Achan

When the lot falls on Achan and he confesses, he and his entire family are stoned and burned in the Valley of Achor—and the text notes etymologically that the place was named Achor (trouble) because of what Achan brought upon Israel.

The narrative’s explicit connection between the name Achan and the word trouble (akar) suggests a folk etymology: Achan’s name was understood as already containing the seed of the trouble he would cause. This narrative function—a name that embeds its bearer’s fate—is a notable literary device in the Hebrew Bible.

Achan is essentially unused as a given name today, and its use has always been rare—even in Puritan New England, where biblical names of all kinds were used, Achan was avoided because of its narrative association with theft and catastrophe.

The name appears in biblical scholarship, particularly in discussions of the herem (sacred ban) concept and the theology of communal guilt in ancient Israel. Further reading: etymology records and US popularity records from SSA.