🔼The name Hanniel: Summary
- Meaning
- God Has Been Gracious
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חנן (hanan), to be gracious, and (2) the word אל ('el), God.
🔼The name Hanniel in the Bible
There are two men named Hanniel in the Bible, but neither plays much of a role:
🔼Etymology of the name Hanniel
The name Hanniel consists of two (or rather three) elements, the final one being אל (El), either the prominent Canaanite deity whose name became applied to the God of Israel, or the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The first part of our name comes from the verb חנן (hanan), meaning to be gracious:
חנן
The verb חנן (hanan) means to be gracious or to favor. Nouns חן (hen), חנינה (hanina), תחנה (tehinna) and תחנון (tahanun) mean favor or grace. Adverb חנם (hinnam) means freely or gratis, and adjective חנון (hannun) means gracious.
The letter י (yod) in the middle of our name makes a possessive form out of the word חן (hen), meaning favor or grace.
🔼Hanniel meaning
For a meaning of the name Hanniel, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads God Has Been Gracious. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Favor Of God. And BDB Theological Dictionary has the similar Favor Of El.