Ambrose of Milan : For a name is changed, with a letter added, so that he would be called Abraham instead of Abram, which means 'father of a multitude', as the Latin interpretation has it, or 'sublime father', 'chosen father'; or so that he would become a father and the father of a son. He was vain when he did not know God; he became chosen after he knew God. He was a father when he had offspring by a slave woman; but he was not the father of a son, because he did not have a son who was conceived in lawful marriage. Sarah gave birth, and he became the father of a son. — On Abraham Augustine of Hippo : However, a question arises here which should not be passed over and which may perhaps also, quite independently, be bothering some of you. What does it mean, that when the name of Abraham, this man Jacob's grandfather, was changed (he was previously called Abram, you see, and God changed his name and said, you shall not be called Abram, but Abraham)? From that time on he was never called Abram. Search in the Scriptures, and you will see that earlier on, before he received another name, he was only called Abram. After he had received the new one, he was only called Abraham. This man Jacob, however, heard the same words when he received another name: You shall not be called Jacob, but you shall be called Israel. Now search the Scriptures, and see how he was always called either name, both Jacob and Israel. When Abram got another name, he was never called anything but Abraham; when Jacob got another name, he was called Jacob and Israel. The name Abraham was to receive its explanation in this world, because it was here that he became the father of many nations, from which his name is derived. The name Israel, on the other hand, belongs to the next world, where we will see God. So the people of God, the Christian people, is in this world and this time both Jacob and Israel; Jacob in our actual situation, Israel in our hopeful expectation. — SERMON 122.4 Bede : And you will be the father of many nations, and your name will no longer be called Abram, but you will be called Abraham, because I have made you the father of many nations. Because blessed Abraham left his kin and his father's house at the command of the Lord, he received deservedly also in this gift of reward to exist as the father of many nations; indeed of so many, that not only those who came from his seed according to the flesh, but also those who deriving their origin of flesh elsewhere, would follow the footsteps of his faith and obedience, as the Apostle writes to the Romans with full exposition. It should be known that Abram means Exalted Father, but Abraham means Father of Many, so it is understood, of many nations. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Jerome : (Chapter 17, Verse 5) And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations. The Hebrews say that God, from his name, which is the Tetragrammaton among them, added the letter He to Abraham and Sarah: for he was first called Abram (), which means lofty father, and later he was called Abraham (), which means father of many: for what follows nations is not part of the name, but is understood. It is not surprising, therefore, that when it seems that the letter Α has been added among the Greeks and us: we have called it the Hebrew letter He added; for the language of that tongue is to write with He (ה‎), but to read with A (א‎): just as, on the contrary, the letter A is often pronounced as He. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis Jerome : Verse 7. "And the overseer of the eunuchs imposed names upon them, calling Daniel Belteshazzar (Balthasar), and Hananiah Shadrach, and Mishael Meshach, and Azariah Abednego." It was not only the overseer or master of the eunuchs (as others have rendered it, the "chief-eunuch") who changed the names of saints, but also Pharaoh called Joseph in Egypt Somtonphanec (Genesis 41:45), for neither of them wished them to have Jewish names in the land of captivity. Wherefore the prophet says in the Psalm: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" (Psalms 137:4). Furthermore the Lord Himself changes names benignly, and on the basis of events imposes names of special significance, so as to call Abram Abraham (Genesis 17:5), and Sarai Sarah (Genesis 17:15). Also in the Gospel, the former Simon received the name of Peter (Mark 3:16), and the sons of Zebedee are called "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17) - which is not boanerges, as most people suppose, but is more correctly read benereem. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER ONE Origen of Alexandria : Many responses are given by God to Abraham, but they are not all conveyed to one and the same person. For certain of them are to Abram, certain to Abraham, that is, some after the change of name and others while he was still reckoned by his native appellation. And first indeed there is conveyed by God to Abram, before the change of name, that oracle which says: "Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house," and the rest. But in this nothing is enjoined concerning the covenant of God, nothing concerning circumcision. For he could not, while he was still Abram and bore the name of his carnal birth, receive the covenant of God and the mark of circumcision. But when "he went out from his land and from his kindred," then more sacred responses are now conveyed to him, and first it is said to him: "You shall no longer be called Abram, but Abraham shall be your name." Then at last he both received the covenant of God and accepted circumcision, the seal of faith, which he could not receive while he was in his father's house and in carnal kinship and while he was still called Abram. But neither was he himself and his wife called "presbyter" as long as he was in his father's house and dwelt with flesh and blood; but after he had set out from there, he merited both to be called "Abraham" and to be called "presbyter": "for they were both," it says, "presbyters," that is, old, namely Abraham and his admirable wife, "and advanced in their days." How many before them led their life over longer spans of years—for nine hundred years and more, and some, not much less, lived until the flood—and none of these were called presbyters. For by this name in Abraham not the old age of the body, but the maturity of the heart, was named. So also the Lord says to Moses: "Choose for yourself presbyters, whom you yourself know to be presbyters." Let us look more diligently at the Lord's word—what that addition may mean, by which He says: "whom you yourself know to be presbyters." Surely he who bore the senile age of the body was not manifest to the eyes of all as being a presbyter, that is, an old man? Why then is this special inspection enjoined upon Moses alone, so great and so notable a prophet, that those be chosen not whom other men know, not whom the untrained crowd recognizes, but whom the prophet full of God shall have chosen? For the judgment concerning them is not about the body, not about age, but about the mind. Such, then, were these blessed presbyters Abraham and Sarah. And first of all their native names, which carnal birth had given them, are changed. "For when Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and said: I am God, be well-pleasing before me, and be blameless, and I will set my covenant between me and you. And Abraham fell upon his face and adored God, and God spoke to him, saying: I am, behold my covenant is with you, and you shall be father of a multitude of nations, and in you all the nations shall be blessed, and your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham." And when He had given this name, He immediately adds: "and I will set my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you. And this is the covenant which you shall keep between me and you, and between your seed after you." And after these things He adds: "every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin." — HOMILIES ON Genesis 3.3