indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Masculine
Usage History (Ecclesiastical)
Scripts ܒܪܣܡܝܐ(Syriac)
Other Forms FormsBarsamya, Barsimeus, Barsimeo, Barses
Meaning & History
From Syriac ܒܪܣܡܝܐ (Barsamya), possibly meaning "son of the blind man" or "son of the divine standard". This is the name of a Christian saint and bishop of Edessa (now Şanlıurfa, Turkey).According to tradition, he was martyred in 114 AD by Roman emperor Trajan for converting many people into Christianity. It seems that his story was backdated about a century and a half in order to link the early Church of Edessa to the Apostles, so he would have actually been martyred under emperor Decius.