Do the Biblical figures have last names?
Why do many characters in the Bible use just first names and/or the titles? (Ex. Jesus The Christ, John The Baptist)
It is important in realizing the Bible to know Biblical characters full names?

__________________
"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

Hmmm....interesting question! maybe its kinda like this forum, we have just "cardero" your last name only. Would it be important to know your full name? My last name is Fiennes, like the actor Ralph Fiennes. Does this make a difference?

Love,
Madeline

Oh btw cardero, Pontius Pilate and Mary Magdalene. I know sometimes the persons last name usually refers to where they are from. Such as Judas Iscariot, because he was from kerioth I believe. Mary Magdalene because she was from Magdala.

Love,
Madeline

I was thinking about those names when I composed this thread. I am not saying that the inclusion of last names would make these characters more believable but the absence of last names doesn't really give us reference to substantiate these people in a place of history.

__________________
"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

Perhaps it is because humankind tends to attach too much importance to one's ancestry, and would elevate (or perhaps mistreat) all descendants inappropriately.
For all we know about Jesus in terms of what He said, and what His purpose was(is), we were not told his birth date, or given a description of Him, etc.
We know the measure of God's love through His life, sacrifice and victory over death.

I think first names were most often used of course in everyday life...but since there were a lot of Jeshuas, Johannons or Davids and so on...They would identify the person as son of one of the parents...or maybe both to keep their descent clear...

Geneology and knowing one's descent were very crucial when someone wanted to know who you really were...So you would say I'm Johannon son of David son of... This would be important in contracting a marriage perhaps...your pedigree.

Also tribal identifications were important.

The same practise was used among the Arabs at the time of Prophet Muhammad.

People were also identified by where they lived so you would have Mary of Magdala... Titles were added to further identify someone's station... John the Baptist...Jesus the Christ or Paul the Apostle, etc.

- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

And it still is important when applying for a visa to India: there's one line for your father's name!

Names used to be a given (or taken/self-invented) name plus a characteristic for that person. One example is the Danish King Harald Bluetooth Gormson. Inherited family names still are not used in Iceland, but a child gets a given name plus (father's name plus -son for a boy). In Sweden, family names came gradually, starting in the 17th century but still not used by everyone in the 19th century.

When I was in engineering school, there were a couple of students coming from Indonesia. They had only one name, like former Indonesian president Sukarno.