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Summary
- Adam named his wife Eve “because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20).
- The Hebrew name, Chavvah, means “life”; the Greek Septuagint translates it Zoe, “Life.”
- Before that she was called Woman, “because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23), a play on the Hebrew ish and ishshah.
- Adam gave the name after God’s sentence in Genesis 3:14–19 and before the coats of skins and the expulsion from Eden.
- Matthew Henry wrote, “If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God,” and also saw a token of the husband’s authority; Calvin doubted the reading of faith.
- Christians for Biblical Equality writer Martin Shields reads naming in the Bible as “character recognition,” not dominion.
- The Qur’an never names her; the name Hawwa comes from Muslim tradition.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Genesis 2:19, 2:23, 3:15, 3:16, 3:19, 3:20, 4:1, 4:25, 5:2, 16:13; 1 Timothy 2:13–14. BibleGateway.
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, entries 2332 (Chavvah), 2416 (chai), 802 (ishshah) and 376 (ish). Bible Hub.
- The Septuagint, Genesis 3:20, 4:1 and 4:25, in Greek and in Lancelot Brenton’s English translation. eBible.org.
- The Latin Vulgate, Genesis 2:23 and 3:20; the New Arabic Version (Ketab El Hayat), Genesis 3:20; Het Boek, Genesis 3:20; the Italian CEI and Nuova Riveduta 2006, Genesis 3:20. BibleGateway.
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, on Genesis 3:20, translated by John King (1847). Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Genesis 3:20. Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, part 2, chapter 30, translated by M. Friedländer. Sefaria.
- Martin A. Shields, “What’s in a Name: Name Giving in Genesis 2,” Christians for Biblical Equality Australia, 2016. blog.cbe.org.au.
- The Qur’an 2:35 and 7:19, Saheeh International translation. Quran.com.
- “Why the Name Hawwa Is Not Mentioned in the Qur’an,” answer by Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah, Al-Azhar University. IslamOnline.
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