Can anyone sister me why, biblical names like James, John and Andrew

[Maggiesgirl]

Are now known as British names? Well at least Britisg spellings. We're they originally in Hebrew spelt and pronounced differently and when the bible was written in English, then translated to a more 'Englidh' version.

Being a life long atheist I have never thought about it before, but just listened to a book where a bible piece with the names was read out and wondered.

Because they’ve been used throughout recorded British history, repeatedly.

They are the British version, they have been "Englishyfied"!

What does "sister me why" mean? Never heard it before.

They're not just British names though, these are just the British spellings of them. Many countries have their own spellings - Jean, Johannes, Andre, Andreas, Giacomo, Jakub, Giovanni etc. Don't really get the question?

And the Bible in those languages has those spellings, as we have the ones you listed. It's just a translation thing.

@NaomhPadraigin

What does "sister me why" mean? Never heard it before.

I reckon it's probably a typo for answer - it's a similar shape if you are doing finger swiping on a screen.

I assume that's an auto correct in the title, I think the OP meant 'explain to me.'
Well, the simple explanation is that they aren't British names, any more than the various different forms in other countries don't make them Spanish or Italian or anything else names. If you look up the origin of a name you can see that it'll be from Hebrew/ Greek/Welsh/ whatever... obviously they have become anglicised over the centuries but it doesn't make them British and I've never heard anyone other than the OP say they are

It’s just language and it’s evolution.

It’s not really any different to the French calling England Angleterre or English speaking people saying Munich instead of Muenchen.

They are traditional names used in this country so they've become British. Just like most English words cone from Greek, Latin, french etc.

Well, you might say John is a traditional British name, but then equally Giovanni is a traditional Italian name, and Juan is a traditional Spanish name. They’re all translations from the original.

many words names and places are derived from other languages and change slightly, look at different words for Mother in Germanic languages Muder, mutter mutti, mother, mummy all the same root

so John Jean Jan Johannes Giovanni, Eoin all have same root
people have recently started using Ukrainian pronunciation of Kiev Kyiv instead of Russian pronunciation
some things are anglised, frenchified etc etc others hint at Norse gaelic Celtic origins and are not anglised

I like the Ken MacLeod tweet for explaining English generally:

“Basically, English is what happens when Vikings learn Latin and use it to shout at Germans.”

They are English spellings and pronunciations of those names. The same names in other languages will be spelt and pronounced differently.

For example, Mary - she is Mary in English, Maryam in Arabic and Mariam in Hebrew.

Isaac - Isaac in English, Ishaq in Arabic and Yitzhak in Hebrew.

It’s the Anglicisation of the names, so that it works better with the language. Some biblical names stay the same in the different languages - but most will be transferred with a different pronunciation so that it works better.

Great quote @Cornettoninja

If you go far enough back is anything really English? It's a lot of different languages all jumbled together, not a mostly single origin language like Finnish or Icelandic. It's only regular use by English speakers that makes any word or name 'English'. The fact that these names have been commonly used by many generations is what makes them recognisably English names.