🔼The name Naaman: Summary
- Meaning
- Pleasant, Pleasantness
- Etymology
- From the noun נעמן (na'aman), pleasantness, which comes from the verb נעם (naem), to be pleasant.
🔼The name Naaman in the Bible
There are two Naamans in the Bible:
- A son of Benjamin (Genesis 46:21), whose descendants and those of his brother Ard, are later considered sons of Bela, Benjamin's first born. This Naaman became the patriarch of the sub-clan of the Naamites (נעמי; Numbers 26:40).
- A leprous Aramean captain in whose healing Elisha was instrumental (2 Kings 5:1). Jesus refers to this Naaman in his sermon at the synagogue of Nazareth (spelled Νεεμαν, Neeman; Luke 4:27)
🔼Etymology of the name Naaman
The name Naaman is derived from the verb נעם (na'em) meaning be pleasant, sweet, delightful, beautiful:
Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
נעם
The verb נעם (na'em) means to be pleasant, delightful or sweet. Derived nouns נעם (no'am) and נעמן (na'aman) mean pleasantness. Adjective נעים (na'im), means pleasant. The plural noun מנעמים (man'ammim) describes "sweets" or dainties. The adjective נעים (na'im) describes a soft or pleasant sound.
The derivative נעמן (naaman) means pleasantness, but the added nun usually works as a personification of the root, and the name Naaman may mean Nice Guy, Delightful One.
🔼Naaman meaning
For a meaning of the name Naaman, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Pleasant. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Pleasantness.