Lazarus m
Name borne in the New Testament by two different characters: the brother of Martha and Mary, who was raised from the dead by Jesus (John 11: 1–44), and the beggar who appears in the parable of Dives and Lazarus narrated by Jesus (Luke 16: 19–31). The form Lazarus, used in the Authorized Version, is a Latinate version of Greek Lazaros, itself a transliteration of Aramaic Lazar, an aphetic short form of Hebrew Eleazar ‘God is my help’. Because the beggar Lazarus was ‘full of sores’ the name was often used in the Middle Ages as a generic term for a leper, and so came to be avoided as a given name. It is still not common.
Cognates: French: Lazare. Catalan: Llàtzer. Italian: Lazzaro. Polish: Łazarz.
First names dictionary. 2012.