Christian

Christian is the name given to the followers of Jesus Christ, first at Antioch in Syria (Acts 11:26), where the disciples were called Christians apparently by the Gentile population — a name that may have begun as a designation or even a term of mockery but was rapidly adopted by believers themselves. The word occurs only three times in the New Testament: in Acts 11:26 (origin at Antioch), Acts 26:28 (Agrippa's ironic response to Paul: Almost you persuade me to become a Christian), and 1 Peter 4:16 (if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed). The formation of the name — Christ followed by the Latin suffix -ianus — follows the pattern of other party names in the Greco-Roman world (Herodians, Caesareans), suggesting it was coined in a context familiar with Roman naming conventions.