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Christos (given name)

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Christos is the non-Greek version of a common Greek given name which is spelled in two ways:

  • "Χρίστος", Chrístos, from the adjective "χριστός", christós, i.e., "anointed" (or "chosen one" as is the Christian theological term for the Messiah), and
  • "Χρήστος", Chrēstos, from the adjective "χρηστός", chrēstós, i.e., "useful".

In Modern Greek both spellings are practically interchangeable and are pronounced the same (with the stress on the penultimate syllable), but differently from Christós, Christ, which is accented on the last syllable. This eliminates confusion as to whether someone refers to a regular person or to Jesus Christ.
Moving the accent of a word to create a personal name can be observed in other cases as well, e.g. "Σταύρος" (Stávros), from "σταυρός" (stavrós, cross).

See also