Why are there so many problems with the Name of Christ?

It is difficult to discuss the Hebrew name of Christ: יֵשׁוּעַ
Why?
When researching the truth, you will come across many sources that say that this name is read: Yeshua, Yehoshua, or other forms. You can easily get lost in this…
Let’s see what dictionaries generally say.
I will not provide sources, because you, the Reader, can find this information on many websites. I would like to emphasize that the information below is NOT my knowledge. I present the knowledge that you will most often encounter when researching the Hebrew name of Christ.
=> The beginning of knowledge from dictionaries and other sources.

Is the name for sure Yeshua?

Most often you will come across this formula: „The name יֵשׁוּעַ in Hebrew is pronounced Yeshua. Phonetic transcription: [jeˈʃu.a]

Pronunciation:

• Ye – similar to the English “Yea”.
• sh – like “sh” in the word “shade”.
• u – short, like “u” in the word “album”.
• a – open, like “a” in the word “crack”.

Do we pronounce the last letter “a” in the name?
The last letter in the name יֵשׁוּעַ, which is ע (ayin), is indeed specific.

Here is some information:

• In modern Hebrew pronunciation, ע (ayin) is usually silent and not pronounced audibly. That is why in languages such as English or Polish, transliterations often omit this letter from the sound.
• In ancient Hebrew (and in liturgical tradition), ע had a guttural sound, resembling a delicate „a” or „gh” (a guttural exhalation consonant).
• In practical pronunciation, the name יֵשׁוּעַ is therefore Yeshua, with an almost inaudible ending.

In the book „The Phonology of Biblical Hebrew” by Yehezkel Kaufman and in articles on modern Hebrew phonetics (e.g. in studies by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) it is explained that ע is silent in modern pronunciation, whereas in ancient Hebrew it was a guttural consonant.

How do we pronounce this: sh or s?

The letter ש (shin) in the name יֵשׁוּעַ is always pronounced as sh in Hebrew because it has a diacritic (dot) above the right part of the character (שׁ). This clearly indicates the sound sh, which is phonetically different from s. If the dot were on the left side (שׂ), the letter would be pronounced as s, but that form does not occur in this name.

Hebrew letters	English letters	Numerical value (gematria)
י (jud)	Ye	10
שׁ (szin)	Sh	300
ו (waw)	u	6
ע (ajin)	(silent or guttural)	70

Explanations:
• Hebrew letters – original Hebrew alphabet.
• English letters – transliteration according to English phonetics.
• Numerical value (gematria) – each letter in Hebrew has a numerical value assigned to it.
The total numerical value of the name יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshu) is 386 (10 + 300 + 6 + 70).
=> End of knowledge from dictionaries and other sources.

Now let’s move on to the summary of the Hebrew name.

Let’s leave the dictionaries and summarize this knowledge.
Look Reader, someone will say that in the second letter of the name Yeshu: shin, the dot is supposed to decide whether we read Yesu or Yeshu. If it is on the right side, then according to this knowledge we read: Yeshu. And what if there is no dot, or someone deliberately falsified it by moving it from the left to the right side?
The second issue is: the reading of the last letter in the name Yeshu, i.e. a – ayin. Some sources say that it is silent, so we read: Yeshu. Other sources say that to read it gutturally, i.e. Yeshua.

What is the way out of this situation?
Let us see how the name of Christ was written in Greek. All the books of the New Testament are in Greek. Only the book of Matthew is additionally in Hebrew.
It was God who decided to choose the Greek language.

Greek name: Yesu

This is how the name appears in the Greek-English New Testament, in the interlinear version from Biblehub.com:

photo source: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/1-1.htm

The name of Christ in Greek has forms and variants by cases:

Use Case	Greek form	Transliteration	English pronunciation
Denominator (nominativus)	Ἰησοῦ-ς	Iēsou-s	Yesu-s
Genitive (genitivus)	Ἰησοῦ	Iēsou	Yesu
Viewfinder (dativus)	Ἰησοῦ	Iēsou	Yesu
Accusative (accusativus)	Ἰησοῦ-ν	Iēsou-n	Yesu-n
Vocative (vocativus)	Ἰησοῦ	Iēsou	Yesu

Most Biblical experts convince us to use the nominative form, Jesus. However, let’s see that the root of the name is Yesu. It is to this form that the Greek adds the endings: -s and -n. If the basic form of the name was the nominative: Jesus, then the endings would be added to this form, but they are not. The second important argument is the Hebrew name. In the Hebrew name of Christ, there is no letter „s” at the end of the word. This is an important note, because Hebrew and Greek names should be the same in pronunciation. Therefore, the basic form of the name Jesus is incorrect, because in Hebrew there was no letter s at the end.

The last thing to clarify is: how was the letter -s pronounced? Let’s look at the general rules in Koine Greek. Koine Greek, spoken at the time of Christ, had slightly different phonetic rules than modern Greek.

Here are the key elements of the pronunciation of the name Ἰησοῦ:

• Ἰη (Ye):
Pronounced as „Ye”, where the „Y” corresponds to a sound similar to the English „Y” and the „e” is short, as in the word „electron„.
• σοῦ (su):
Pronounced as „su” with the accent on that syllable. The vowel „u” has a sound similar to the English „u” or the French „ou”.
• Yesu (Ye-sú): Is the most likely pronunciation, consistent with the Greek phonetic rules of the Koine period.

Do we have one name for Christ?

Yes. This name was delivered by an angel:

“Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mariam for you have found favor with God. Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name Him Yesu-n.” – Luke 1:31.

The angel delivered the name in the accusative form: Yesu-n. The basic form is Yesu.

Summary

The most probable name for Christ in Hebrew is: Yeshu. This is how we write and pronounce it in Enlish. The most probable name for Christ in Greek is: Yesu. Since the Judeans knew this name in Hebrew as Yeshu, some of them could have pronounced it as in Hebrew: Yeshu, and some as it is written in Greek: Yesu.