I posed this question in another /r/AskHistorians thread (here) and was recommended to create a standalone post.
From my linked comment:
As possibly a silly aside, is there a reason why very few Biblical characters have surnames? The only ones I can recall offhand are King Herod (or I assume that's his surname) and Judas Iscariot. Even Jesus was referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, and if I remember correctly, Christ was added later due to its meaning in Greek (which was based on the Hebrew word "messiah").
Thanks in advance!
Hi, there was a lot of great info on surnames in this post - both respondents address Biblical names, including Judas Iscariot.
For King Herod, "Herod" is his given name (like King David, King Henry, King Charles).
For Jesus, neither Nazareth nor Christ are surnames. "Of Nazareth" describes what town he's from, and "Christ" is a title (like "King" in King Herod). There's a little on Christ from /u/brojangles here Before Jesus Christ, was anyone ever given the name "Jesus", or the title "Christ"?
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