Analyst

Ignoring the Aramaic -> Greek -> English name conversion, is is possible that Jesus wasn't called Jesus? That the name Jesus was picked to use because it was so common and generic - like John Doe? IIRC, Mohammed's actual given name is also unknown - Mohammed is a "stage name", selected long afterwards.

Toto

Of course it's possible. If you think that there was a charismatic wandering preacher who was crucified, and his influence led to Christianity, his name might have been Shlomo.

but since we have no evidence of anyone with a different name who fits that description, how does this help?

Analyst

I think it likely there was some man, but I'm less sure his name was Jesus.

Sheshbazzar

Yep, there were some men, perhaps a thousand or more potential candidates, from that approxamate time frame, who were Jewish teachers, and had somewhat similar names.
Of course not a single one of them was the "Jesus" that is described in The New Testament, that "Jesus" is a fictional composite Action/Adventure cartoon hero fabricated by the latter Gentile church; there never was any such actual person.

Switch89

I think that's G.A. Wells position. He thinks that Paul envisioned a sort of cosmic Christ but also believes that the notion of a Christ was inspired by a real first century preacher, perhaps named Jesus.

Doug Shaver

Yes. It's possible he didn't exist, in which case nobody would have called him anything.

vid

You might want to read this: http://www.messiahtruth.com/name.html

Also, I would like someone who has a clue about hebrew/aramaic to comment on quality of that article.

spamandham

In the Gospels, the character who plays YHWH's annointed savior is named "YHWH's annointed savior" (Jesus Christ). This is clearly a title, not a proper birth name.

So if there was a historical core to Jesus, the probability that his birth name was actually 'Jesus' is the same as for any other male in the general population. I seem to recall that supposedly 1 in 6 males were named Jesus, but I have my doubts about such a high number.

Lugubert

I'm a Bible Hebrew n00b, but after a quick reading I think that it looks sufficiently OK on the Semitic parts to be saved in my BH folder. Only, academically I prefer Yeshua` to Yeshu'a. The a is (was) pronounced before the last consonant ע (which most people, even many or most contemporary scholars, don't even try pronouncing anyway unless they are into more Semitic languages).

That's an entirely different can of worms, but I agree.

Personally, on the Internet, I sometimes refer to Yeshua Yosefson.

The Dagda

Jesus was if not a common name one that was used widely. I don't think it makes much odds.