Meaning and etymology of the name Judah, Judas, Jude
| | | | Judah  Judas / Jude 
The Greek name Judas is the transliterated form of the Hebrew name Judah.
There are up to seven men named Judah in the OT (although some of these may be the same person), and six named Judas in the NT. For some reason, one of these NT Judases is known in English as Jude. Perhaps people didn't want the brother of Jesus to have the same name as the man who betrayed Him.
The original Judah is Jacob's fourth son with Leah (Genesis 29:35). Judah becomes prominent when his three brothers Reuben, Simeon and Levi forfeit their places in the hierarchy (Reuben sleeps with Bilhah - Genesis 35:22, and Simeon and Levi avenge their sister Dinah's rape by killing the entire male population of the village of Shechem, and looting the place - Genesis 34:25).
It should be noted that the feminine form of this name, Judith, occurs a generation earlier than Judah and may very well be the original (meaning that the name Judah is derived from Judith and not vice versa). Judith is the Hittiteaunt of Judah, married to Judah's uncle Esau.
Other Judahs are: a postexilic Levite (Ezra 3:9); a Levite who divorces his foreign wife in the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:23); a postexilic overseer (Nehemiah 11:9); a Levite who returns with Zerubabel (Nehemiah 12:8); a postexilic leader (Nehemiah 12:34); and a priestly musician (Nehemiah 12:36);
In the NT we find the following Judases: the apostle a.k.a Thaddaeus (Luke 6:16, Mat 10:3); the apostle Judas Iscariot (Luke 6:16); a brother of Jesusand James the Just, and most probable author of the Book of Jude (Mat 13:55); a leader referred to by Gamaliel (Acts 5:37); a Jew of Damascus who aids Saul, later Paul (Acts 9:11); and a prophet in Antioch (Acts 15:32).
The name Judah is a combination of two elements. The first element is  , which is the commonly accepted abbreviated form of  , which is YHWH, the Name of the Lord.
The second part of the name Judah comes from the verb  (yada 847) meaning to confess, praise, give thanks. HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament reports that 'the primary meaning of this root is "to acknowledge or confess sin, God's character and works, or man's character."'
The evolution of the meaning of this verb, or rather its general usage, is quite revealing. Originally it denoted a private or national confession of sin (Leviticus 16:21; Aaron will praise over the scapegoat); the very thing the Law was designed to provoke (Romans 3:20). Then it moved to denote gratitude, and only finally it came to indicate what we know as praise.
When Leah gave birth to Judah she names him such by saying, "This time I will praise the Lord." Perhaps she meant that she realized that her first three sons weren't going to bring her closer to Jacob, and she should redirect her focus to God.
For the meaning of the name Judah, NOBS Study Bible Name List reads Let Him (God) Be Praised. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names simply reads Praised.
Another curious detail is that when the letter D is dropped from the name Judah, the Name YHWH appears.
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