Ephraim

Ephraim (אֶפְרָיִם) comes from the Hebrew “’Efrayim” meaning “fruitful”. Ephraim is a biblical name appearing in Genesis as the second son of Joseph with his Egyptian wife Asenath. Genesis 41:52 says: “The name of the second (son) [Joseph] called Ephraim, ‘For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.’” This land of affliction was, of course, Egypt where Joseph had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers (jealous because their father Jacob favored Joseph the most). In Egypt Joseph was at first a slave and then a prisoner but soon afterwards was called upon by Pharaoh to interpret a couple dreams. After giving Pharaoh some sound advice (i.e., stockpile the grain!) by foretelling the impending seven year famine, Joseph rose to great power and prominence in Egypt. Pharaoh also gave Joseph the daughter of an Egyptian priest for a wife, Asenath, and she bore Joseph two sons in Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh means “causing to forget” because God helped Joseph forget his hardship and Ephraim means “fruitful” because God made Joseph fruitful while in Egypt. Later in Genesis Joseph is reunited and reconciled with his brothers and Jacob is informed that his favorite son Joseph is alive. After Jacob comes to Egypt to see his beloved Joseph there’s a long passage in Genesis describing Jacob’s duel-blessing on his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim. As first born, Manasseh should have been given the greater blessing with the right hand vs. the left hand but Jacob switched them because he preferred Ephraim (for whatever reason, we’re not told exactly). So the younger born got the greatest blessing – and later in Israel’s history we do indeed learn that Ephraim’s descendents proved him out to be the greater of the two tribes. For instance, Joshua is descended from the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua succeeded Moses as leader of the Israelites whom he finally returned to the Promised Land. Ephraim has always been considered a Jewish name, but the Puritans adopted it during the Reformation (as they did with so many other Hebrew names) and brought it to the New World in the 17th century.