AARON HAAPALA

Biblical name, borne by the brother of Moses, who was appointed by God to be Moses' spokesman and became the first High Priest of the Israelites (Exodus 4:14–16, 7:1–2). It is of uncertain origin and meaning: most probably, like Moses, of Egyptian rather than Hebrew origin. The traditional derivation from Hebrew har-on ‘mountain of strength’ is no more than a folk etymology. The name has been in regular use from time immemorial as a Jewish name and was taken up by the Nonconformists as a Christian name in the 16th century. Since the late 1990s it has been widely popular.

Finnish: from haapa ‘aspen’ + the local suffix -la. Originally it was a habitational name for someone living or working at a farmstead so named, but in other cases the surname was an ornamental adoption during the name conversion movement in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It occurs chiefly in western Finland.