does the name Grant have a biblical connection?

hi all. if we have a boy, we will most likely call him Grant. i called my father, who travels for a living, and his co-worker happens to be named Grant and indirectly told me, through my father, while on the phone with me, that his name Grant has a biblical connection. that did not sound familiar to me and i have tried looking it up, to no avail. i have no idea if i'm ever going to be able to ask this man, what evidence he has of this, or why he thinks this is the case. all i see, is that Grant is a French origin name and means great or big. any other insight Experts?

By danasurfside
Thu, 06/28/2012 - 10:47pm

Replies

1
By Linnaeus
June 29, 2012 5:42 AM

"Grant" is Anglo-Norman in derivation, and I doubt it has a true Biblical connection. First, the name is quite English, having no similar names in other languages. Second, there are no characters in the Bible named Grant. 

The word "grant" does appear throughout the Bible, so it is possible that Grant could come from the "pick a word out of the Bible" method. However, I am otherwise not seeing a Biblical connection.

2
By Laura V
June 29, 2012 6:18 AM

The only connection I can think of is that Grant Jeffrey prophecy guy, which isn't so much a bible connection as a preacher connection.

3
By another Laura
June 29, 2012 7:43 AM

I had also heard that Grant had a religious (but not Biblical per se) meaning.  Instead of looking at the etymology of the name Grant (from the surname describing a large/tall person) and instead look at the etymology of the word grant which comes from the Latin Credentum (to believe).  The English word creed is obviously drawn from this and why we might say in an arguement "I'll grant you that."  And it's why we use the word grant to mean a promise or a guarantee.  Additionally, a grant is a gift or an award which in the context of a child could be seen in a religious light.  This take on Grant is almost as a word name - like naming a son Justice or a daughter Honor.

Others may have more to add or clarify, but this what I concluded people meant when they said they liked the religious meaning of the name Grant.

Grant is a great choice!  It's my uncle's name and I like it even more now that I think of this lovely meaning.

4
By NotAGuestAnymore
June 29, 2012 10:23 AM

I can sort of see how some people might consider Grant to be a word name from the Bible.  But personally, I think it is really a stretch.  Saying a name has Biblical origin might seem more appealing for some people than saying the name means big.  But that really seems like assigning meaning after the fact.  

I'm not a Biblical scholar my any means, but my guess is the word grant only appears in the Bible as a remnant of Latin translations from the Greek.  The original Hebrew word(s) used probably could have been translated into several Greek words, and each of those could have been translated into several Latin words to include grant.  Which really weakens the assertion of Grant as a Biblical word name, IMO anyway.

 

5
By danasurfside
June 29, 2012 6:52 PM

Thanks everyone, when i looked up the name and its association to the Bible, i just saw verses like "God granted, such and such", too. i guess it has the word from the bible type association and the meaning of giving. interesting.