Hi Guy’s,
I’m looking for a few opinions on how to translate two Greek names. In the Greek we have Miriam and Maria both translated as Mary.
The problem with this is that Jesus’ Mums name in Greek is Mariam and his mums’ sisters name is Maria. If you translate both as Mary then to people who don’t know Jesus mum and aunty are both called Mary, which to unbelievers or new Christians is not going to pass the common sense test.
So do I change the name of Jesus’ mother in my translation to Miriam? Hard to go away from Mary as it so universally used. Or do I change the name of Mary Magdalene to Maria Magdalene? which sounds strange too.
I’m leaning towards just using the Greek names of Miriam and Maria and not translating to Mary either name. What do you think? I’d love some feedback.
Brett