It is well known that Simon Bar Kosiba was named "Bar

Kokhba", which means "the son of the star", which refers to

his messianic claims (see Num. 24:7, "a star shall arise from

Jacob"). Bar Kokhba's coin, shown to the right, shows the

temple with his star above. The Talmud tells us that it was

Rabbi Akiva who gave him that name and called him the

Messiah.

The Talmud, however, calls him "Bar Koziba", which means

"the son of the liar".

British Museum

Some of his actual letters were found in a cave in Israel in the early 1960s. In these

letters gives his original name, "Shimon Bar Kosiba". The text here reads,

"Shimon Bar Kosiba, president over Israel"

Bar Kosiba, then, received two new names. Supporters called him "Bar Kokhba",

while his later opponents called him "Bar Koziba". In both cases the new name was

chosen in part because of its phonetic resemblance to the original name. These web

pages present NT examples of this phenomenon.

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