>>>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?).
>
>I didn't know Ismail and Samuel same names. We use Ismail. I thought Adam and Adem (We use that name) same names too.

I'm not sure that Ismail and Samuel are the same, though they come from the same root word meaning "listen." I assume that Ismail is the modern Arabic version of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham. Samuel is the English version of the Hebrew Shmuel. Both translate loosely to "God has listened."

Tamar