[Avodah] strange names in Hebrew

[Simon Montagu]

On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:54 AM, Lisa Liel <lisa at starways.net> wrote:
> But there are three other DNs used in Jewish names.  Or maybe not DNs, but
> they serve the same purpose in the construction of names.  These are Av, Ach
> and Am, or father, brother and nation.  We have Ammihud and Rechavam,
> Achiezer and Avichayil.  And I can understand how Av serves as a DN, since
> Hashem is Avinu she'ba-shamayim.  But the other two puzzle me.  And I
> wondered whether anyone here has ever come across any discussion of names
> like that.

Ach is also no problem, since KBH refers to us as "achoti kalla". IIRC
from university, Am as a name element is believed to mean "uncle"
rather than "nation", so it may be equivalent to Dod as a DN.

Or more loosely, any word for a close relation can act as a DN. Bear
in mind that names are often archaic, both linguistically and
theologically, and not representative of contemporary usage and
belief.