaeus" in the same sentence. Every apostle's name appears below with its phonetic breakdown and audio recording — so you can hear the correct stress pattern before you need it.

From the Gospels to Revelation

This list covers the full cast of named individuals in the New Testament: disciples, church leaders, Roman officials, and the women named with striking specificity in the Gospels and Acts. Figures like Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, and Cornelius appear only briefly in the text but carry names that readers consistently hesitate over. The audio recordings below give you a confident baseline for every one.