Aaron is an English masculine given name. The 'h' phoneme in the original Hebrew pronunciation "Aharon" (אהרן) is dropped in the Greek, Ἀαρών, from which the English form, Aaron, is derived. Aaron, the brother of Moses, is described in the Torah, the Quran and the Baha'i Iqan. The origin of the biblical name is uncertain; however, an Ancient Egyptian origin may indicate "aha rw" meaning "warrior lion", or from Aaru (meaning"reeds"), the Egyptian heaven ruled by Osiris. According to other different theories, the name could be derived from various Hebrew roots meaning "high mountain", "mountain of strength", "exalted", "enlightened", or "bearer of martyrs". The name Aharon may itself be a variant of Haran, the name given to the older brother of Abraham in the book of Genesis. The given name was used by Jews and early Christians, then became exclusively Jewish in the Middle Ages, taken up by Gentiles in the 17th century, and popular among both in the end of the 20th century. Aaron was most popular in the United States in 1994 peaking as the 28th most popular name. Aaron is also a Jewish surname. St. Aaron's day is on July 1 and is celebrated in French speaking countries and Poland. The name is generally recognisable around the world as referring to the biblical Aaron and cognate forms in other languages include Aarón in Spanish; Aarão in Portuguese; Aron in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Croatian; Árón in Czech and Irish; and Harun (هارون) in Arabic. The variant used in the Russian language is "Ааро́н" (Aaron), with "Аро́н" (Aron) being its colloquial form; diminutives include "Ааро́нка" (Aaronka), "Аро́нка" (Aronka), and "Ро́на" (Rona). The patronymics derived from this first name in Russian are "Ааро́нович" (Aaronovich; masculine) and its colloquial form "Ааро́ныч" (Aaronych), and "Ааро́новна" (Aaronovna; feminine). Y-chromosomal Aaron is the name given to the hypothesised most recent common ancestor of many Kohanim. "Aaronite" is a noun referring to the biblical tradition and modern genetic line of Kohanim claiming descent from the biblical Aaron. "Aaronic" is an adjective referring to their traditional priestly attributes such as attention to detail, respect for tradition, and religious dogmatising. For example, biblical texts focussed on rules and traditions such as Leviticus are considered aaronic.

Pronunciation

In its original Hebrew, Aharon (אהרן) is pronounced as three syllables, a-ha-ron. This Hebrew pronunciation is still used in modern Hebrew in Israel today. The Hebrew sound had no direct equivalent in Greek, when Jewish scriptures were translated by Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria around 200 BCE to form the septuagint, so these translators used a pair of Greek alpha letters to approximate the same sound, "Ἀαρών". This was translated again by St. Jerome from the Greek to the Latin Vulgate as "Aaron" in the fourth century CE. It is thought that the Greeks and Romans would pronounce Aaron similarly to the Hebrew, as the Catholic Latin pronunciation is still defined this way. The English pronunciation of the biblical Aaron's name was derived by anglicising the Latin during the Church of England's translation of the Authorized King James Bible in 1611 (possibly influenced by older English translations of the bible from Anglo Saxon times onwards). The modern Church of England Pronunciation Guide, the BBC pronunciation guide, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pronunciation guide, the Oxford English Dictionary, the Longman pronunciation guide, and Harper Collins Biblical Pronunciation Guide all define this modern English pronunciation as /ˈɛərən/ ("air-run", where "air" is the same sound as in "dairy"). This pronunciation is used in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments featuring the biblical Aaron, by UK chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks when speaking in English, and in the BBC production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. The English name "Aaron" is sometimes confused with the English name "Aron" which is also derived from the biblical Aaron but through translation routes other than the Church of England (Celtic church) and pronounced /ˈærən/ ("a-ran" as in "arrow"). It is further sometimes confused with the names Arran and Aran which are also pronounced /ˈærən/ ("a-ran" as in "arrow") but derive from various sources unrelated to the biblical Aaron such as the Scottish Isle of Arran and Irish Aran Islands. Aeron is another unrelated name, pronounced air-ron, thought to possibly be the name of a Celtic deity who is also the namesake of the popular Aeron chair. Possibly because of this confusion, the common pronunciation in Britain and some other English-speaking countries has changed over the last few decades to /ˈærən/.

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