>>>Alexander
>>
>>That one would be Greek, AFAIK, but you're right about the others.
>>
>>BTW, it would be quite interesting to spot these classic names (both Greek and Hebrew) as they progress through other languages. For instance, Schmuel - Ismail - Samuilo - Samuel, or Stephan - Štefan - Stevan - Stepa(n) - Stipe - Stipica - Steven - István (ishtvahn, nickname Pista - pishtah) - Esteban - Estevao (is that proper Portuguese?). Or John - Jochann(es), Jean, Giovanni, Jovan, János, Janošik, Jano, Ion(el/ut), Janko, Ivan, Juan, James (is it the same name?).
>
>Almost.
>
>Estevão.

Thanks - Portuguese is one of the languages that sound really nice to my ears. I've even caught myself listening to some genres of music which I actually don't like, but the language makes it sound good :).